Uganda: anti-homosexuality bill means ‘Targeted Killings’ 0
Uganda will be going back to the days of the Idi Amin regime if it passes a Bill which will arrest or kill people for being gay or lesbian and for repeatedly engaging in homosexual sex, say rights activists.
They compare the provisions in the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill to the 1972 order former dictator, president Idi Amin gave expelling Ugandan born Asians because of their colour.
Rights activists say the Bill, which has stirred local and international controversy, could in effect exile close to half a million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans who would most likely flee the country to escape prosecution.
“In simple terms this Bill is saying: ‘Go out of Uganda’. An even if I ran out of the country definitely I will have to be brought back. It violates all aspects of a human being and human rights,” said Jacqueline Kasha, a lesbian Ugandan human rights activist.
She says the clause seeking extraterritorial jurisdiction, once enacted as it is, would be used by government to have LGBT persons extradited so as to face prosecution in Uganda.
Practising homosexuality has been illegal in Uganda and is listed in the penal code, but the proposed Bill has expanded on it.
The Bill, currently being considered by the Ugandan parliament, suggests a new offence of “aggravated homosexuality”, which would be punishable by death.
This part of the Bill states that “repeat offenders” of homosexuality are liable to get the death sentence. The death sentence is also applied in a homosexual relationship if a partner is under 18, or has a disability, or is HIV-positive. People accused under the aggravated homosexuality clause will be forced to undergo an HIV test.
It also seeks extra territorial jurisdiction and will apply to any Ugandan involved in a LGBT relationship outside of the country. The Bill also seeks to extradite any Ugandan guilty of the offences it lists.
It also requires that Uganda withdraw from any international treaty, conventions, protocols and declarations that would support homosexuality.
David Bahati the Ndorwa West minister of parliament in Uganda, with support from some faith-based groups in Uganda, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in mid-October. He said it was aimed at protecting traditional family values – among other things.
Bahati told IPS that his Bill has received wide support within parliament and he was confident that it will be enacted, despite the controversy it has created internationally. He lashed out at human rights activists opposed to the Bill saying they were using just one clause to campaign against his Bill.
“There have been attacks from gays and their sympathisers and our (Uganda’s) donors have put pressure on government. They have used the suggested clause on aggravated homosexuality, which was an import from already passed act on defilement, to alarm people that the Bill is about killing gays. This is a distortion of facts,” he said.
Even Uganda’s long-serving president, Yoweri Museveni, lent his support to the Bill. While addressing youth in Kampala last month, he sent a strong signal that his government was determined to pass the Bill despite local and international condemnation, including opposition from many of Uganda’s Aid donors.
“I hear European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa. We used to have very few homosexuals traditionally. They were not persecuted but were not encouraged either because it was clear that is not how God arranged things to be. So you should reject it because homosexuality is unnatural,” said Museveni.
Clauses three to six of the Bill introduces offences of engaging in homosexuality and penalties of imprisonment upon conviction. The Bill also introduces penalties for acts that promote homosexuality, failure to report the offence and it imposes a duty on communities to report suspected cases of homosexuality.
Solome Kimbugwe Nakawesi, an activist with Akina Mama Wa Afrika (AMWA), a women’s development organisation said: “By penalising citizens for failing to report ’suspected homosexuals’ to the authorities, the Bill calls for the creation of a fascist-style society where family members, service providers and colleagues are made to spy on each other.”
Gerald Sentongo, an Administrator with SMUG told IPS the Bill meant families’ members would be arrested for not reporting a LGBT family member.
The Citizen’s Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHCL) compared the Bill to the situation in apartheid South Africa.
“Have we already forgotten the sex police of apartheid South Africa who smashed their way into people’s bedrooms in an attempt to prevent inter racial sex?” asked Dr. Sylvia Tamale, a Law Lecturer at Makerere University, during a public debate.
By Micheal Wambi – IPS
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