International Human Rights Day and Uganda

Today is International Human Rights Day and so I thought I would finally blog about the situation for LGBT people in Uganda.

The Ugandan Parliament is discussing the anti-homosexuality Bill, which violates the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Uganda is a signatory.

These breaches of international humanitarian commitments undermine the right to privacy and individual liberty and thereby set a dangerous legal precedent which threatens the human rights of all Ugandans. They are part of a wider drift towards an authoritarian state.

President Museveni is fast turning into another Robert Mugabe and the world already has way to many of those. Late last month President Museveni said: "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.”

I have been gay all my life and I have never recruited anyone, where do I get the membership forms from? I know I shouldn't make light of such a serious situation but this crap coming from the mouth of a President of a country is just unbelievable.

As Peter Tatchell says the new anti-homosexuality Bill, if passed, proposes the death penalty for 'aggravated' and 'serial' homosexual acts and extends the existing penalty of life imprisonment for anal sex to all other same-sex behaviour.














Membership of LGBT organisations and funding for them, advocacy of LGBT human rights and the provision of condoms or safer sex advice to LGBT people will result in a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of seven years for "promoting" homosexuality.

Surely, preventing the spread of AIDS should be something of importance to the Ugandan government? I am utterly appalled that this kind of legislation is being proposed and good on Peter Tatchell (not often I say that) for pushing this one into the public domain.

Pink News is reporting today the Ugandan government may drop some of the harshest parts of the Bill, wow that's so big of them! I would like the Queen as head of the Commonwealth to throw Uganda out for this ridiculous proposed legislation.

David Bahati, the MP for Ndorwa West who proposed this nonsense really should be bloody ashamed of himself, he claims this legislation will protect children, youths and traditional families, he sounds like he would fit in with the British Conservatives with that kind of clap trap, that was where they started with Section 28.

I applaud Gordon Brown for raising the issue with Presidnet Museveni at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Trinidad.

It is time to take a stand against this homophobic hatred from a head of a country.

Make your voice heard today by emailing the Ugandan High Commissioner here in the UK, Joan Rwabyomere on info@ugandahighcommission.co.uk and together we can stop this nonsense.