Uganda Anti-Gay Law Met with Condemnation from US, UN

Aljazeera News

A pho­to from AlJazeera News report­ing on the reac­tions from the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty about the new anti-LGBTQ law passed in Ugan­da. May 29, 2023

On June 1, Pres­i­dent Yow­eri Musev­eni, the auto­crat­ic and long-serv­ing leader of the African nation of Ugan­da, signed what is con­sid­ered one of the harsh­est anti-LGBTQ laws globally.

Some of the pun­ish­ments in the new law for Uganda’s found break­ing the law include a 20-year sen­tence, and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for repeat offend­ers and oth­er indi­vid­u­als pro­mot­ing homo­sex­u­al­i­ty. The law also states that capi­tal pun­ish­ment will also be hand­ed to indi­vid­u­als who trans­mit HIV-AIDS through gay sex and to indi­vid­u­als who have gay sex with a dis­abled per­son or a minor. The Anti-LGBTQ law in Ugan­da gives guide­lines and penal­ties on same-sex relations.

Very quick­ly, the new law faced glob­al oppo­si­tion and con­dem­na­tion pri­or to being signed by Musev­eni. But despite the oppo­si­tion and world­wide con­dem­na­tion, the bill became law. 

Whether it is enforced is to be seen. Since the law was passed, I have been mon­i­tor­ing some of the reac­tions in Ugan­da, and the world, includ­ing reportage of the sto­ry by oth­er media. 

The United Nations (UN) Reacts

The Unit­ed Nations High Com­mis­sion­er for Human Rights (UNHCR ) Volk­er Türk brand­ed the law as “dev­as­tat­ing” claim­ing that it vio­lates Uganda’s human rights law.

 In response, Chris Bary­omun­si Uganda’s Infor­ma­tion Min­is­ter argued that before the bill became law, they passed it. Bary­omun­si also argued that homo­sex­u­al acts are abnor­mal and accused the West of pro­mot­ing them. While the law may raise human rights and free­dom vio­la­tion con­cerns around the world, it is impor­tant to also note that it is Uganda’s deci­sion to make.

The United States (US) Reacts

After the bill became law the US Sec­re­tary of State Antony Blinken stat­ed that the coun­try was deeply trou­bled by the new law. In response, Blinken stat­ed the US could con­sid­er restric­tions on Ugan­dan offi­cials’ visas. There is also fear that the Unit­ed States could stop HIV/Aids sup­port over the law. We could see Ugan­da face more sanc­tions by the US as well as the Euro­pean Union. The sanc­tions could impact res­i­dents.  How­ev­er, whether they are to be effec­tive remains to be seen.

Ugandans React

Accord­ing to Africa News, the law received mixed reac­tions, with some ques­tion­ing whether it is a coun­try’s pri­or­i­ty. Oth­er Ugan­dans feel that the law could strain the rela­tion­ship with donor coun­tries, hence the coun­try will suf­fer consequences.

The cur­rent arti­cles avail­able are large­ly on inter­views with indi­vid­u­als against the law. Con­cerns of the indi­vid­u­als are legit­i­mate such as cut­ting off aid by donors among oth­er sanc­tions. Addi­tion­al­ly, we can agree that each soci­ety does have pri­or­i­ties, in the present moment how­ev­er the par­lia­ment addressed the cur­rent issue.