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On May 31, Ugandan police arrested 44 people in an LGBTQI shelter in Nansana, Wakiso district, a few kilometers from the country’s capital Kampala. 44 were later charged with “negligence likely to spread an infectious disease.”
The group was detained for four days before being released, which is a right the law says, but for people whose lives were criminalized they met strict bail requirements and receiving bail was also a daunting challenge, as usual. Thanks to the excellent work organized by many LGBTQI rights advocates in the country, Uganda was liberated before the resumption of blockade measures in the face of the second wave of COVID-19, which is currently in full swing.
It was the second raid on a shelter to house LGBTQI people in just over a year. Orders to stay at home during the pandemic have disproportionately harmed Ugandan LGBTQIs, who suffer from the exclusion of wider societies and often exclude their families, and seek refuge in shelters provided by non-profit organizations.
So when the world started celebrating and commemorating Pride Month, the Ugandan authorities were once again there, harassing, arresting and inhumanizing LGBTQI people, including “anal analyzes”. It seems that anti-LGBTQI policies and actions by the Ugandan government are diminishing, despite the recent proclamation by Ugandan MP Fox Odoi-Oywelowo. Al-Jazeera op-ed.
This latest networking and serious human rights violations are part of systemic ill-treatment of Ugandans based on state-sanctioned sexual orientation and gender identity, backed by intolerant religions and social attitudes that stem from colonial law enforcement. Everyday violations are unreported and worse, unpunished because the political and social system recognizes the humanity of sexual and gender minorities.
The Ugandan penal code enshrined in British colonial rule criminalizes same-sex consensual behavior and punishes “life knowledge of the order of nature” with life imprisonment. In 2014, the country became more intolerant as homosexuality became a rallying point for many political leaders as parliament passed a law against homosexuality that allowed widespread legal violence against LGBTQI Ugandans.
President Yoweri Museveni he signed the law, which remained rude in the face of international pressure, was invited to testify with senior government officials and journalists at an event. Prior to the signing, he ordered “research” from medical professionals, who saw homosexuality as the result of “not feeding nature”.
Constitutional Court later he struck the law because it was accepted the legal procedures were not followed, but they refused to address the important human rights issues raised in the lawsuit filed by the activists and concerned citizens.
Since then, the threat to bring in another strict anti-homosexuality law has continued to be a favorite tool of any politician, especially when they are advocating for the population.
In the face of a massive youth movement for change led by opposition leader and musician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, Museveni recently resorted to tactics to promote anti-LGBTQI elections. In the heat of the January 2021 campaign, Museveni told the nation that “some of these groups are used by outsiders … homosexuals … who don’t like Ugandan stability and Ugandan independence.”
Giving the lives of so many Ugandans who were already marginalized and persecuted on the election altar was dangerous and irresponsible. However, he did so because he is convinced that the mixture of morality and nationalist rhetoric, even if it has real value, functions as a glue in the cracks in the base of his political support.
On May 3, parliament passed the Sex Offenses Act, which was initially intended to prevent and punish sexual violence, further criminalizing homosexuality. The bill was introduced by civil society organizations working to end sexual violence against women, apparently considering provisions that criminalize same-sex acts to be rational.
The bill punishes “same-sex sexual activity” with a 10-year prison sentence and further criminalizes sex work and also discriminates on the basis of HIV status. If President Museveni were to be approved, the law would punish Ugandans who commit such sexual acts outside Uganda and certain sexual offenses that support the death penalty. In these precarious times LBGTQI would add more challenges to people’s safety, economic opportunity, and mental health.
Networks like Uganda Sexual Minorities Uganda expressed their concern that this law would “improve Uganda’s already homophobic environment and, as a result, pave the way for further rights violations”. The United Nations, for its part, has stated that AIDS prevention will be much more difficult, as “many vulnerable groups of people, such as gay men and other men who have sex with men and sex workers, continue to be less so than in general.” to receive the HIV treatment, prevention and care services that the population needs ”.
A few days after parliament voted on the law, President Museveni, who has been in power for 35 years, was sworn in for another term after overseeing one of the most violent elections in decades. His government is currently under pressure from some international actors as a result of election-related violence and the arbitrary arrest of political opponents. The responsibility for the killings of innocent citizens is encouraged, as it was in November 2020 dozens of shootings Civilians carried out by Kampala security forces during the election campaign in the face of protests against another arrest of Bobi Wine.
While Odoi-Oywelow makes a progressive image of Museveni and makes promises that are beyond his control, the president has used anti-gay rhetoric as a fuel to keep his supporters calm for a decade and continues to do so.
The equating of being gay with being against Uganda throws minimal lives into the political arena, putting them in a position to be debated and dehumanized after the election cycle. This kind of hate speech from the most powerful office in the country is mimicked and recreated on many levels until many LGBTQI lives in Uganda are gone. Holding on to the idea that homosexuality is a Western value or tool, when it was discovered by the West rooted He went to Africa and criminalized, playing with populism.
The Ugandan government seems to intend to reassure Western supporters with claims that will not be allowed by law, while at the same time arming Western and nationalist rhetoric against LGBTQI Ugandans. In short, they want to eat their own cake and themselves.
It makes no sense to say (again) that a member of the ruling party will not (again) criminalize homosexuality in the face of existing laws, laws used by private citizens and state actors to arrest, blackmail and ill-treat LGBTQI Ugandans.
To ensure the human rights and security of LGBTQI Ugandans, the Ugandan government must allow organizations that provide support to carry out their work without harassment and intimidation and take specific steps to repeal laws that erode the rights of LGBTQI people, rather than fail. a declaration that the law already passed by parliament will not be passed by the president.
Dealing with the impact of colonial law on the consciousness of the population is a lifelong task, but decriminalization paves the way for that opportunity. Countries like Botswana and Angola went in 2019 to eradicate the remnants of colonial laws that criminalize people of different genders or same-sex relationships. Ugandan leaders should look to them instead of entering into the oppression they have inherited.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitude of Al Jazeera’s editorial.
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