An Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which punishes homosexual behaviour with life imprisonment or death, looks like being passed unopposed by the Uganda Government, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The commission has called for urgent world-wide action by human rights organisations and gay communities.
It has petitioned for the withdrawal of the bill, which is before the Ugandan Parliament, on the grounds that it contravenes Uganda’s Constitution, as well as the African and international charter on human rights.
‘The government minister who everybody suspected would present the bill did not and instead an opposition member (Ndorwa West MP David Bahati) has submitted it as a Private Members’ Bill, but we have information the government supports this legislation and does not oppose it,’ the commission’s spokeswoman Monica Mbaru said.
The Daily Monitor reported that Mr Bahati insisted the bill be introduced, saying; ‘Homosexuality is not a human right at all.’
Uganda’s Penal Code already criminalizes ‘carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature’, which is used to prosecute, persecute and blackmail LGBT people with the threat of life imprisonment.
However the new bill will punish ‘touch(ing) another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality’ with life imprisonment and ‘aggravated homosexuality’ – including activity by ‘serial offenders’ or those who are HIV positive – with the death penalty.
It also targets those who support or fund LGBT organisations – threatening hefty fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years – and those who do not report known violations of the law within 24 hours, even if it means turning in colleagues, family or friends.
The failure to report violations can result in being significantly fined and up to three years imprisonment.
The law extends the government’s powers to Ugandans visiting or living overseas.
The commission has called on the Australian LGBTIQ community to support the Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) by writing to embassies and the Federal Government calling for action against the proposed legislation and seek to pressure those involved in the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of States and Government for the decriminalisation of same sex relations for adults and review sodomy laws.
‘Largely the government has come out forcefully with a backlash on the LGBT activists with arrests and detentions to ensure key activists are intimidated and silenced,’ Ms Mbaru said.
‘Security is of paramount concern, and there are fears that key activists have already been forced out of the country and more fear arrests and detentions out of this draft law.
‘This has happened before, people being forced into hiding due to police harassment and negative media publicity.
‘The religious homophobia has created a social backlash where landlord and even tenants have forced LGBT activists out of their rented premises.
‘Employers have terminated services and jobs due these negative perceptions.’
The Global Forum on MSM and HIV is also petitioning against the legislation, saying: ‘this bill drives sexual minorities underground and away from vital information and services, further fuelling HIV transmission in the Uganda.’
The Department of Foreign Affairs would not comment directly on the Ugandan bill but a spokesperson told the Sydney Star Observer that the Australian Government ‘will take opportunities through the UN and other channels to urge all governments to ensure that neither sexual orientation nor gender identity form the basis for criminal penalties’.
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