Uganda’s sexual minorities are facing escalating human rights violations, with over 1000 cases recorded in the last nine months, according to a report by the Convening for Equality (CFE), a pressure group advocating for sexual minorities’ rights.
The report reveals that members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community have faced increasing rights violations since early last year when Uganda’s parliament started considering the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA).
The AHA was eventually enacted in May last year, imposing tough penalties for same-sex intercourse, including life imprisonment and the death sentence for aggravated homosexuality.
According to the CFE report, at least 1,253 human rights violations were recorded between September and May, representing a significant increase from the 306 violations recorded between January and August last year.
The violations were committed by both state and non-state actors and included torture, family rejections, physical assaults, evictions, arbitrary arrests, sexual assaults, and extortion.
The report notes that known and/or perceived LGBTQ+ persons were subjected to various forms of abuse, including arrests, torture, beatings, exposure, evictions, blackmail, loss of employment, and disruptions to health services.
The CFE attributes the escalation of violations to a sustained campaign to paint LGBTQ+ persons as recruiters of children into homosexuality, fueled by fake and false news shared on different platforms.
The AHA has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community, leading to sanctions against Uganda and individual leaders. The World Bank halted all new lending, while the US ejected Uganda from a preferential trade deal and imposed sanctions on unnamed individuals for violating minority rights.
In April, Uganda’s constitutional court refused to annul the law, although it voided a few sections that violated rights to health and property.
The report highlights the need for urgent action to address the escalating human rights violations against sexual minorities in Uganda and calls for the repeal of the AHA and the protection of LGBTQ+ rights.
