The brand new regulation additionally imposes life imprisonment as punishment for anybody discovered to have carried out a sexual act with an individual of the identical gender, and as much as seven years in jail for “an try to commit the offense of homosexuality.”
“The folks of Uganda have spoken,” tweeted parliamentary speaker Anita Annet Among, saying that President Yoweri Museveni had signed the laws. “I now encourage the obligation bearers underneath the regulation to execute the mandate bestowed upon them within the Anti-Homosexuality Act.”
Uganda’s parliament initially handed the invoice in March but it surely was returned to legislators by a presidential veto. The ultimate invoice, accredited by Museveni, stays largely the identical however not features a requirement for folks to report gay exercise or criminalizes merely figuring out as LGBTQ+.
Its passage into regulation Monday sparked worry and confusion amongst LGBTQ+ Ugandans, a lot of whom have already fled the nation.
“The information signifies that I’ll by no means see residence once more,” stated a 32-year-old homosexual asylum seeker talking to The Washington Publish by cellphone from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. He spoke on the situation of anonymity.
“I left Uganda in 2018; it was a scary time for me. I really feel the worry, like that morning I ran away from my residence. I’m within the refugee camp in the intervening time and by no means felt so disillusioned in my life,” he stated.
“I really feel extraordinarily scared,” stated Jude, 38, who requested to be recognized solely by his first identify to guard his id, talking by cellphone from the identical refugee camp on Monday.
“It’s a tragedy on our story and full neighborhood,” he stated. “I’ve no choice in Uganda.”
In keeping with the Human Dignity Belief, a London-based nongovernmental group that screens the authorized standing of LGBTQ+ folks in numerous international locations, same-sex exercise has been punishable by life imprisonment in Uganda since 1950, when the regulation was inherited from British colonial statues. The group stated there’s substantial proof of the earlier regulation getting used to arrest and arbitrarily detain LGBTQ+ folks, however precise prosecutions are uncommon.
Western officers and nongovernmental organizations condemned the act, with some arguing that Uganda’s stigmatization of LGBTQ+ folks threatened the well being of individuals residing with HIV there. “Uganda’s progress on its HIV response is now in grave jeopardy,” stated Winnie Byanyima, government director of UNAIDS, in a joint assertion signed additionally by the leaders of the World Fund to Battle AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Reduction.
“LGBTQI+ folks in Uganda more and more worry for his or her security and safety, and rising numbers of individuals are being discouraged from searching for important well being providers for worry of assault, punishment and additional marginalization,” they stated.
Variations of Monday’s laws focusing on LGBTQ+ folks have been round in Uganda since 2009. In 2014, Museveni’s authorities handed an identical regulation, whose first iteration included the dying penalty for some offenses — however was struck down by the courtroom for not following due parliamentary course of.
Eric Gitari, an LGBTQ+ activist in Kenya, stated in a press release: “It’s an indication of democracy in retreat. An assault on the Rule of Legislation. A political name to arrest and violate the rights of LGBTQ Ugandans. This has set a foul precedent in different African international locations which might be contemplating comparable legal guidelines reminiscent of Kenya.”
“Nonetheless in the future we will defeat these assaults on our human rights and triumph in equality and inclusion for LGBTQ individuals inside African international locations,” he added. “This ultimate should be our guiding mild on this second of darkness and tears.”
Niha Masih contributed to this report.