Advocacy & campaigns
Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009
Statement from Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
2010-02-04, Issue 468
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/61997
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The Urgent Action Fund-Africa, a Pan-African women’s human rights organisation, notes with great concern Uganda’s draconian Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009, the ongoing parliamentary debates and the suggested amendments to the Bill. We acknowledge that people have different personal persuasions on the question of homosexuality. However, we are deeply concerned that by enacting this law, the State will set a precedent where anyone different from the mainstream can be legally demonized, stripped of their dignity and rights and persecuted, at a time when we seek to establish democratic societies of tolerance and equality. There will be no limit to a state’s tyranny and manipulation of laws to oppress any group of people considered different, dissenting or a minority. We underscore the fundamental principle that people are different in their beliefs, orientation and opinions YET equal in their rights, dignity and worth.
UAF-Africa asserts that all human rights are equal, inalienable, interdependent, and indivisible, and should be promoted, protected, and respected by all states. UAF-Africa holds further that the proposed Anti Homosexuality Bill 2009 is not only in contravention of, but violates Articles 3 (right to life, liberty and security of person), 5 (No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), 11(presumption of innocence) and 19 (right to freedom of expression) of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The Bill also violates Uganda’s Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international and regional human rights treaties to which Uganda is signatory.
In line with the work Urgent Action Fund-Africa has done over the past nine years to raise the visibility of the discrimination and marginalization faced by gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, we stand in solidarity with the gay and lesbian community in Uganda, which is already marginalised since homosexuality is criminalised and punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment (Uganda’s Penal Code 145). The proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill as it stands empowers the state to impose heavy fines, life imprisonment and death sentences based on an individual’s sexual orientation. The bill further criminalises relatives, counsellors, healthcare providers, religious leaders, and individuals for knowing and not reporting practitioners of homosexuality, imposing a fine of 5 to 7 years on any person who ‘aids, abets, counsels, or engages in the promotion of homosexuality’.
We are alarmed that the Bill proposes that Uganda withdraws from any international agreements to which the country already is a party, or file reservations to them, if they are re-interpreted to include protection for homosexual behaviour, or that promote same-sex marriage, or that call for the promotion or teaching about homosexuality as being healthy, normal, or an acceptable lifestyle choice, or that seek to establish sexual behaviour, sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual minorities as legally protected categories of people. This is in contravention of international law which prohibits States from doing such a thing. Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties requires that “Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.”
We are greatly concerned that the Anti-homosexuality Bill in its current form or various amendments conflates personal values with state values, creating a never ending downward spiral in legislative practice. It will lead to widespread and unjust persecution of persons based on their sexual orientation, and will lead to widespread censorship among organizations, the media, and individuals, as they seek to avoid heavy fines or criminal prosecution. We are also alarmed by the Bill’s effect on Uganda’s HIV programming. Through stigmatizing a certain sector of Uganda’s society, the bill practically drives this sector underground, denying it the right to access health care and other public resources. This Bill will create an environment of intimidation, fear, and hostility, narrowing the spaces for private and public debate, as well as the principles of freedom of expression.
UAF-Africa is further concerned that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill demonstrates a growing trend in several African countries to enact retrogressive legislation that violates the human rights of minority groups in their countries, in contravention of Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Urgent Action Fund-Africa therefore calls upon:
* Hon. David Bahati, the architect of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, to promptly withdraw it from Parliament
* The Parliament of Uganda not to waste tax-payers’ money debating the bill; and certainly to ensure its defeat if debated, in the interests of safeguarding the values of democracy, tolerance and equality.
* The Parliament of Uganda to repeal the existing provision of ss.145 of the Uganda Penal Code that criminalizes homosexuality
* The Ugandan public to be open and debate sexuality issues with the view to understanding that people of different sexual orientations do exist, not only in Uganda, but in ALL communities and countries across the world
* All Ugandans to unite in publicly condemning this draconian Bill in the interests of their own democratic freedom
* The international community to stand in solidarity with this group of Ugandan citizens, and other such citizens in different African countries
* African states to cease drafting and passing similar draconian laws on homosexuality and stop discrimination against fellow citizens on grounds of sexual orientation.