UGANDA: Gay rights activists determined to overturn controversial Uganda anti-homosexuality law

Record ID: 278097

  • Title: UGANDA: Gay rights activists determined to overturn controversial Uganda anti-homosexuality law
  • Date: 31st March 2014
  • Summary: KAMPALA, UGANDA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ON SIGNING OF ANTI-GAY BILL
  • Embargoed: 15th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, Uganda
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa Uganda
  • Topics: People
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KS06FXZYPVCRELFAHJ7EFFW3
  • Story Text: Gay rights activists in Uganda filed a legal petition against a new Anti-Homosexuality Act which calls for tougher penalties against gay persons.
    The new law strengthens existing punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" - including sex with a minor or while HIV-positive.
    It criminalizes lesbianism for the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts.
    Gay rights activist and lawyer, Nicholas Opiyo said the new law contravenes Uganda's constitution.

    "If the constitutional court decides to uphold the Act then the matter shall move onto appeal. Well at the moment there is an interim application; the petitioners are asking the constitutional court to halt the enforcement of this act until the court has pronounced itself on the petition, so those applications are yet to be heard but we hope that when the court tells them it will order that the police and all other persons empowered to enforce the act will be stopped from enforcing it until the constitutional court determines that it is consistent with the constitution or not," said Opiyo.
    Activists say the new legislation, signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on February 24, infringes on fundamental rights to privacy, non-discrimination and freedom from cruelty and inhumane treatment.
    Protests against the law have been ongoing around the world since the bill was introduced in parliament in 2009. Western nations were swift to condemn the Act with donor nations cutting funding to Uganda.
    But the law has received broad support in the East African country, two years ahead of the next presidential election, and in neighbouring states on a continent where gay sex is illegal in 37 countries.
    Legal analyst, Sarah Kihika says the petition is part of a series of legal measures that have been taken by activists in Uganda.

    "If the constitutional court decides to uphold the Act, then the matter shall move onto appeal. Well at the moment there is an interim application; the petitioners are asking the constitutional court to halt the enforcement of this act until the court has pronounced itself on the petition, so those applications are yet to be heard but we hope that when the court tells them it will order that the police and all other persons empowered to enforce the act will be stopped from enforcing it until the constitutional court determines that it is consistent with the constitution or not," explained Kihika.
    Julia Onziema Pepe, spokesperson for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) says she has mixed feelings about the success of the legal petitions.
    According to Julia more than 20 gays have fled the country since parliament first passed the bill on December 20th last year, sending it to the president for his signature.

    "I am optimistic myself because in the past we have gone to the courts of law and there is a degree of independence with the courts so that makes me optimistic. However, part of me is pessimistic that this law itself has been hyped it has been politicized it has been popularized for different selfish reasons that might affect the court in issuing a fair or expected judgement," she said.
    Rights activists hope Uganda's courts will be persuaded to declare the new Act as unconstitutional but even then they still face an uphill battle changing deeply entrenched cultural and religious beliefs that view homosexuality as wrong.
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