On May 31, Ugandan police arrested 44 people at a LGBTQI detention center in Nansana, Wakiso District, a few miles outside Kampala’s capital. The 44 were later charged with “negligence and possibly spreading a contagious disease”.
The group was detained for four days before being released on bail, which is free in terms of the law, but for people whose lives are already criminal, they faced bail conditions and even finding sponsors was very difficult, as usual. Thanks to the co-ordination of LGBTQI rights activists in the country, they were released shortly before Uganda resumed tackling the second COVID-19 wave that is threatening here.
This was the second attack on LGBTQI dormitories for more than a year. Laws to stay home during the epidemic have disrupted Ugandan LGBTQI people who are stigmatized and often rejected by their families, forcing some to flee the camps provided by non-business organizations.
As a result, as the world begins to celebrate and commemorate Heritage Month, Ugandan authorities have resumed, harassing LGBTQI people, imprisoning them, and abusing them, including “attempted assassination”. Uganda’s anti-LGBTQI policies and actions appear to be on the verge of collapse, despite Ugandan MP Fox Odoi-Oywelowo’s recent statement op-ed of Al Jazeera.
Recent attacks and violations of human rights in prisons are among the most common forms of violence against Ugandans based on their work ethic and gender identity, religiously motivated and discriminated against, based on colonial rule. . Everyday crimes are often unreported and are serious, unpunished, because politics and culture refuse to recognize the minority.
The laws that Uganda has received from British colonial rule allow homosexuals to have sex and punish “physical knowledge against nature” for the rest of their lives in prison. In 2014, the country faced a wave of discrimination that began with political leaders, with parliament passing a Anti-Homosexuality Act allowing legitimate violence against LGBTQI people.
President Yoweri Museveni they signed the deed, while remaining resolute despite pressure from other countries, at a ceremony hosted by government officials and journalists were invited to testify. Prior to signing, he had ordered a “study” by medical experts who found that homosexuality was a result of “environmental stewardship”.
A court of law afterwards struck the law because what was provided in the law was not complied with but refused to address the human rights issues raised by the rights activists and the citizens concerned.
From then on, the threat of a more radical ban on homosexuality remained a political weapon of choice, especially when it was not popular.
In the face of a changing youth movement led by opposition leader and singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, better known as Bobi Wine, Museveni recently re-launched a campaign against LGBTQI elections. In a landslide victory in January 2021, Museveni told the world that “the spirit of this letter is being read to other people … not to men… who do not want to upset Uganda’s readers in Uganda”.
Putting the lives of many Ugandans who have already been ostracized and tortured at the chosen altar was not reckless but dangerous. But he did so again because he was convinced that the mix of values and racial views, even when he was on a stake, would also act as a crack in his political career.
On May 3, Parliament passed a sex offender law, which should initially prevent and punish violence, and continue to kill homosexuals. The funding was provided by government agencies working to address violence against women who appear to be convinced that homosexuality is wrong.
The law penalizes “homosexuality” for up to 10 years in prison and also provides for sex work and discrimination on the basis of HIV status. If approved by President Museveni, the law will also punish Ugandans who commit sexual immorality outside Uganda and order them to be executed for other sexual offenses. It can only add to the security, economic opportunities and mental health of LBGTQI people in these difficult times.
Organizations such as Sexual Minorities Uganda have expressed concern that the law “will help to eradicate homophobia in Uganda and will therefore lead to other human rights violations”. The United Nations has said that this will make it more difficult to prevent AIDS, as “many vulnerable groups of people, such as homosexuals, continue to be under-represented in terms of access to HIV treatment, prevention and care. ”.
A few days after parliament voted on the bill, President Museveni, who has been in power for 35 years, once again took the oath of office, after overseeing one of the country’s most vicious elections. His government is currently under pressure from international political parties and the ongoing detention of dissidents. There is a compulsion to answer for the murder of innocent civilians, such as November 2020 tens of shots of civilians and security forces in Kampala in response to protests against the further arrest of Bobi Wine on election roads.
As Odoi-Oywelowo paints a stark picture of Museveni and makes unfulfilled promises, the President has used anti-gay rhetoric as fuel for his supporters for ten years and will continue to do so.
Homophobia and anti-Ugandan ideology lead to fewer political parties, more opposition and loss of character in the run-up to elections. This kind of hate speech from the country’s most powerful office is being imitated and re-enacted in various categories until the end of the lives of many Ugandan LGBTQI people. Defending the idea that homosexuality is an evening weapon or a weapon, when the whites got it deep in Africa I continue to be offended, and play with a lot of people.
The Ugandan government seems to be trying to appease Westerners through its claim that the law will not be ratified, while at the same time campaigning against West and nationalist anti-LGBTQI Uganda. In short, they want to eat their cake and have it again.
A claim by a member of the ruling party that Uganda does not prosecute homosexuals (also exists) is meaningless in defiance of existing laws used by civil society and government to arrest, torture and torture LGBTQI Ugandans.
In order to ensure the human rights and safety of LGBTQI people, the Ugandan government must allow aid agencies to carry out their work without harassment or intimidation and to take action to end laws that undermine LGBTQI rights, instead of creating nonsense. a law already enacted by parliament is not approved by the president.
Struggling with the impact of colonial law on public knowledge and lifelong work but litigation opens up a solution to this. Countries like Botswana and Angola moved in 2019 to abolish the remaining colonial laws that give same-sex or gay rights. Ugandan leaders need to monitor them, rather than force the oppression they receive.
The views expressed in this article are for the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor of Al Jazeera.
