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(CNN) The United Nations and the United States on Wednesday launched a hardline bill criminalizing simply identifying as LGBTQ+ for Ugandan lawmakers, providing life imprisonment for convicted homosexuals and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuals”. further fueled international outrage over the passage of
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill passed by lawmakers on Tuesday. He said it would have a negative impact and violate the country’s constitution.
“The passage of this kind of discriminatory bill is probably one of the worst bills in the world and a very troubling development,” said a statement from the Turkish office.
“If the president signs the law, Uganda’s lesbian, gay and bisexual people will be criminals simply because they exist. It could provide a blank power of attorney for: agitate people against each other.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken condemned the bill, saying it “undermines the basic human rights of all Ugandans and could undermine progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS.” “We urge the Ugandan government to strongly reconsider the implementation of this law.”
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield has met with Museveni twice this week and expressed “deep concern” about the bill, a US official told CNN on Wednesday.
The new law constitutes a further crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in countries where same-sex relationships were already illegal – punishable by life imprisonment. It includes a ban on conspiracy to engage in homosexuality.
According to the bill, the death penalty could be applied in cases involving “aggravated homosexuality.” This is a broad term used in law to describe any sexual act committed without consent or under duress against children, mentally or physically handicapped persons. Including “serial offenders,” or incest.
The bill must seek Museveni’s assent. Last week he mocked homosexuals as “deviant”.
Uganda made headlines in 2009 when it introduced anti-homosexuality legislation, including a death sentence for gay sex.
The country’s lawmakers passed a bill in 2014, but replaced the death penalty with a life sentence. That law was eventually repealed.
The new bill enjoys broad public support in a highly conservative and religious East African country where anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is deeply entrenched.
However, it has come under strong criticism from civil society groups and LGBTQ+ activists. “Another way to use the law to punish people for who they are without causing harm,” the Pan-African ILGA tweet said.
“As a community, a partner and an ally, we will do everything possible to ensure that the constitutional rights granted to the LGBTI community are met, and that if the President agrees to this bill, we will have legal provisions available to us. We will have it considered, and it will become law,” activist Richard Rusimbo told CNN.
Pepe Onjiema, a transgender LGBTQ rights activist and program director of Sexual Minority Uganda (SMUG), a non-governmental organization that advocates for LGBTQ rights, was shut down by authorities last year, but has continued to grow in the community. Members told CNN members they are now living in fear.
“We have had a very excruciating amount of anxiety from the threat of the bill, and now that it has actually passed Congress, the (LGBTQ) community is very scared,” Onzima said. “We have a large community of LGBTQ people in the country, so we can’t give up. We will find different ways to work. Attacks are also happening online, so they may not be as visible as they used to be.” .”
The African Rainbow Family, a UK-based charity that helps LGBTQ+ Africans seeking refuge in the UK, described the bill as an “attack” and “persecution” of Uganda’s LGBTQ community.
“The African Rainbow Family fully condemns the passage of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023. This law violates the basic human rights of Uganda’s LGBTIQ people.
“The African Rainbow Family again sees this law as an additional layer of government and non-governmental persecution against Uganda’s LGBTIQ community,” it told CNN.
Feminist author and human rights activist Rosebell Cagumire told CNN that the new law could have consequences other than human rights violations.
“From denial of housing, education and health care to LGBTQIA people in an attempt to dehumanize them. AIDS is still epidemic, men who have sex with men and trans women In a country where sex workers are still facing, if the incidence is high, this law will criminalize health care provision and defeat the entire struggle to end AIDS,” Kagumire said.
“If President Museveni agrees to the bill, it would authorize state-sanctioned attacks and persecution of LGBTQ people,” said human rights attorney Sarah Kihika Cassande.
Onziema says seeking refuge elsewhere may be a “last resort” for some members of Uganda’s LGBTQ community.
“Asylum is kind of a last resort for us, but for people who are really under threat and who feel they can’t live here anymore, as the leader of this community, I am making a mistake. We will support them to evacuate to other places.
“But it’s hard to seek asylum, especially as a black queer. I believe that going to a shelter actually accepts them and doesn’t alienate them further,” he told CNN.
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