The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 (AHA) has increased homophobia and violations against the LGBTQ community in Uganda. LGBTQ community members have reported abuses on them which were created as offenses in the act but were nullified by the constitutional Court. In a consolidated petition of multiple activists, the court last month annulled sections that criminalised the letting of premises for use for homosexual purposes, the failure by anyone to report acts of homosexuality to the Police for appropriate action, and the engagement in acts of homosexuality by anyone which results into the other persons contracting a terminal illness. However, the Court largely declared that AHA complies with the Constitution of Uganda.
Homosexuals and those suspected to be LGBTQ are now being harassed out of their homes, reported to the Police, and assaulted. “Regardless of the recent pronouncements by the Constitutional where some of the Sections under the AHA were nullified, the violence being committed against LGBTIQ persons and the various other forms of violations have persisted, with no significant reduction,” said a report by Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF).
Evictions from rented premises were the highest category of violations recorded in April even after the court ruling, according to the HRAPF April report. “In April 2024, there were 19 cases of evictions from rented property that were reported to HRAPF’s legal aid clinic, affecting 23 individuals. The cases were reported from the districts of Wakiso (5); Kampala (5); Jinja (2); and 1 each from Arua, Amuru, Kisoro, Masaka, Mbarara, Mukono, and Sironko. The evictions were perpetrated primarily by property owners/ landlords (14); family members (4) and local council authorities working with property owners (1)”.
The report is limited to coverage of only data that is reported through the HRAPF legal aid network countrywide. It admits that the information may not be representative of all LGBTIQ persons’ lived realities because not all cases may have been reported to HRAPF’s network.
The report indicates an astronomical increase in violations against LGBTQ in the one year since the law was signed by the president on May 25, 2023. “In the first eleven months of the AHA 2023, a total of 1,002 cases involving LGBTIQ persons have been handled across the legal aid network. In the same 11-month period from June 2022 to April 2023, a total of 448 LGBTIQ cases were handled”.
18 people were arrested on sexual offense-related charges in 8 cases reported to HRAPF in April 2024. “In 4 cases, the persons arrested were charged with offences under the AHA while in the remaining 4, the victims were arrested due to suspicion that they were homosexuals, but were charged with loitering with intent to commit a crime, criminal trespass, forgery and in one case, no charges were preferred at all. In all the cases, the persons were released on police bond, and none of the files were sanctioned for trial”.
The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions could not readily provide data on cases handled. The DPP, Jane Frances Abodo, said in January that her office had sanctioned 10 files on homosexuality-related offences since the law took effect in May 2023. The offences are a far-cry from the reported increased ‘homosexual activities’ in the country, the basis on which Parliament made the law. According to social-political analyst and LGBTQ activist, Andrew Mwenda, the state is incapable of prosecuting homosexuality.
“Since we became independent, we have had a law criminalising homosexuality. Uganda has never convicted one person in 62 years under the law. Have they arrested, prosecuted, and convicted any person [of homosexuality]?,” he said in an interview Terry Kahuma posted on her YouTube channel on Monday (May 20).
Section 2 of the AHA creates the offence of homosexuality, which upon conviction, the penalty is imprisonment for life whereas Section 3 prescribes death for ‘aggravated homosexuality’.
President Yoweri Museveni has contradicted the letter of the law in his speeches. He said the law does not criminalise homosexuality.
“Then what does the law fight? It fights these homosexuals when he or she goes from merely being and starts recruiting other people who are not psychologically disoriented like him or her, this is the law I signed,” he said in June last year.
According to Museveni, homosexuality only turns into a crime when it advances to the point of recruitment and promotion, a view shared by Dr Lulume Bayiga, the MP of Buikwe South.
“I have not seen a homosexual who has been arrested,” Bayiga said, adding that the law was not dangerous towards homosexuals. Nevertheless, the LGBTQ community has reported heightened homophobia, assault, and harassment in the face of the renewed law against homosexuality. “Since the signing of AHA, it has entrenched a climate of fear and persecution for Uganda’s LGBTQ community. I am talking about both the community, organisations, and human rights defenders. Our lives have been so challenging and dangerous,” said Isaac Bafaki, an advocate for the LGBT community in Uganda.
The MP for Buzaaya County, Martin Muzaale, said in sending a ‘wave of fear to those who were intending to practice homosexuality’, the Act has performed well to the expectations and ‘it is working’.
Bafaki decried the new law which has increased physical attacks, cyberbullying, blackmail and loss of employment, forced anal examinations in Police cells, and denial of health care services.
Hajjat Abdul Jamal, a transwoman, said the anniversary and the issues that the LGBTQ people have been enduring should be a reminder of the work that should be done. “AHA’s anniversary serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda and worldwide, emphasizing the need for sustained international support, solidarity, and advocacy to combat discrimination and promote inclusivity,” she said.
Read more about the impact of the Anti-Homosexuality Law on LGBTIQ Ugandans: A report by East African Visual Artists
https://eavisualarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EAVA-REPORT-24-1.pdf
One Comment
GIWUMI EMMANUEL
It’s very true,we the Transwomen suffer allot when it comes to the arrest,I was also arrested at the police station here in Uganda which is Kabalagala police station but I passed through hardest time for the two times I was arrested and I was helped by HRAPF, thanks Human rights ….. for saving our lives am now in a shelter and safe though I lost my properties but I I thank God at least HRAPF saved us.