On paper, it is the Sexual Offenses Bill 2019, but clauses in the bill that was passed by the Parliament of Uganda on Monday 3rd May 2021 reveal another homophobic plot to criminalize same-sex relationships(Love) in Uganda. LGBT persons are always arrested and charged under the guise of committing “unnatural offences”.
Part of the bill reads
“PART II-SEXUAL OFFENCES GENERALLY consists of clauses 2 to 12 and creates the offences of; rape, aggravated rape, administering substance for purpose of committing a sexual act, sexual assault, sexual harassment, detention with sexual intent, sexual exploitation, unnatural offences, attempt to commit unnatural offences, Incest, disclosure of sexual offence and offence to make a false allegation.”
“11. Unnatural offences.
A person who-
(a) performs a sexual act with another person contrary to the order of nature; or
(b) engages in a sexual act with an animal;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to imprisonment for ten years.”
43. Failure to report the sexual offence.
A person being a parent, guardian, relative or person in authority or trust, who fails to report, threatens, intimidates, coerces or forces a victim of a sexual offence not to report any offence under this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to imprisonment for three years.
If it is signed into law in its current form, the work and lives of LGBT people will be pushed further into unsolicited scrutiny and danger respectively.
Their constitutional and human rights will be violated at a scale never witnessed before.
It will most likely spark off a new wave of homophobic attacks and murders as was the case with the anti-homosexuality bill in 2014.
The bill is not only in violation of (Chapter 4) the constitution of Uganda, but also binding international and continental protocols like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the Maputo Protocol among others, to which Uganda is a signatory.
At the East African Visual Artists (EAVA Artists), we, therefore, join like-minded institutions and individuals in calling upon the President of Uganda to send the bill back to parliament for key amendments before it is signed into law.
As a country, we have a lot of ground to cover especially when it comes to the health, education and financial sectors.
The time and resources that were spent on criminalizing a section of our population could have been invested more productively.
We all know that homosexuality as we know it is already criminalised by the Penal Code. Enacting another law, therefore, leaves a lot to be desired.
It is also public knowledge that LGBT people’s rights are human rights. The Members of Parliament who are lawmakers should know better, and as direct representatives of the people in parliament, they are well aware that their electorate is diverse, comprising of people belonging to different religions, political parties, tribes, genders and sexual orientations.
Passing the bill was therefore wrong, and signing it into law will be wrong.
I am therefore calling upon the President of Uganda to do the right thing because two wrongs can not make a right. Don’t sign it until key amendments are made especially regarding the rights of LGBT Ugandans.
