UGANDAIS MOVING BACKWARDS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

By Yohannes Tesfagabir (BTM Fellow)

Reducing the rate of HIV infection from 16 percent in 1992 to 4-6 percent in 2003, Uganda is widely hailed as Africa’s HIV and AIDS success story. Recently the country has become increasingly hostile towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersex people (LGBTI) therefore indicating the possibility of reversing its achievements in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Both government and church officials have lately been campaigning against homosexuality. Indeed, the intensity of their campaigns send a message that homosexuality just popped up all of a sudden in Uganda and that the government is rushing to save the country. The truth is that, as in any other country, there have been LGBTI people in Uganda a long time ago and there are gay people in Uganda now and there will still be LGBTI people in Uganda in future.

Uganda has a Penal Code that was enacted in 1950 criminalising consensual same sex acts among adults. However, the country is still considering enacting additional laws with a view to wipeout all LGBTI people from its borders.

By doing so, the country is introducing a new form of law thus strengthening the already institutionalised culture of hatred against LGBTI people.
If the proposed law is enacted, it will set a precedent in the homophobic continent.
 
The proposed law is designed to address homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, human sacrifice, drug abuse, embezzlement and witchcraft. From such a list, it is evident that the government is trying to win the hearts of Ugandans by trying to link homosexuality to what citizens consider as social ills.

According to the African Peer Review Mechanism report, Uganda has the World’s third highest population growth rate. The report further notes that “Uganda has the world’s youngest population, 56% under 18 years, and a high fertility rate of 6.9 children per woman. This is a situation which the report says poses a challenge on government’s ability to provide services.”

Ironically religious leaders are not concerned about such problems. They would rather “…pray to God to heal the nation of homosexuality.”

In a country where even higher institutions of learning have banned women from wearing miniskirts, one can easily see that all the noise being voiced in relation to homosexuality is nothing but signs of the age-old desire of men to dominate.
 
One may ask why the government of Uganda is moving backward at a time when it has become clear that alienating LGBTI people will only produce negative impact.

In a meeting conducted to address threats allegedly posed by homosexuality, the minister for ethics and integrity stated that ‘we are not going to be taken advantage of on account of financial support’. Though the minister’s comment implies that homosexuality is up on the market for distribution, such arguments are not new on the continent. Particularly at times of great challenges, such as today, it is African leaders’ area of specialization to use tactics to divert people’s attention from the real challenges that need immediate attention.

In this regard, the government of Uganda seems to have learned from the experts on this area – Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

After all, its homophobic president Yoweri Museveni appears to be heading to become the next Mugabe and playing the homosexuality card seems to be doing the trick for him.

One thing is clear though. No developing country is in a position today to address the challenges posed by economic and social havocs it is confronted with.

The standing that the government of Uganda seems to have chosen will, without doubt, leave the country following the footsteps of Zimbabwe.

Using the scale of the rising standard of human rights, Uganda may still retain the support of the United States which has consistently been homophobic.  At the end of the day, however, it is the not the support or the loss of support that matters. What matters most is human rights of LGBTI Ugandans whose very existence is questioned.

In this regard, unless the government of Uganda is made to reverse its policies, it is not difficult to predict that the gains the country has registered in the fight against HIV/AIDS will be reversed soon.