Nairobi (BLAZETRENDS)
As reported today by the speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, the president “has executed his constitutional mandate (…). He has consented to the Anti-Homosexuality Law, ”she considers one of the strictest in the world.
“As the Parliament of Uganda, we have responded to the cry of our people. We have legislated to protect the sanctity of the family under Article 31 of the Constitution of Uganda. We have stood firm to defend our culture and the aspirations of our people”, stressed the president of the Ugandan Legislative Assembly.
Among thanked Museveni for his “firm action in the interest of Uganda” and the parliamentarians who passed the bill “for resisting all the pressure from bullies and doomsday conspiracy theorists in the interest of our country”.
“The people of Uganda have spoken and it is now their duty to enforce the law fairly, unchangeably and firmly,” he concluded.
Death penalty
Museveni promulgated the new bill that Parliament approved on the 2nd and that still includes long prison sentences and the death penalty for some crimes, despite the president’s desire that the original text be softened after harsh condemnation from the West .
The head of state had refused to ratify the controversial project approved on March 21 by Parliament, and asked that it be modified so that it does not condemn the identity of LGBTIQ people, but rather their actions.
The Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs annulled the clauses that alluded to identity.
However, the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” (a broad term used to refer to having intimate relationships with a minor or other vulnerable groups) remains punishable by the death penalty.
The previous version also required Ugandans to report any suspected homosexual activity to the Police, or else they could face six months in prison.
Lawmakers agreed to amend that provision after an appeal by the president, and the reporting requirement now applies only to alleged sexual offenses against children and vulnerable persons, with an increased penalty to five years in jail.
Condemnation of the international community
Under the newly enacted law, anyone who “knowingly promotes homosexuality” can be sentenced to up to twenty years in jail, a provision that was unchanged from the original bill.
The legislative text has been harshly criticized by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, as well as by human rights organizations.
The United Nations Office for Human Rights today declared itself “horrified” at the approval of this new law.
The Joint UN Program against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) also issued a joint statement with other international health organizations in which it expressed its deep concern about the consequences that the regulation may have.
Currently, a law from 1950 prevails in Uganda – the country became independent from the United Kingdom in 1962 – which penalizes intimate relations between people of the same sex with up to life imprisonment, although it is not usually applied.
