Ugandan president indicators anti-LGBTQ legislation with loss of life penalty for same-sex acts
U
ganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has sparked worldwide outrage after signing one of many world’s hardest anti-LGBTQ legal guidelines, together with the death penalty for gay acts.
The new invoice will impose the loss of life penalty or life imprisonment for sure same-sex acts and as much as 20 years in jail for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”.
Anyone convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” will face a 14-year jail sentence.
Same-sex relations have been already unlawful in Uganda, as in additional than 30 African international locations, however the brand new legislation goes a lot additional.
The speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Anita Among, on Monday confirmed that Mr Museveni had assented to the legislation handed by MPs in March.
She tweeted: “The president … has assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. As the parliament of Uganda, we have answered the cries of our people. We have legislated to protect the sanctity of [the] family.”
Clare Byarugaba, a Ugandan rights activist, accused the Government of “state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia”.
“It’s a very dark and sad day for the LGBTIQ community, our allies and all of Uganda,” she stated.
Mr Museveni, 78, has beforehand known as homosexuality a “devitation from normal”.
The White House condemned the invoice handed in March, and final month, the US authorities stated it was assessing the implications of the laws for actions in Uganda beneath PEPFAR, its flagship HIV/AIDS programme.
In a joint assertion on Monday, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) stated the legislation put Uganda’s anti-HIV battle “in grave jeopardy”.
The European Union reiterated a condemnation from March whereas the United Nations human rights physique stated the legislation was a recipe for systematic violation of Ugandans’ rights.
“We are appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill is now law,” it tweeted.