Uganda’s harsh new anti-gay legislation blasted by UN, rights groups
- The legislation would allow people found guilty of ‘aggravated homosexuality’ to face the death penalty. People who engage in homosexual acts can face life in prison
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the bill, ‘probably among the worst of its kind in the world – is a deeply troubling development’
“The passing of this discriminatory bill – probably among the worst of its kind in the world – is a deeply troubling development,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.
“If signed into law by the president, it will render lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are. It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.”
Although anti-gay laws are already in place in the East African country, the latest measures are far more intrusive and the punishments harsher.
The legislation adopted by parliament on Tuesday night, and which now awaits President Yoweri Museveni’s signature, would allow for people who are guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” to face the death penalty.
People who engage in homosexual acts can face life imprisonment.