Uganda: Ruling Against LGBT Activists Violates Rights
Human Rights Watch - 13 hours ago
An asylum seeker from Uganda marches with the LGBT Asylum Support Task
Force during the Gay Pride Parade in Boston, Massachusetts on June 8,
2013.
(c) 2013 Reuters
The deeply flawed High Court decision in this case sacrifices freedom
of expression and assembly in the pursuit of a discriminatory
political agenda. By the court's logic, educating people about the law
would incite them to commit crimes.
Neela Ghoshal, senior researcher, LGBT rights
(Nairobi) - The decision of the Ugandan High Court published on July
9, 2014, endorsing the government closure of a
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
rights workshop violates the right to freedom of assembly, Human
Rights Watch said today. Justice Stephen Musota ruled against four
LGBT rights activists who had sued the ethics and integrity minister,
Simon Lokodo, for shutting down a February 2012 workshop.
The judge ruled that the workshop participants were "promoting" or
"inciting" same-sex acts. "Carnal knowledge against the order of
nature" is criminalized under Uganda's Penal Code. Justice Musota
rejected the activists' argument that the purpose of the workshop was
to develop human rights advocacy and leadership skills, finding that
such objectives were simply a cover for promoting same-sex acts. The
judge reasoned that human rights training on LGBT rights is itself a
form of incitement to engage in prohibited same-sex practices. The
plaintiffs are appealing the ruling to the Appeals Court.
"The deeply flawed High Court decision in this case sacrifices freedom
of expression and assembly in the pursuit of a discriminatory
political agenda," said Neela Ghoshal, senior LGBT rights researcher
at Human Rights Watch. "By the court's logic, educating people about
the law would incite them to commit crimes."
At the time of the workshop, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014, which
criminalizes the so-called "promotion of homosexuality," was not yet
in effect.
Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), a group that works for the rights of
lesbian and bisexual women and transgender people, held the workshop
at a hotel in Entebbe, on February 12, 2012. Minister Lokodo
personally participated in the raid with his police escort,
confiscating materials and threatening to arrest participants.
In March 2012, the workshop organizer, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera,
and three participants - Frank Mugisha, Pepe Julian Onziema, and
Geoffrey Ogwaro - filed a civil lawsuit against Minister Lokodo and
the attorney general, contending that closing down the workshop
violated their constitutional rights. After a series of postponements,
the High Court heard the case in December 2013.
The judgment, orally delivered on June 24 and published in full on
July 9, relies on an affidavit by one alleged "ex-gay," who said that
the organizations were "training homosexual youths to safely engage in
the same-sex practices by distributing condoms." Justice Musota relies
on this claim to support his judgment, finding that "[a]ll these
activities amount to direct or indirect promotion of same-sex
practices."
"From the High Court judgment, it could be inferred that it is now
illegal in Uganda to conduct HIV prevention activities, targeting men
who have sex with men, including the distribution of condoms," Ghoshal
said. "Such an outrageous position should rightly scare anyone who
cares about the prospects for public health in Uganda, and about
issues as basic as saving lives."
The judgment notes as justification for closing down the workshop that
article 43 of Uganda's constitution and article 27 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights permit limitations on the rights
to freedom of expression and of assembly in the public interest or on
grounds of "morality." However, it ignores the requirement for such
limitations to be necessary, proportionate and non-discriminatory.
Limitations to protect "morals" are also permitted under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Uganda
is a state party. But the UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets
the covenant, has advised governments that, "limitations... for the
purpose of protecting morals must be based on principles not deriving
exclusively from a single tradition. Any such limitations must be
understood in the light of universality of human rights and the
principle of non-discrimination."
Human Rights Watch has documented that the Ugandan government is
deploying hostile rhetoric and an array of tactics to intimidate and
obstruct the work of nongovernmental organizations on sensitive issues
such as governance, human rights, land, oil, and the rights of LGBT
people. Tactics include not only closing meetings, but also forcing
representatives of independent groups to issue apologies, suspensions
of activities, as well as occasional physical violence, threats,
harassment, and heavy-handed bureaucratic interference in the
registration and operation of nongovernmental groups.
"The court's judgment is yet another blow to activism and advocacy,
essential elements of any human-rights-respecting democracy," Ghoshal
said. "Uganda's international partners should speak up about the
threats to LGBT and other nongovernmental groups, particularly the
ongoing escalation in government hostility toward freedom of
expression and association."
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