Reported by Kerry Howard Mwesigwa
Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 passed a mostly unchanged version of one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills, which retains the harshest measures of the legislation adopted in March.
The bill includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality. This move has been condemned by the US, European Union, major corporations, and UN human rights head, Volker Türk, arguing that it is discriminatory and infringes on human rights.
Despite President Yoweri Museveni asking lawmakers to remove the duty to report which is subject to a five-year prison term or a fine and to introduce a provision to facilitate the “rehabilitation” of gay people, no such provision has been included in the amended bill.
The President, has 30 days to either sign the legislation into law, return it to parliament for another revision, or veto it and inform the parliamentary speaker. Amnesty International has called on the Ugandan government to urgently protect the rights of LGBTQ individuals in the country and veto the bill.
