A social media blog on March 31, posted this “Life imprisonment or death penalty” Uganda Legislature passes brutal anti-same-sex bill into law — as US and UN cry over fundamental human rights violation of LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 people.
Washington has even threatened Economic sanctions if President Moseveni dares sign the law. Legislature is done with its part. The Ball is now in Mosveni’s court with a trigger to his head by the US and UN. Let’s see how it plays out. Lol 😂
LGBTQ as used refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, intersex, queer/questioning asexual and many other terms (such as non-binary and pansexual).
The post attracted 266 reactions, 205 comments, and 25 shares.
Verification: The Stage Media checked two things:
1. Human rights violation
2. Alleged threat to impose sanctions on Uganda.
On Wednesday, April 5, 2023, the United Nations and the United States added to the global outcry over a restrictive law passed by Ugandan lawmakers that criminalizes the act of merely identifying as LGBTQ+, mandates a life sentence for homosexual offenders, and imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights asked Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill passed by the Lawmakers of his country one lawmakers on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Volker Türk called the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023 “draconian,” saying it would have negative repercussions on society as a whole and violate the nation’s constitution.
“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.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the bill, which would “undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “We urge the Ugandan Government to strongly reconsider the implementation of this legislation.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke twice this week with Museveni to express “deep concern” about the legislation, a US official told CNN Wednesday.
The new legislation constitutes a further crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in a country where same-sex relations were already illegal – punishable by life imprisonment. It targets an array of activities, and includes a ban on promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality.
According to the bill, the death penalty can be invoked for cases involving “aggravated homosexuality” – a broad term used in the legislation to describe sex acts committed without consent or under duress, against children, people with mental or physical disabilities, by a “serial offender,” or involving incest.
The bill must now go to Museveni for assent. Last week he derided homosexuals as “deviants.”
Uganda made headlines in 2009 when it introduced an anti-homosexuality bill that included a death sentence for gay sex. The country’s Legislators passed a bill in 2014, but they replaced the death penalty clause with a proposal for life in prison. That law was ultimately struck down.
On March 9, 2023, Asuman Basalirwa, a member of the parliament, introduced the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The bill is a revised and more egregious version of the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act, which reinforced existing prison sentences for same-sex conduct and outlawed the “promotion of homosexuality,” but was strucked down by a court on procedural grounds.
If passed, a new measure in Uganda’s parliament criminalizing same-sex behavior and sexual orientation would breach numerous fundamental rights, according to the UN and the US.
Among others, such a law would violate the rights to freedom of expression and association privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination.
“One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalizes people simply for being who they are as well as further infringing on the rights to privacy, and freedoms of expression and association that are already compromised in Uganda,” said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Ugandan politicians should focus on passing laws that protect vulnerable minorities and affirm fundamental rights and stop targeting LGBT people for political capital,” Nyeko said.
Conclusion: It is FALSE because there is no information on the country’s proposed pronounced section, despite Shine Liberia’s assertion that the US had threatened sanctions; nonetheless, it is PARTIALLY TRUE because the UN and the USA oppose the passage of the anti-LGBTQ measure that the Ugandan parliament passed.
By: Joyclyn Wea [email protected]
This story was produced with the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) support.
