|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
Uganda: Parliament committee backs anti-gay bill, recommends retaining death penalty
From a Human Rights Watch press release
2011-05-18
|
|
This article shared 4444 times since Wed May 18, 2011
|
|
( Kampala, May 12, 2011 ) -- The Ugandan parliament's Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has regrettably recommended passage of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, including retaining the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," Human Rights Watch said today. The committee's report, as seen by Human Rights Watch, recommends amendments deleting some provisions but adding criminal penalties for "conduct [ ing ] a marriage ceremony between persons of the same sex."
The committee's report is likely to be presented to parliament on May 13, 2011, as part of a debate before the bill could be up for a vote. Such reports are required under parliamentary procedure. The committee said that it consulted with several key stakeholders in generating its recommendations, including civil society, government agencies, including the Justice Ministry, Uganda Law Reform Commission, prisons, and the Uganda Human Rights Commission. It is not clear how many committee members participated in drafting the report. At consultations attended by Human Rights Watch only three of the committee's 20 members were present."It should be scrapped. The committee's recommendations fall wholly short of making this a bill worth parliament's time," said Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender ( LGBT ) Program at Human Rights Watch. "Even if these suggestions are taken on board, the bill will remain discriminatory, a profound threat to Uganda's LGBT community and put Uganda at odds with its fundamental human rights obligations."
The committee proposes amendments to the October 2009 draft bill. Despite the suggestion by the bill's author, David Bahati, that the death penalty could be deleted from the legislation, the committee recommends retaining it. The committee proposes rewording the provision to align with the current Penal Code provision on "aggravated defilement," which is punishable by death.
Some recommendations integrate concerns raised by Ugandan and international human rights groups. The committee states that provisions criminalizing "attempted" homosexuality should be removed, rightly stating such allegations would be very difficult to prove, Human Rights Watch said. The committee also recognizes that provisions requiring anyone who knows of homosexual conduct to report to police within 24 hours would create "problems especially to professionals whose ethics include confidentiality in order to be able to carry out their functions like Doctors, Lawyers and Counselors."
The committee also suggests removing the clauses on extra-territorial prosecution of homosexuality and on nullifying Uganda's international human rights obligations to the extent that they contradict the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The committee recommends the creation of an additional crime, "conduct [ ing ] a marriage ceremony between persons of the same sex," punishable by three years in prison, which was not in the original draft. It also suggests deleting the crimes of "aiding and abetting homosexuality," and "conspiracy to commit homosexuality," but including a penalty of seven years in prison for "procuring homosexuality by threats." The committee did not comment on the current proposed provision criminalizing the "promotion of homosexuality," which would jeopardize the legitimate work of national and international activists and organizations working to defend and promote human rights in Uganda.
|
|
|
|
This article shared 4444 times since Wed May 18, 2011
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Women's History Month doesn't do enough to lift up Black lesbians 2024-03-12 - Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective (CRC) was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by ...
|
| | WORLD South Africa murder, lesbian couple, Brianna Ghey, Eurovision 2024-02-16 - In South Africa, LGBTQ+-rights groups condemned the brutal murder of Diego Jacobs, a queer man in Cape Town, The Washington Blade reported. Reports indicate Jacobs, 21, was brutally murdered (reportedly by a former neighbor) on Feb. ...
|
| | WORLD Mauritius ruling, Justin Trudeau, couple attacked, Dame Shirley Bassey 2023-10-13 - In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court of Mauritius decriminalized same-sex sexual relations when it declared the African country's British colonial-era anti-sodomy laws relations to be unconstitutional, The Advocate reported. ...
|
| | WORLD African efforts, HIV in Amsterdam, Donatella Versace, 'The Queen in Me' 2023-09-28 - A new attempt to prevent the recognition of and equal rights for LGBTQ+ people in Kenya through a constitutional amendment has been introduced in Parliament, The Washington Blade reported. The move was in response to this ...
|
| | DANCE Deeply Rooted performing Nov. 3 at the Auditorium Theatre 2023-09-27 - The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., is presenting Deeply Rooted Dance Theatera Chicago-based contemporary dance company rooted in traditions of American and African-American dancein a one-night-only performance ...
|
| | Megan Rapinoe receives send-off in last international match 2023-09-25 - Lesbian soccer icon Megan Rapinoe received a triumphant send-off in her last international match, and the United States beat South Africa 2-0 at Chicago's Soldier Field on Sept. 24, per ABC News. Trinity Rodman and Emily ...
|
| | Rapinoe's last international match to take place in Chicago on Sept. 24 2023-08-31 - Lesbian soccer icon and two-time Women's World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe will play her last professional match against South Africa on Sunday, Sept. 24, in Chicago, U.S. Soccer announced. The match (scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT) ...
|
| | African American Arts Alliance of Chicago names new president for first time in 25 years 2023-08-21 --From a press release - CHICAGOThe nonprofit African American Arts Alliance of Chicago announced Charlique C. Rolle as its new board president, effective immediately. Rolle is the first new president in the Alliance's 26-year history ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ Chicagoans mark 30 years in Bud Billiken Parade 2023-08-13 By Vernon Hester and Matt Simonette - The annual Bud Billiken Parade kicked off on the morning of Aug. 12, carrying on the tradition of starting the school year with a celebration. Hailed as the largest African American parade in the country—and the ...
|
| | WORLD Iranian president, HIV in Asia, asylum, lesbian moms 2023-07-21 - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi praised Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for signing the African country's Anti-Homosexuality Act, The Washington Blade noted. Iran is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations ...
|
| | Uganda's parliament passes slightly revised anti-LGBTQ+ measure 2023-05-03 - On May 2, Uganda's parliament passed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ+ bills for a second timeand it's largely unchanged. The African country's new bill retains most of the harshest measures of the legislation that passed ...
|
| | OBAMA-OLOGY coming to Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in June 2023-04-26 --From a press release - Evanston, IL — Tim Rhoze, Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, has announced the cast for the company's season-opening Chicago premiere of OBAMA-OLOGY by Aurin Squire. The play is about a young gay African American college graduate ...
|
| | WORLD Zero Discrimination Day, African countries, facility damaged, travel items 2023-03-10 - On Zero Discrimination Day this year (March 1), under the theme "Save lives: Decriminalize," UNAIDS showed how the decriminalization of key populations and people living with HIV saves lives and helps advance the end of the ...
|
| | Pope criticizes anti-gay laws after Africa trip 2023-02-07 - On Feb. 5, Pope Francisalong with the head of the Anglican Communion and top Presbyterian ministerdenounced the criminalization of homosexuality and said churches should welcome gay people, Time reported. The ...
|
| | HRC Chicago to bestow annual Community Visibility Award, spotlight local partners 2022-11-04 -- From a press release - CHICAGO, IL, November 3, 2022 — E. Patrick Johnson, Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University is to be recognized for distinguished service ...
| |
|
|
|
|