Global Courant 2023-05-30 16:51:30
US President Joe Biden on Monday threatened trade and travel sanctions against Uganda after the government signed one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws into law.
In a strong chargeBiden called the law “a tragic violation of universal human rights,” and a stain on Uganda’s collective conscience, which threatens economic growth.
“I join people around the world – including many in Uganda – who are calling for its immediate repeal. No one should have to constantly fear for their life or be subjected to violence and discrimination. It’s wrong.”
The enactment of the draconian law has sparked a wave of reports of violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, fueling existential dread among its members, the president warned.
“Innocent Ugandans are now afraid to go to hospitals, clinics or other institutions to receive life-saving medical care lest they become targets of hateful reprisals. Some have been evicted or fired. And the prospect of greater threats – including long prison sentences, violence, abuse – threatens a large number of Ugandans who want nothing more than to live their lives in safety and freedom.”
Washington also reprimanded Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s administration, calling the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill “the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights violations and corruption in Uganda”.
The law has prompted a reevaluation of U.S. involvement in the country, including the president’s emergency plan to fight AIDS (PEPFAR) and other forms of aid and investment, the statement said.
“My administration will also factor the implications of the law into our assessment of Uganda’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). And we are considering additional steps, including the application of sanctions and restrictions on entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights violations or corruption.
AGOA offers eligible Sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products. The US government also funds a significant portion of the country’s health budget, which is also now under threat.
The U.S. invests nearly $1 billion annually in Uganda’s people, businesses, institutions and military to advance its common agenda, the White House statement said.
The new law, passed Monday, imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in sexual relations with HIV-positive people, children or other vulnerable people of the same sex.
Those who have transmitted terminal diseases, such as HIV/AIDS through gay sex, as well as “serious offenders” of homosexual sex acts could also be sentenced to death under the new law.
The new law also provides for a life sentence for committing same-sex sexual acts, a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality and up to 7 years in prison for attempting to “commit the offense of homosexuality”.
Deadly intolerance
The bill received widespread popular support in Uganda, where gay sex was already illegal.
More than 30 African countries outlaw homosexuality, with Mauritania, Somalia and some states in Nigeria all imposing the death penalty as the maximum penalty. Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia punish same-sex relationships with life imprisonment as the maximum penalty. Malawi, Gambia and Kenya also have harsh prison sentences of up to 14 years.
The US president joined a chorus of voices from around the world, including activists in Uganda itself, who called for the immediate repeal of the new law.
An unlikely coalition of political radicals such as Julius Malema, leader of the South African Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and major US corporations such as Microsoft, MasterCard, HSBC, Google and Meta came together to oppose the anti-homosexuality law before it was passed. was passed into law.
