Uganda Under Fire For Gay Stance

By Benjamin Cohen • October 10, 2005 - 0:00

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At the same time that Britain and Canada sought to legalise same sex relationships in civil partnerships, Uganda's Parliament amended their constitution to criminalize marriage between people of the same sex.

Victor Juliet Mukasa, of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), fears for her safety after her house was raided in the middle of the night last week, by local government officials who seized documents and other material they believed to be in breach of the new constitutional amendment.

Another lesbian activist, who was in Juliet's house on the night of the raid, was arrested and detained by local government officials and then taken to a police station. Amnesty says she was subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment, in breach of her right to liberty, security and inviolability of person and to privacy. No charges were pressed against her and she was released, on the condition that she reported back to the police in the company of the chairperson of SMUG the following morning of 21 July.

Amnesty, who campaign for human rights across the world said in a statement that the Ugandan government must show respect to LGBT people in accordance with international human rights law which states that people have "the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation." Uganda is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

There was no one able to comment from the Ugandan embassy prior to publication.

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