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KAMPALA, March 21 (AP) – Ugandan lawmakers responded to popular sentiment by passing a bill that would make crimes related to same-sex relationships punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but impose severe penalties on the East African nation’s LGBTQ community. more pressure.
The bill was passed in a packed parliamentary chamber late Tuesday, with the speaker of the House of Representatives repeatedly warning of the need to identify potential opponents of the bill.
It was backed by nearly all of the 389 lawmakers present.
“Congratulations,” said Speaker Anita Among. “Whatever we are doing, it is for the people of Uganda.”
An earlier version of the law, enacted in 2014, was later struck down by a court on procedural grounds. Human Rights Watch described the legislation as a “worse version” of a 2014 law that attracted widespread international attention and was defeated under pressure from Uganda’s development partners.
The bill will now go to President Yoweri Museveni, who can veto it or sign it into law. In a recent speech, he said he supported the bill, accusing unnamed Western countries of “trying to impose their practices on others.”
The bill was introduced last month by an opposition lawmaker who said he aimed to punish “promotion, recruitment and financing” of LGBTQ activities.
His bill creates a crime of “serious homosexuality,” which applies to cases involving sexual relationships involving HIV-infected people, minors and other vulnerable groups.
It was unclear what the punishment for the crime would be after a last-minute amendment at a protracted plenary meeting in the capital Kampala.
The bill also provides for the crime of “attempted homosexuality”, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Same-sex sex is already punishable by life in prison under a colonial-era law targeting “carnal knowledge contrary to the natural order”, based in part on a dissident report from a parliamentary committee reviewing the bill ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Fox-Odoi, a lawmaker representing dissidents, said the bill was “badly conceived” and unconstitutional because it “criminalizes individuals rather than acts”.
According to Human Rights Watch, the bill, if signed into law, “would violate several fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and association, privacy, equality, and non-discrimination.
“One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalizes people simply because of who they are, and further violates privacy rights, as well as Uganda’s already compromised freedoms of speech and association,” Oryem Nyeko of the group said this month. said in an earlier statement. “Ugandan politicians should focus on passing laws that protect vulnerable minorities and affirm fundamental rights, and stop targeting LGBT people for political capital.”
Anti-gay sentiment has risen in Uganda in recent weeks amid alleged sodomy incidents at boarding schools, including a prominent incident of a boy in which a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son. Authorities are investigating the case.
Uganda’s LGBTQ community has faced pressure in recent years from civilian authorities to pass tough new laws punishing same-sex behaviour.
Uganda’s body that oversees the work of NGOs last year halted the operations of the country’s most prominent LGBTQ group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, accusing it of failing to register legally. But the head of the group said his group had been rejected by the Companies Registry as unpopular.
The Church of England’s recent decision to bless civil marriages for same-sex couples has also angered many, including some who believe homosexuality is an import from abroad.
“The Church of England has turned its back on the Anglican faith and is now a false teacher,” Ugandan Archbishop Stephen Kazimba said in a statement last month describing the “immediate crisis.”
Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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