A façade posture? The White House's economic threats to the Ugandan president ultimately had little effect. The anti-LGBT+ law, described in March as "discriminatory text, probably the worst of its kind in the world" by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, maintains its harshest measures in its amended version, voted by the Parliament of Uganda on Tuesday 2 May.

In its new version, the text retains heavy penalties for homosexual relations and the "promotion" of homosexuality.

President Yoweri Museveni refused to sign the first draft, after it was adopted by Ugandan MPs on 21 March, in the face of "numerous pressures from the country's Western partners, including that of the United States, which threatened to suspend a $400 million AIDS and HIV treatment programme". This time, however, the head of state has already announced that he will validate the new project if he considers it "correctly modified", says the regional correspondent of France 24 Clément Di Roma.

Among the changes required, the president had urged Ugandan lawmakers to clarify that "being homosexual" was not a crime but only sexual relations were.

Death penalty retained for repeat offences

In this country where homosexuality is illegal, "acts of homosexuality" remain punishable by life imprisonment. This penalty has existed since a law dating back to British colonization.

"The simple fact of identifying oneself as a member of the LGBT+ community is certainly no longer punishable in this new draft but the hard lines remain, such as the death penalty which applies in some cases, such as for what the deputies call 'aggravated homosexual acts' [recidivism, editor's note] or 20 years in prison supposed to punish the promotion of homosexuality, which could penalize LGBT+ defense associations," says Clément Di Roma.

The parliamentarians maintained, against the advice of the head of state, the provision making "aggravated homosexuality" a capital crime, which means that repeat offenders can be sentenced to death, even if the death penalty has not been applied in practice for years.

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For Alexandre Marcel, of the Idaho Committee, an international NGO that organizes actions against homophobia, the removal of part of the measures is nevertheless a step forward. "For the crime to be recognized," he explains, "there will have to be flagrante delicto of the sexual act. However, flagrant crimes of homosexuality are rare in countries where this criminalization is applied, such as Cameroon."

With this type of law, however, he warns, LGBT people are likely to be blackmailed: "Often, they are victims of fraud. They encounter malicious people on social media who take intimate photos or steal their phones and end up blackmailing them."

In a forthcoming appeal co-signed by other LGBT+ rights groups, the Idaho committee calls for a moratorium on laws criminalizing homosexuality around the world.

Health risk for LGBT+ people

Another provision planed by MPs at the request of Yoweri Museveni: the measure on "the duty to report acts of homosexuality" which, according to the president, presented "constitutional challenges and could be a source of conflict in society".

On the other hand, the parliamentarians validated the criminalization of the "promotion" of homosexuality, another measure decried by the international community. According to the text, anyone - individual or organization - "knowingly promotes homosexuality" faces up to 20 years in prison. If it is an organization, it faces a ten-year ban.

"There is a contradiction because the law says you can be gay but you shouldn't say anything about it," said Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a gay rights organization whose operations were suspended by Ugandan authorities last year. The unanimous vote of the text "shows how extreme and homophobic MEPs are and puts LGBT+ people even more at risk," he warns.

This provision "puts the lives of LGBT people in danger", abounds Alexandre Marcel. "Aid organizations will find it even harder to reach key populations at risk of sexually transmitted diseases. In countries that criminalize homosexuality, very few LGBT people will get tested for fear of being discovered. However, fewer people screened means fewer people treated, it poses a health risk for these people."

Popularity of the Anti-Homosexuality Law

Homophobia is widespread in Uganda, as it is throughout the rest of East Africa. While there have been no prosecutions for homosexual acts in recent years, harassment and intimidation are the daily life of homosexuals in this country, where an evangelical Christianity has developed particularly vehement towards the LGBT+ movement.

"Only one MP present voted against the bill. It was adopted in just a few hours when it usually takes 45 days. This shows the popularity of anti-homosexuality texts among Ugandans and their representatives," said Di Roma.

Opposition reactions have been rare in the country ruled with an iron fist since 1986 by Yoweri Museveni, where repression against civil society, lawyers and activists has increased in recent years, according to many human rights organizations.

With AFP

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