Human rights groups say a climate of fear has been unleashed among LGBTQ people in Uganda since the law was passed in May.
The Ugandan government's passage of one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws has unleashed a torrent of abuses against LGBTQ people, mostly committed by private individuals, human rights groups say.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), enacted in May, prescribes the death penalty for certain acts between people of the same sex. At least six people have been charged under this law, including two charged with the capital crime of “aggravated homosexuality.”
But a report, prepared by a committee of the Convention for Equality (CFE) coalition and made public on Thursday, says that the main perpetrators of human rights abuses against LGBTQ people this year – including torture, rape, arrests and evictions – were private.
The report said this pointed to how the law and the rampant homophobic rhetoric that preceded its passage earlier in the year had radicalized the public against the LGBTQ community.
For example, according to the report, mob-assisted arrests have become increasingly common “because the AHA has put LGBTIQ+ people in the position of persons of interest, and the public appears to be the custodian of enforcing the hunt.” of witches".
Between January 1 and August 31, researchers documented 306 rights violations based on the victims' sexual orientation and gender identity, with state actors as perpetrators in 25 of those cases.
By contrast, reports from human rights activists in 2020 and 2021 found that state actors were responsible for nearly 70 percent of the rights violations documented in those years. The report did not provide comparative figures for 2022.
The report's authors said they had documented 18 cases in which police performed forced anal examinations on people in their custody to gather "evidence" of homosexuality.
“Surviving a forced anal examination at the police [stations] It is something that lives with you forever,” he quoted one survivor.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga told Reuters news agency he had not yet read the report and could not comment.
The report warned that its statistics could not be considered exhaustive given the difficulties LGBTQ people face in reporting rape. The climate of fear and intimidation unleashed by the law has also led to an increase in cases of mental health problems in the LGBTQ community, including suicidal thoughts, he said.
Since its enactment in May, the law has drawn widespread condemnation around the world. In June, the United States imposed travel restrictions on Ugandan officials in response to legislation and the World Bank Announced in August that suspended project financing to the country.
