Category: East Africa
Refugees could be put at risk in Uganda under proposed Dutch deal
By Joto La Jiwe
The government of the Netherlands has approached Uganda authorities with a proposal that could see the East African nation be [...]
Senior Ugandan official calls for decriminalization of homosexuality
By Joto La Jiwe
The Chair of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Mariam Wangadya has called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, a [...]
Ugandan LGBTQI activist Clare Byarugaba wins prestigious human rights award
By Joto La Jiwe
Clare Byarugaba, a renowned Ugandan LGBTQI rights activist whose recent photo with Pope Francis went viral online, has been n [...]
In Africa, Moscow battles against LGBTQ rights, side by side with U.S. religious conservatives
The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, African politicians and activists from the American religious right have been working side by [...]
Canada expels Uganda’s homophobic envoy
Canada has expelled Uganda’s High Commissioner Joy Ruth Acheng, accusing her of breaching the diplomatic code of conduct.
Acheng has served as [...]
Pope meets African activists, supports their struggle for LGBTIQ rights
Pope Francis this week made a point of supporting the work of African LGBTIQ rights activists, meeting in person with prominent leaders of the LGB [...]
A decade of failure at the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights
COMMENTARY
Back in 2014, it sounded so good: The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) passed a resolution opposing human rig [...]
Europe heaps praise on Uganda, turns a blind eye to Ugandan repression
This is a commentary from Fabrice Houdart’s weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality. Click here to subscribe. Houdart is executive director of the Associ [...]
U.S. Supreme Court laid foundation for Ugandan ‘Kill the Gays’ ruling
The Ugandan court that endorsed the nation's 2023 "Kill the Gays" law drew inspiration from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning its [...]
Open letter: S. Africa must demand human rights in Uganda and Ghana, not just in Gaza
Seventeen social justice organizations have issued an open letter to South Africa's international relations minister, urging him to condemn violat [...]
Ugandan court widely condemned for upholding harsh anti-LGBTQ law
By Joto La Jiwe
Uganda's Constitutional Court has come under widespread condemnation for its April 3 ruling that left intact the bulk of the [...]
The West fiddles while Uganda prepares a future of anti-LGBTQ horrors
"A sign of horrors to come."
"The dehumanization of homosexual citizens."
LGBTQ+ people continuing to be "ostracized from our communities, [...]
Ugandan top court OKs cruel, flawed Anti-Homosexuality Act
Uganda's Constitutional Court ruled today that the nation's Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 violates citizens' "right to health, privacy and freedom of re [...]
Links between Ugandan and U.S. hate groups are clearer than ever
COMMENTARY
By Joto La Jiwe
The propagators of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) 2023 have always claimed that the law is about protectin [...]
Uganda squirms as pressure mounts to repeal anti-gay law
By Joto La Jiwe
As human rights defenders inside and outside of Uganda await a Constitutional Court ruling on petitions challenging the Anti-Ho [...]
Protest targets Ugandan plan to praise anti-LGBT law in England
By Joto La Jiwe
Human rights activists based in and outside Uganda have petitioned the government of the United Kingdom, urging it to cancel an [...]
Uganda risks HIV upsurge due to harsh new Anti-Homosexuality Law
New York Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli traveled to Uganda and talked to more than 30 citizens and medical providers about the health impacts of th [...]
Amid global disputes over LGBT rights, Uganda takes Non-Aligned Movement chair
By Otako Ofampa
Facing stiff criticism from Western countries for its harsh new anti-gay law, Uganda has taken on a three-year chairmanship of [...]
Secret LGBT-friendly church welcomes and protects Kenyan worshippers
For the past ten years, a secret church in Kenya has been worshipping God, welcoming LGBT members and proclaiming the value of queer people's live [...]
Uganda medical researchers ordered to report homosexuals to the government
Medical researchers are crying foul over a new directive from Uganda's National Council for Science and Technology requiring them to report any st [...]
Hope for HIV vaccine falters as Africa-led project ends vaccine trial
An African-led, European-supported HIV prevention study, PrEPVacc, announced today that it is halting its tests of a potential HIV vaccine.
T [...]
World Bank will not resume Uganda projects without LGBTQ safeguards
By Joto La Jiwe
The World Bank has declared that it will insist on LGBTQ rights safeguards before new Uganda funding resumes, after it was halt [...]
Legal challenges to anti-LGBTQ laws are under way in at least 10 nations
Legal challenges to anti-LGBTQ laws are under way in Africa and in the Caribbean. In the map above, which shows the 66 nations with anti-homosexua [...]
Hundreds oppose LGBTQ people during slanderous Kenyan protest
Human rights organizations have condemned an anti-LGBTQ protest attended by hundreds who chanted hateful and misleading slogans in Nairobi, Kenya, [...]
Number of nations with laws against gay sex falls to 66
The number of nations with laws against gay sex has fallen to 66, continuing the slow, decades-long progress toward recognition of the human right [...]
African island nation Mauritius overturns anti-sodomy law
The Supreme Court of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius today overturned the Mauritian law against consensual sexual intercourse between [...]
Reeling from over 500 anti-LGBT abuses, Ugandan activists plead for help from West
Human rights activists in Uganda are appealing for a stronger response from Western nations that oppose Uganda's harsh new Anti-Homosexuality Act. [...]
Homosexuality has always been African, but the term LGBT is new and divisive
By Steeves Winner
Although homosexual practices exist everywhere on the African continent, many Africans reject the idea of a homosexual identi [...]
Violence against LGBTQ Ugandans surges after Anti-Homosexuality Act
By Joto La Jiwe
A new report by the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), has revealed a rapid increase in cases of violence and [...]
United front against homophobic Ugandan law? Europe says no.
Supporters of the human rights of LGBTQ people have failed to present a united front against Uganda's harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Despite app [...]
Arson destroys offices of Ugandan trans organization
Arsonists attacked the offices of Uganda's TranzNetwork advocacy group on Sept. 10.
TranzNetwork Uganda is a network of organisations that work [...]
Ethiopian LGBTQ people fighting for their lives amid government crackdown
Authorities in Ethiopia have initiated a crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. Rights activists have branded it a diversionary tactic in the wake of [...]
Rights defenders support World Bank suspending loans to Uganda
World Bank cut off new loans to Uganda over the recently passed Anti-Homosexuality Act
LGBT rights activist Dr. Frank Mugisha says he support [...]
Do not discriminate against gay patients, Ugandan authorities tell health workers
By Joto La Jiwe
In a move that seems aimed at limiting the harms done by Uganda's newly enacted Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), the government of [...]
World Bank suspends loans to Uganda, seeks repeal of Anti-Homosexuality Law
The World Bank has suspended all future loans to the Ugandan government in response to the nation's recent passage of its harsh Anti-Homosexuality [...]
Homophobia is neither Christian nor African, says Ugandan reverend
By Joto La Jiwe
The Rev. Gideon B. Byamugisha, a renowned gay rights advocate who also represents the most at risk people of faith on Uganda's [...]
Iranian President praises anti-LGBTQI+ sentiments in Uganda
By Joto La Jiwe
During his recent state visit to Uganda, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi didn't hide his homophobia as he lauded his Ugandan c [...]
Uganda health ministry says ‘Don’t discriminate’, but the law says otherwise
Uganda's Ministry of Health is worried that the nation's harsh new Anti-Homosexuality Law will cripple the country's battle against HIV/AIDS.
F [...]
LGBTQ+ refugees in Africa celebrate Pride safely, joyously, nutritiously
Refugees in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia celebrated Pride this month with nutritious, festive meals organized by the human rights advocates of the Afr [...]
Four African nations’ battles against gay-themed films
Officials in Cameroon, Kenya, Egypt and Uganda take different approaches
Four scenes -- among many -- of homophobic African officia [...]
Ugandan anti-gay law empties out HIV clinics, cuts legal aid
LGBTI patients fear to leave their homes. Advocacy of LGBTI rights on hold at Ugandan legal aid organization.
As fearful HIV patients desert [...]
Emboldened by anti-gay law, Ugandans besiege the LGBTQ community
Now that Uganda's cruel new Anti-Homosexuality Act has taken effect, the Ugandan LGBTQ community is under siege,
Human rights activist Frank Mu [...]
Cruel Ugandan anti-gay law takes effect; legal challenges pending
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Uganda's harsh new Anti-Homosexuality Act took effect [...]
Legal challenge hits Uganda’s cruel anti-gay law; U.S. weighs travel bans, funding cuts
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U.S. officials are preparing for possible travel rest [...]
Immediate backlash after Uganda president signs cruel anti-gay bill into law
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Uganda President Yoweri Museveni today signed the cruel, [...]
Report: Hundreds of LGBTI refugees still at risk in Kenyan refugee camps
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Amnesty International and Kenya's non-governmental Na [...]
Appeal to Uganda president: Save lives, ‘lead from the front’ by rejecting anti-gay bill
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COMMENTARY
President Museveni, Please Tear Up This B [...]
African Human Rights Commission affirms intersex people’s rights
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, [...]
Ugandan peer educators — gay, arrested, labeled as porn actors
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The executive director of the non-profit African Human Rights [...]
Ugandan LGBTQ activist readies for the fight of his life
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As Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni nears a decision abo [...]