Letter to Uganda MPs: Do not adopt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, death penalty or not

Today Members of the European Parliament wrote an urgent open letter to Ugandan parliamentarians, with the clear message: “Do not adopt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill”. Press and activist reports indicate that the Bill may be discussed and voted upon in the coming 24 hours.

MEPs are calling on Ugandan law-makers not to adopt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, whether or not it includes a death penalty clause. They highlight that the Bill is a way of diverting public attention from serious human rights breaches throughout Uganda, including intimidation and violence towards protesters and the opposition.

You can download the full letter (PDF), or read the text version below.

Update (18:30 CET) Activists and journalists in Kampala reliably report that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been adjourned for examination on Friday 13 May. The Associated Press has amended their report accordingly.

Update 2 (13 May) It appears the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has now been definitively shelved, as the current session of the Ugandan Parliament came to an end without examining the text. We congratulate all Ugandan activists and petitioners who made a significant difference, and we stand ready to step up again if the Bill is reintroduced next term.

URGENT OPEN LETTER

To: Rt. Hon. Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuka, Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament; 326 Members of the Ugandan Parliament

Honourable Speaker,
Honourable Members of the Parliament of Uganda,

The world has started reacting to the imminent examination of Mr Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and possibly its adoption before the end of this legislature. If the Bill is not voted upon this week, we understand it may be adopted during Parliament’s next session.

We call on you not to adopt this inhumane Bill not as Europeans, not as aid donors, not as a ‘global moral police’, but as fellow law-makers and fellow human beings. We share your values of human dignity, liberty, peace, and freedom from oppression; and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill goes fully against these values.

Concerns were raised that homosexuality is un-African; yet Africa is not united against homosexuality. While revising its Penal Code a year ago, Rwanda refused to criminalise homosexuality, and made a powerful statement at the United Nations in December 2010 against the persecution of all minorities, including lesbians and gays. Is Rwanda un-African? South Africa enshrined non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in its constitution, and allows same-sex couples to marry. Is South Africa un-African? Gabon, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the Seychelles, São Tomé e Principe, Mauritius and South Africa recently UN made statements against the criminalisation of homosexuality. Are these countries un-African?

We are acutely aware of other, none the less grave, ongoing human rights violations in Uganda. We have learnt of authorities tear-gassing marchers en masse during the 29 April demonstrations; opposition figures being intimidated, imprisoned, or intentionally blinded in a shocking display of inhumanity by national authorities; and national authorities increasingly oppressing the people of Uganda through physical repression, intimidation, or imprisonment.

We are fully aware that the last-minute examination of this Bill is an excellent way of diverting your attention, and with it the attention of the Ugandan people, from these serious concerns.

Our House, elected by 500 million citizens, has formally called on Uganda not to adopt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill on two occasions . We are determined that the adoption of any legislation further criminalising consensual sex between adults (including the adoption of this Bill, whether in its current or in any modified form) will have a severe negative impact on our bilateral relations, in both its aid and its diplomatic dimensions.

We call on you to refrain from further criminalising homosexuality. The people of Uganda deserve that your attention be fully devoted to more pressing concerns, including corruption-free governance, basic commodity prices brought under control, freedom of speech and assembly, and decent living conditions.

Do not adopt this Bill.

Heidi Hautala MEP
Chair, Subcommittee on Human Rights
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

Michael Cashman MEP
Co-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the Alliance of Socialists & Democrats

Ulrike Lunacek MEP
Co-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP
Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the European People’s Party

Raül Romeva i Rueda MEP
Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

Rui Tavares MEP
Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left

Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP
Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Cecilia Wikström MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Gianni Vattimo MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Renate Weber MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Sonia Alfano MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Marietje Schaake MEP
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe