Uganda’s Human Rights Hokey Pokey

It seems like Uganda is taking two steps forward and one step backward this week in terms of securing human rights for its citizens. Amid growing debate regarding the national Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the Ugandan parliament unanimously passed a law which not only outlaws the practice of female genital mutilation, but imposes a strict punishments of ten year to life-long sentences for convicted perpetrators.

Not a single parliamentary member spoke against the bill, and Francis Epetait, Uganda’s shadow health minister explained the reasoning:

“This practice has left so many women in misery. So we are saying no. We cannot allow women to be dehumanised.”

So as gender activists celebrate in Uganda, national rights advocates still cringe as the likelihood of the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill looms nearer. The Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law released a statement yesterday to mark International Human Rights day in which they call the pending bill an “unprecedented threat to Ugandan’s human rights:

“Uganda today stands at a crossroads. We can either turn further towards an agenda of divisionism and discrimination, and pay the costs in terms of internal suppression of our own citizens coupled with international isolation and marginalization, or we can embrace diversity, human rights and constitutionalism.”

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