By Nicola Winter of MediaGlobal (see credit at end of article.)

29 January 2010 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Human rights activists and the majority of the international community were appalled when Uganda introduced a bill last October that among other things, seeks a minimum life sentence for anyone partaking in homosexual activity and the execution of those who test positive for HIV. The bill also mandates that individuals who do not turn in lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals (LGBT) within 24 hours can receive a three-year jail sentence, and anyone who “aids or abets homosexuality,” including humanitarian organizations that offer support to these sexual minorities, can face up to seven years in prison.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called the bill “draconian” and a violation of human rights as it is “blatantly discriminatory.” While the ethics behind the bill are certainly questionable, there is also a potentially deadly impact on Uganda’s fight against HIV. Ryan Thoreson, a Research Fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission based in New York told MediaGlobal that “the bill would make HIV/AIDS efforts for LGBT people difficult or impossible…[as it] would deter people from accessing prevention, treatment, and care by threatening HIV positive LGBT people with the death penalty.”

Currently, 38 African states including Uganda criminalize same-sex relationships, more than any other continent in the world. In December, James Buturo, Uganda’s Minister of Ethics and Integrity announced that the death penalty and life imprisonment might be removed from the proposed bill. However, the version that is currently under consideration has not been amended, and last week, Minister of Parliament David Bahati who sponsored the bill stated that he stands by the current version.

Ironically, Uganda is a good example of how the spread of HIV was successfully managed. Since the first HIV outbreaks in the 1980s, Uganda has gone from having one of the highest infection rates to one of the lowest. In 1991, 15 percent of all adults were HIV positive. By 2001, this number had dropped to about 5 percent. This drastic reduction in infection rates can be attributed to a number of factors. First, in 1987 Uganda introduced the ABC initiative, which promoted abstinence, being faithful, and condom usage. A widespread grassroots movement was also launched to educate people about HIV and to help minimize the stigma around being tested. In 1999, voluntary door-to-door HIV testing was conducted in parts of Uganda. In the district of Bushenyi, infection rates fell from 8.1 percent to 3.1 percent in just three years — progress that was attributed to the door-to-door testing. Hospitals also automatically began testing everyone for HIV, unless the patient requested otherwise, and free anti-retroviral drugs have been available since 2004. All this hard work to educate the public and de-stigmatize HIV is at risk of being undone if the bill against homosexuality passes because not only would the bill criminalize the work being done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who aid in the treatment and prevention of HIV, but it would also put a stop to the open discussions about HIV that have been so crucial in lowering infection rates. As Cheikh Traore the Senior Policy Advisor on Sexual Diversity at UNDP explained to MediaGlobal, criminalization of homosexuality “increases stigma, drives behaviors underground, and discourages vulnerable groups from accessing testing and other HIV-related services. This in turn fuels the spread of HIV.”

Some supporters of the bill welcome the proposed laws that would rid Uganda of its LGBT population, and feel it would also stop the spread of HIV. However, research shows that even though the bill is directed toward the LGBT community, it most likely would cause an increase in HIV in the heterosexual population as well. Traore explained that this is because the bill would “exacerbate the permeability between same-sex and heterosexual networks.” As Dr. Nicholas Muraguri of the Kenyan National Aids and STD Control Program explained to globalgayz.com in July 2009, “Half of the clients of men who have sex with men are actually married and therefore they may be a bridge for HIV infections [among heterosexual people].”

Ultimately, if Uganda is trying to keep the spread of HIV in check, further criminalization of homosexuality is highly likely to be detrimental to this effort. In fact, recent data from a UNAIDS study in the Caribbean where some countries have recently decriminalized homosexuality, suggests that “legal prohibition of sodomy and sex between men could be a contributing factor to the higher levels of the epidemic.”

MEDIAGLOBAL is the global news agency, based in the United Nations Secretariat, creating awareness in the media for the countries of the global South, with a strong focus on South-South Cooperation. The media company is one of the leading providers of information on global development issues facing vulnerable countries. MediaGlobal’s news stories are read by leaders of developed countries, the global media, policymakers in donor countries, non-governmental organizations and key personnel in the United Nations Secretariat, its agencies and managers in the field worldwide. Please contact us at: UNITED NATIONS, Room 301, UN Secretariat, New York, NY 10017. Telephone: 212.963.9878. Mobile: 609.529.6129. Email: media@mediaglobal.org. Website:www.mediaglobal.org

Tags: Uganda