KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United Nations rights chief on Wednesday urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to block an anti-LGBTQ bill that prescribes harsh penalties for some homosexual offenses, including death and life imprisonment.
“The passing of this discriminatory bill — probably among the worst of its kind in the world — is a deeply troubling development,” Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.
And in the U.S., National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said if the law were enacted Washington would “have to take a look” at imposing economic sanctions on Uganda. He noted that this would be “really unfortunate” since most U.S. aid is in the form health assistance, especially anti-AIDS assistance.
Uganda’s legislature passed the bill late Tuesday in a protracted plenary session during which last-minute changes were made to the legislation that originally included penalties of up to 10 years in jail for homosexual offenses.
In the version approved by lawmakers the offense of “aggravated homosexuality” now carries the death penalty. Aggravated homosexuality applies in cases of sex relations involving those infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people.
According to the bill, a suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be jailed for 14 years, and the offense of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years.
The offense of “homosexuality” is punishable by life imprisonment, the same punishment prescribed in a colonial-era penal code criminalizing sex acts “against the order of nature.”
The bill was introduced last month by an opposition lawmaker who said his goal was to punish “promotion, recruitment and funding” related to LGBTQ activities in this East African country where homosexuals are widely disparaged.
The bill now goes to…
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