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By Godfrey Olukya 10-12-2012
Worlwide human rights movement, ‘The International Federation of Human Rights’ (FIDH) is irked by the speeding up of the voting process of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill before Ugandan Parliament, as Uganda’s speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga recently promised that the draconian BiIl would pass by Year’s end as a Christmas gift to it’s backers.
The International Federation for Human Rights is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the oldest international human rights organization worldwide and today brings together 164 member organizations in over 100 countries.
FIDH is non-partisan, nonsectarian, and independent of any government.
The bill, which is aimed at putting into the national penal code provisions that further criminalize the offense of homosexuality, was first introduced before Ugandan Parliament in October 2009.
After much ‘noise from civil society organizations and donor governments the debate was halted .
After two years, recently it was re-introduced before Ugandan Parliament in it’s original version. Uganda”s parliament speaker, Rebecca Kadaga supported it return and promised to help in passing it.
FIDH’s president, Souhayr Belhassen said that they are concerned about the dangerous bill. He said the bill would bring about further discrimination of the gays if adopted.
He said, ‘If adopted by the Ugandan Parliament, this Bill will not only further entrench discrimination and inequality before law, but it will also be a sword of Damocles more dangling over all Ugandan LGBTI citizens’ head as well as over their relatives, friends and more generally those defending their rights. It has to be rejected unconditionally.’
According to FIDH, no substantial changes have been made to the 2009 text which calls for death of those caught committing aggravated homosexuality.
The organization further argues that the bill and the debate surrounding it’s reintroduction before Parliament are symptomatic of the more general hindrances to civil and political rights prevailing in the country.
FIDH said that In a state that follows the law, authorities are expected to guarantee and protect the rights of all its citizens, not to persecute and discriminate them. It requested the government of Uganda to reject the bill unconditionally.
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