Rights body pins Uganda for cyber-harassing gays

Online attacks against Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) communities have surged due to overly broad laws that criminalise their identities and foster discrimination, according to a new report released on Wednesday by Amnesty International. 

The report titled, "Everybody here is having two lives or phones: The devastating impact of criminalisation on digital spaces for LGBTQ people in Uganda," details widespread patterns of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV), including doxing, blackmail, impersonation, and disinformation. These online abuses, the report says, further marginalise LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The report attributes this to the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) 2023, which it says has escalated violence, fostering a climate of impunity that forces LGBTQ+ individuals and organisations to alter how they engage online. 

"Stigma, violence, and discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ activists and organisations offline have been mirrored and amplified in digital spaces," said Shreshtha Das, Amnesty International’s gender researcher and advisor.

She adds that the consequences of TfGBV extend beyond the digital realm, leading to arbitrary arrests, forced evictions, job dismissals, and even physical violence. Mental health impacts, including anxiety and depression, are also prevalent among victims, the report says.

Amnesty International’s research, which includes 64 interviews with LGBTQ+ individuals across six Ugandan cities, highlights the Ugandan authorities' failure to prevent or address these abuses. Instead, the report adds, authorities are accused of actively encouraging and condoning such actions, resulting in severe human rights violations.

"Rather than combating TfGBV, Ugandan authorities have clamped down on human rights defenders, creating a witch-hunt against those perceived as 'promoting homosexuality'," said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s Civic Space Policy Advisor.

The reports says police and private individuals frequently use social media platforms to target LGBTQ+ people, leading to physical violence, blackmail, and public outings, and that blackmail remains the most common form of TfGBV, with LGBTQ+ individuals regularly exposed to online abuse, threats, and job loss. Disinformation portraying LGBTQ+ individuals as "sexual predators" is reported to be rampant online, exacerbating homophobic and transphobic sentiments. 

"Digital spaces, which are crucial for LGBTQ+ communities in Uganda, are no safer than offline environments. They face discrimination and violence in both," said Roland Ebole, Amnesty International’s Uganda researcher.

Amnesty International also reports that it reached out to various state authorities, social media companies (including Meta, TikTok, and X), and private organisations but only Meta and TikTok responded, with their feedback included in the report.

It adds that despite these dangers, LGBTQ+ individuals often avoid reporting TfGBV to the police out of fear of being outed, blackmailed, or arrested, and when they do report, they are often met with further abuse by authorities. 

"The Ugandan Parliament must immediately repeal the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and other laws that criminalise acts disproportionately affecting LGBTQ+ people. Authorities must also establish an independent mechanism to investigate TfGBV and related human rights violations,” Shreshtha Das concluded. 

The Ugandan government has always insisted that the law seeks to protect Uganda’s values and culture, and children from being recruited into acts of homosexuality. 

Local human rights groups, backed by the international community, in May, filed a petition before the Constitutional Court challenging the legality of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 but the court upheld the law.

“We decline to nullify the AHA 2023 in its entirety,” the judges led by Deputy Chief Justice Richard Butera ruled.

“Evidence on record is that the Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted against the backdrop of the recruitment of children into the practice of homosexuality. That is the mischief that Section 11 of the Act seeks to address,” the court ruled.

The activists had argued in their petitions that the law was passed without adequate and meaningful public participation. The activists further contended that criminalising consensual same-sex sexual activity among adults in private contravenes the right to equality and non-discrimination, right to dignity, right to liberty, and the right to privacy.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled the law does not allow unlawful entry to premises by law enforcement agencies.

“We respectfully do not share the view that deriving pleasure from an action would negate its criminality; otherwise, offenses like rape would be exempt from criminality,” the judges added.

The court further said the Anti-Homosexuality Act does not violate the right to practice business and profession and aims to uphold societal morals by limiting the use of media to publish or broadcast offensive material.

Now, Amnesty International says LGBTQ+ communities rely heavily on digital platforms to connect, share information, and advocate for their rights but that with the increasing prevalence of TfGBV, there are severe limits to their access to these vital spaces. It adds that many organisations providing health services to marginalised groups have ceased advertising their services online out of fear that authorities will accuse them of promoting homosexuality and revoke their registrations.

The law also provides for the death penalty for a person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality, especially if the act is performed against a child or a person who is disabled, mentally ill, of advanced age or under influence of medicine, drugs and alcohol. 

Aggravated homosexuality also occurs if the offender is a parent, guardian or relative of the person against whom the offence is committed or the victim contracts a terminal illness as a result of the sexual act, or if the sexual act is committed against a person using threats, force, fear of bodily harm, duress or undue influence, intimidation of any kind, or through misrepresentation as to the nature of the act.

The law has since faced stiff resistance with local rights groups appealing the Constitutional Court ruling in the Supreme Court, whose verdict is yet to be known. Western partners also slashed aid and have since imposed travel bans on key Ugandan figures. 

[email protected]