LGBT campaigners and development agencies tell us what their next steps are after President Yoweri Museveni signs anti-homosexuality bill
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Campaigners have been fighting against the anti-gay legislation for years. Now the law has been passed, what next? Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier this week president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, did what LGBT rights campaigners, HIV/Aids workers and human rights organisations feared for years: passed an anti-homosexuality bill. The law allows people accused of being gay to be sentenced to life imprisonment and punishes promoting homosexuality. We talk to campaigners on the ground in Uganda, in the diaspora and the international community about what they are doing next and what the development community should do.
Zak Mugisha, PR and communications officer, Spectrum Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
The new law will consider our work to be a promotion of homosexuality, so we have to close our organisation after 11 years. We work on major issues facing gay people in Uganda – health issues and discrimination.
We provide services to people with HIV, so we can't just leave them. We shall keep doing it, but we'll have to be aware of security risks. We face a lot of challenges, and because of the law we have to go back into the closet, which makes our work really hard.
We need support from the international community, as we cannot do any work right now. We need international partners who can give financial support. The police have a list of 200 people to target. Our security plan is to relocate people to a new area where they are not known to be gay. Unfortunately some people are known throughout the country so we think it would be wise to relocate them outside the country, while we try to challenge the bill through the courts.
Michelle Kagari, Africa deputy director, Amnesty International, Kampala
We are working with the groups in Uganda that will be most affected by this bill and supporting them to challenge the law which contravenes Uganda's own constitution.
Amnesty's first line will always be to document and expose specific targeting, to keep on highlighting institutionalised discrimination. As far as is reasonable, Amnesty will do what it can to protect people, but it is the government's responsibility to protect all Ugandans.
Since the law was passed by parliament we have seen a spike in spontaneous targeting of people perceived as homosexuals, and an increase of police parading so-called suspects. This is a very worrying trend.
We believe that everyone needs to stand in solidarity with Ugandans who are opposed to this law. We are extremely concerned that this is just the latest step in a series that have seen the space for freedom of expression and association shrink. And therefore it is in everybody's interest to stand up in solidarity against these steps that represses freedoms in Uganda.
Leah Eryenyu, @ironladey, Kampala
Development organisations that do not support the new law have their work cut out for them. To speak out against it in the strongest terms is to risk the work the organisations are carrying out to support these very rights that are now being trampled upon. Development takes on many forms but the self-realisation and self-empowerment that comes with education is by far the most powerful. So development organisations have a long game to play here.
Acceptance comes from expunging ignorance, and this takes time. What organisations can do at this point is keep their heads down and straight, and keep fighting the good fight, and all the while keeping pressure on government.
Daniel Bekele, Africa director, Human Rights Watch, New York, USA
President Museveni signing the anti-gay law is yet another blow to fundamental human rights in Uganda as the new law affects not only the already marginalised LGBT people but all Ugandans. Ugandan rights groups will continue to challenge the constitutionality of the law.
Uganda's international development partners need to urgently engage it in discussion on implementation of the law and its far reaching implications, including on delivery of basic health services to at risk populations.
Enrique Restoy, senior adviser on human rights, International HIV/Aids Alliance, Hove, UK
We are extremely worried about the safety of both beneficiaries and our partners who are helping to implement HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes in Uganda. We are determined to continue providing such essential services for groups most at risk of the HIV epidemic and will continue to engage with government and civil society. Monitoring the security situation now that the bill has passed is paramount in order to best assess how to reach the LGBT community with services in these new circumstances. We hope that wider civil society organisations in Uganda will feel able to make a stand against this direct breach of human rights.
The development community needs to recognise that this is not just an LGBT issue but also a threat to Uganda's development and for the human rights of all Ugandans. It's a real blow for the country's HIV response. We would ask other development organisations to support the calls made by Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which include a plea to diplomatic missions and international donors to step up public criticism of the bill and state their response. From a programming perspective, people in Uganda need to be supported to engage politically and to ensure that accurate information is communicated rather than ill-informed scaremongering.
Val Kalende, Ugandan LGBT activist and fellow, International Development Exchange, Berkeley, California, USA
In my opinion Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law has a strong case for nullifying the law, but not without life-threatening consequences for the LGBT community.
Recent events have shown that threats to cut aid will not dissuade Ugandan politicians from enacting harsher laws against LGBT people. Regardless of Museveni's claim, (Uganda is a rich country; aid comes with its problems), this is the time for development partners to review their partnership with the Ugandan government. However, Ugandan LGBT activists cannot dictate what those reviews should look like but I hope to see happen a stronger stand against Uganda's unabashed stance on the basic freedoms of its LGBT citizens.
Development partners should consider strengthening partnerships with civil society on a wide range of human rights issues. Understanding local contexts and empowering local activists to lead the way will aid these partnerships. While Uganda's civil society is not immune from political persecution it remains the best place for shaping inclusive human rights values.
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