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A new European ally for African LGBTI rights activists — International LGBTI Support (ILS) — will soon launch its Ugandan support program at the European Parliament in Brussels. As the group prepares to unveil its International Support Uganda (ISU) project, the executive director of ILS interviewed long-time Ugandan activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, founding editor of “Bombastic” magazine.
Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) is the sort of long-standing Ugandan organization that a new international organisation wants to consult before launching. To make that point, Tobias Pellicciari, executive director of ILS, interviewed FARUG’s co-founder Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera. (See his questions and her answers below.) Her advice to international allies:
“We know our situation better… always consult before taking any action.”
ISU is a refugee-support program initiated by the Brussels office of ILS with strong support in Italy. (The ILS and ISU Web pages and Facebook page are in Italian. Some Internet browsers can be adjusted to translate such sites automatically into the language of your choice.)
International LGBTI Support seeks to help LGBTI refugees in Uganda, Kenya and eventually Senegal. Click image to enlarge.
International Support Uganda’s program aims to support refugees in Kenya and Uganda. Many LGBTI people, particularly since the approval last year of Uganda’s anti-gay bill, were forced to leave their country looking for safety, for more freedom and tolerance.
The group is working in partnership with ILGA World, Pan Africa ILGA, ORAM and with other LGBTI organizations to create better conditions for LGBTI people in their countries, to ensure safer places for refugees and to improve the bureaucracy for asylum seekers. For further information, contact: isp.uganda@hotmail.com or visit their Facebook page.
To obtain an overview of the current Ugandan context, ISU’s Tobias Pellicciari interviewed Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, who is one of the few founding members of Uganda’s LGBTI movement from the ’90s still living there.
Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Photo courtesy of Amnesty.fr)
Kasha has received numerous honors for her work. These include the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2011 and the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award in 2013.
Here is the interview:
Can you tell us about your organization? What are the main activities?
I founded and headed Freedom and Roam Uganda from 2003 to 2013. I have since stepped down from its leadership to pave the way for more growth.
We work in four thematic areas:
- Advocacy and lobbying. This, through policy change, international lobbying at the UN and African Commission, through regional and national bodies.
- Information dissemination. By providing our community and the general public with information regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in the hope of attitude change, in order to reduce and ultimately eradicate all forms of phobias directed to sexual minorities.
- Research and Documentation about the lived realities of our community, abuses, violations and health to use it for litigation purposes but also to use it for policy inclusion like national health policy.
- Movement building, so that we can lay a strong foundation for the future generation to continue the struggle. My stepping down after a decade is one example of transformational leadership.
Are there new elements in the new draft “Prohibition of promotion of unnatural sexual offence” bill?
Since it is not an official document of the state, I cannot really talk much about it until it is published in the Gazette as a formal document. We have not done anything about it.
What kind of actions will you take in order to fight against the “Prohibition of promotion of unnatural sexual offences” bill?
If and when it becomes a formal document, we shall also challenge it in the constitutional court. But for now, I don’t want to give it much weight by speculating about it.
After the approval of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in February 2014, many people left Uganda and asked for asylum in other countries. Do you think that it will happen again if the government approves a new law?
There is no doubt that many people will continue to leave the country as long as the environment remains harsh and hostile; people need to live healthy and secure lives and many don’t feel they can do that in Uganda right now.
So we support all those who don’t feel safe anymore so that they can go and look for safer places. It’s unfortunate that it has come to this, that many people are being forced out.
It breaks our heart when we see our friends and family leaving all their lives behind, and that’s why we continue to strive every day, waiting for the day when they will return in a safer place than it is today.
On December 3rd you attended a conference in Brussels called “Europe, Let’s Speak Out for LGBTI Rights in Africa.” What were the outcomes of the conference? Would you share a comment with us?
The aim of the conference was to share with our European partners our stories and to explain to them how they can support us on the African continent without causing more harm. That was the main objective and we did give great strategies that they can use to support us.
What could International Support Uganda and other LGBTI rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) do to help Uganda? Would you like to say something to other activists?
Already by starting such an NGO, it shows how much support and love they have for us. Please continue the support in many ways: technically, emotionally and yes, financially as we need a lot of all this support to execute our objectives.
But also remember, we know our situation better. So please always consult before taking any action. Always consult.
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Uganda: “Where Do We Go for Justice?”
Chapter Four 2015 Report, Uganda
A report on the criminal justice system was issued today by Chapter Four in Uganda. Titled: Uganda: “Where Do We Go for Justice?” The Abuse of the Rights of Sexual Minorities in Uganda’s Criminal Justice System.
“UGANDA’s criminal justice system should cease the practice of intrusive, non-consensual and dehumanizing anal/rectum examination of persons of different sexual orientation and gender identity”, a new report by Chapter Four Uganda, a civil rights organisation, demands.
Chapter Four, a group formed in 2013 was inspired by other civil liberties organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union. It derives its name from the bill of rights, contained under chapter four of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. The report was funded, at least in part, by Canada’s Fund for Local Initiatives.
In its news release, Chapter Four says that it reports on the practice of anal/rectum examination, a routine practice in the investigation of cases against LGBTI persons, usually conducted in the presence of third parties and in unscientific manner is a violation of medical code of practice and a vile affront on the dignity of the persons involved.
The media release issued by Chapter four says that the reports highlights cases in which persons of different sexual orientation and gender identity being prosecuted for their sexuality when they seek protection from the criminal justice system, routinely abused and ridiculed at police stations and paraded to the press by police officers, exposing them to wider societal violence and discrimination.
Bernard Randall
The report cites the case of Bernard Randall, a British national deported from Uganda on January 26th, 2014 after being charged with the offences of having carnal knowledge of a person against the order of nature and trafficking in obscene publications. In this particular case, the report notes that after reporting a robbery, suspects were arrested, arraigned in court and weeks later turned into witnesses in a case against Randall who had in the first place sought police protection. In a charge an caution statement recorded at the police, the robbery suspects reveal their blackmail plot against Randall and his partner. ‘The criminal justice system to which he ran for protection became his tormentor for no other reason other than his sexuality’ the report notes.
Between the months of December 2014 and February 2015, Chapter Four Uganda states it embarked on a research project in the districts of Buikwe (Lugazi township), Entebbe, Kampala and Mbarara.
The news release also states that the report focuses on the real life experiences of individuals, who have gone through the criminal justice system on accusations of homosexuality. The report focuses on the actions of criminal justice actors; the people, who on a day-to-day basis conduct investigations, hear cases and examine suspected homosexuals. It also focuses on the lawyers who defend or prosecute cases related to sexual minorities.
Chapter Four Uganda says it traced, obtained and reviewed volumes of documents including police statements, police files, court files, charge sheets, medical examination reports, and media reports relating to sexual minorities between the years 2012-2015. In all, 11 police files and 10 court files were obtained.
Click here to view or download a full copy of the report Uganda: “Where Do We Go for Justice?”
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