Uganda Supreme Court delays action on anti-gay law
‘Unforeseen circumstances’ leads to delay of scheduled challenge to Uganda law
The Supreme Court in Uganda has deferred action on a challenge of the Constitutional Court’s 2024 decision that upheld the harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) of 2023.
On March 17, the Supreme Court had announced that March 31 would be the date for the much-anticipated hearing on the appeal, which was filed in July 2024 by 22 appellants.
They included Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), lawmaker Fox Odoi and journalist Andrew Mwenda. (See “Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act Challenged at Supreme Court”).
The announcement came two years after the passing of the AHA 2023, a law that human rights defenders have described as one of the harshest anti-LGBTQI+ legislations globally.
On March 27, however, the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Akullo Elizabeth Ogwal, issued a statement saying the hearing had been deferred due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
She noted that the new hearing date will be communicated in “due course”.
“The parties are encouraged to complete the filing and exchange of the necessary pleadings and submissions as earlier guided,” Akullo stated.
In the initial announcement on March 17, the court also issued a tight pre-trial timeline line for both the team challenging the law and the respondents.
Prior to the hearing, the appellants were tasked to share a copy of the petition by March 20 with the respondents, who in return had to file their defense by March 26.
The court gave the appellants up to March 30 to file and serve a response, if any, to the respondents’ defense.,
Human rights advocates have expressed concern over the postponement because, to some of them, especially the LGBTQI+ community, “justice delayed is justice denied”, but they are looking forward to the new hearing date.
Hans Senfuma, a Ugandan digital LGBTQI+ rights campaigner, wrote on X;
“We have learned not to pin our hope to dates. The court system has taught us that much. But let us be clear: Postponement is not defeat. We are still here, our lawyers are still filing, our community is still surviving. Still resisting, still loving. When the new date comes, we will be ready, we always are.”
The Supreme Court is currently the best but also probably the last chance for human rights advocates to try to have the AHA nullified in court.
Some people think that history is on the side of the appellants because the ‘Kill the Gays Bill’ of 2013 did not even make it beyond the Constitutional Court, which blocked it because parliament did not follow proper procedures when the bill was voted on.
After that defeat, attempts to return the bill to parliament failed until 2022, when the anti-rights movement had gained momentum with support from foreign hate groups and the Ugandan regime’ topmost leadership.
When the new AHA was first challenged in the Constitutional Court in December 2023, the judges trimmed some of its harshest provisions which was a ‘small win’ for human rights; although the court fell short of striking it down.
The very first person charged under the AHA was recently set free by a court judge after the defense team exposed irregularities in the process.
However, human rights violations inspired by the AHA against presumed or known LGBTQI+ persons and institutions continue.
As the implementation of the law marks 33 months, HRAPF reports that a total 2,240 cases involving LGBTQI+ persons have been handled across the organization’s legal aid network of which 983 cases involved actions that specifically targeted LGBTQI+ people because of their sexuality, gender identity and sex development; affecting a total of 1,323 individuals.
