Will Uganda’s candidate for top UN post speak out against homophobia?
Endorsement by Uganda’s government has some doubting he’ll stand up for rights
Uganda officially nominated veteran diplomat and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu as a candidate for the next United Nations Secretary-General, sparking controversy among those who see Otunnu as someone who will not stand up for the rights of LGBTQ people at the UN.
Otunnu, 75, is a former Ugandan foreign minister and permanent representative to the UN, and served as the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. He also helped design the straw poll voting system utilized by the Security Council.
He is one of eight candidates for the top job at the United Nations and one of two Africans in the running to succeed António Guterres as the next UN Secretary-General for the five-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2027. Former Senegal president Macky Sall was nominated by Burundi, but lacks unified support in his home country.
The reaction in Uganda to Otunnu’s candidacy has been a mix of strong official backing and skepticism arising from that endorsement.
Utunnu’s chief sponsor, Ugandan President Museveni, is accused undermining the very principles that Otunnu will promote and protect if his bid for the world’s top most diplomat is successful.
In July 2026, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) warned of increasing reports of enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests and restrictions on free expression targeting opposition supporters, journalists and rights defenders.
The country’s image is already tainted by the enactment of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) 2023 which imposes harsher penalties on same-sex intimacy, notably making “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by death, and criminalizing the “promotion of homosexuality.”
Since the law came into force three years ago, Ugandan authorities have perpetrated widespread discrimination and violence against thousands of known and perceived LGBTQI+ persons, their families and allies.
Unlike fellow Ugandan Winnie Byanyima, the UNAIDS Chief and UN Under-Secretary who has consistently spoken out against AHA and stood by the LGBTQI+ community in Uganda and around the world, Olara Otunnu has not made prominent or specific public comments directly addressing LGBTQ+ rights or Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. Even during his official dialogues and media briefings for the UN leadership race, Otunnu has kept away from the issue and focused on global conflict resolution, protecting women and children in war zones, poverty reduction, and institutional reform, rather than domestic or specific regional social issues.
However, Otunnu has won an endorsement from Museveni’s political arch-rival, Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu), who said that Otunnu’s “work championing human rights and protecting children in armed conflict is exactly the kind of leadership the global community desperately needs right now.”
Mordecai Muriisa, a Ugandan political commentator, says he is worried that Otunnu’s bid for the UN’s top job could become an opportunity for the regime to whitewash, sanitize or soften the allegations of repression, political violence, abuses and impunity.
According to Muriisa, Uganda does not need another international figure who can make authoritarianism sound respectable, but someone willing to name abuse, confront impunity and defend democratic principles even when doing so is politically inconvenient.
“I believe the UN Secretary-General should be someone whose commitment to human rights and accountability is beyond political ambiguity, including when the uncomfortable questions involve their own country,” Muriisa says.
Ssekabira Patrick, a Ugandan social media influencer, also has reservations for Otunnu’s candidacy.
“Human rights are the oxygen of humanity, but one by one, they are being suffocated in Uganda. Meanwhile, Museveni, number one human rights abuser has endorsed Otunnu to whitewash Uganda’s record on the international stage. We #RejectOtunnu,” he wrote on X.
Ensuring the full spectrum of human rights and freedoms for all individuals, including LGBTIQ+ people, lies at the core of the United Nations’ mission.
But Otunnu’s endorsement by a government that is accused of presiding over gross human rights violations against political activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and LGBTQ+ people may call into question his ability to be an advocate for these core UN values.
The regime has stepped up its campaign following Otunnu’s entry into the race. Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Adonia Ayebare, said the government had made the campaign a top priority after President Yoweri Museveni directed the ministry and Uganda’s diplomatic missions worldwide to support the bid.
“I am proud to be part of this viable candidature of Ambassador Olara Otunnu for United Nations Secretary General,” Ayebare wrote on X, thanking member states for giving Otunnu an opportunity to present his vision.
He says Uganda’s diplomatic missions have been instructed to make the campaign a top priority.
The endorsement stands out because Otunnu is a prominent opposition figure as the former leader of the Uganda People’s Congress and a former presidential candidate who spent years in sharp political disagreement with President Museveni. Analysts say that the government’s decision to sponsor him now signals a pragmatic approach to projecting Ugandan diplomacy on the world stage.
