Uganda’s Constitutional Court has begun hearing the first challenge to a draconian anti-gay law that has drawn criticism from the United Nations and led to US visa restrictions on government officials.
“We have agreed to proceed with written submissions as opposed to oral submissions,” Nicholas Opiyo, the lawyer representing the petitioners, told the court in Kampala on Monday.
“Uganda’s Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, who heads the five-judge panel of the Constitutional Court, said during the hearing.
No date has been set for the ruling.
The East African nation passed one of the world’s toughest anti-homosexuality laws in May, sparking an outcry from rights campaigners and Western powers, with US President Joe Biden threatening to cut aid and investment to Kampala.
But President Yoweri Museveni’s government has struck a defiant tone, with officials accusing the West of trying to pressure Africa into accepting homosexuality.
Among the petitioners calling for the law to be overturned are several human rights activists, two law professors from Kampala’s Makerere University and two lawmakers from Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party.
Clash of values
Homosexuality was illegal in the conservative and highly religious East African country, and observers said homosexuals faced ostracism and harassment by security forces.
In 2014, international donors slashed aid to Uganda after Museveni approved a bill that sought to impose life imprisonment for homosexual relations, which was later overturned.
The latest legislation includes provisions to make ‘aggravated homosexuality’ a capital offence and imposes penalties of up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations.
It enjoys widespread support in the country, with Uganda’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem saying that the West was trying to “force us to accept same-sex relationships through aid and loans”.
But the law has also drawn widespread condemnation, particularly from the international community. The US, the European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have all condemned the legislation and warned that foreign aid and investment in Uganda could be at risk if it is not repealed.
Earlier this month, Washington imposed visa bans on unnamed officials deemed responsible for “undermining the democratic process” in Uganda and abusing human rights, including those of the LGBTQ community.
The US has also announced plans to remove the country from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade pact from January 2024.
The World Bank announced in August that it was suspending new loans to Uganda because of the law, which is “fundamentally at odds” with the values espoused by the US-based lender.