Ugandan Ethics Minister

A Bill against homosexuality is in the offing, the Ugandan minister for ethics and homophobia, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, has said.

Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre yesterday, Buturo said the country was besieged by homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, human sacrifice, drug abuse, embezzlement and witchcraft to the extent that it was dangerously becoming a permissive society.

He noted that once the Bill is passed into law, it will be an offence to publish and distribute literature on homosexuality or advocate for it. He also stated that it would become impossible for homosexuals to address press conferences and attract people to their cause, once the Bill becomes law.

He disclosed that some donors were threatening to withdraw funding if Uganda becomes more hostile to homosexuals: I all the time tell them to leave us alone. I say (to them) that Uganda's integrity is more than the money they give us. We are not going to be taken advantage of on account of financial support.

Buturo urged religious institutions to fight immorality, arguing that they are supremely mandated to address matters of the soul.

He disclosed that he was 'looking after' 60 former homosexuals, saying they are under threat from their former colleagues. He, however, did not name the place where they are being kept.

Britain and Canada have protested over a proposed law that would result in gays in Uganda being imprisoned for life or even executed.

Gordon Brown followed Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, in telling Uganda that the legislation was unacceptable. Brown made his views plain in a breakfast conversation with President Museveni of Uganda on the margins of the Commonwealth summit.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is going through Uganda's Parliament after receiving its first reading last month. According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment. But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty — under the heading aggravated homosexuality — is death.

The Bill has not been endorsed by the Ugandan government but it has allowed it to proceed, and some top officials are said to have praised it.

A Canadian government spokesman said: If adopted, a Bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda.

The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours. And it would impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.

Addressing the Commonwealth People's Forum, Stephen Lewis, the former UN envoy on Aids in Africa, said that the Bill made a mockery of Commonwealth principles. Nothing is as stark, punitive and redolent of hate as the Bill in Uganda.

The government responded strongly to international criticism over the proposed anti-gay law, saying the process would continue uninterrupted. Speaker Edward Sekandi told Daily Monitor that it was necessary to do whatever we can to stop homosexual liaisons in Uganda.

Stephen Green, the director of campaign group Christian Voice, has spoken out in support of the death penalty for homosexuals.

His comments come almost a month after Uganda proposed a law that would make gay sex punishable by a life sentence or even death.

In a statement that will outrage human rights groups, Stephen Green claimed:

• Gay people who have sex knowing they are HIV positive should be given the death penalty because they have committed murder;
• Capital punishment is acceptable because it is ordained by God in the Bible;
• Britain's laws promote perversion because they do not make homosexuality a criminal offence.

Green said: As a Christian I agree with the death penalty and I don't see why infecting someone with HIV should be treated in any other way than if you killed someone with a knife. It is extraordinary to think it is OK to infect someone else with HIV and get away with it.

Green's organisation is urging other Christians to support the Ugandan people in their determination to rid their nation of foreign homosexual proselytisation. It claims gay westerners are travelling to the country to convert Ugandans. Green added: This law is an understandable reaction to the pressure from human rights activists and homosexuals who are coming to the country as sex tourists.

Uganda will soften its proposed anti-gay legislation, but the government denied on that it was bowing to an outcry in the West over a controversial bill that could have seen homosexuals put to death.

Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo told Reuters that the revised law would now probably limit the maximum penalty for offenders to life in prison rather than execution.

There have been a lot of discussions in government ... regarding the proposed law, but we now think a life sentence could be better because it gives room for offenders to be rehabilitated, he said in an interview: Killing them might not be helpful.

Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni has signalled his opposition to a death penalty clause in proposed anti-homosexual legislation.

Museveni has told colleagues he believes the bill is too harsh and has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision, which would apply to sexually active gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape, according to a copy of the draft law.

The bill, however, still says anyone convicted of a homosexual act – which includes touching someone of the same sex with the intent of committing a homosexual act – would face life imprisonment. It is unclear whether Museveni supports that provision.

Gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell said that even if the death penalty was removed from the bill, it would still contradict several major international conventions on human rights, which could cause donors to reduce their aid to Uganda: Even a softened bill will be extremely repressive and discriminatory. Even before this new law, homosexual relations were punishable by life imprisonment and there was widespread discrimination and mob violence. The status quo won't change.

A senior minister suggested scrapping the death penalty in favour of counselling. The death penalty is likely to be removed, said James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's minister of state for ethics and integrity. The president doesn't believe in killing gays. I also don't believe in it. I think gays can be counselled and they stop the bad habit.

Ruling party spokeswoman Mary Karoro Okurut said she also agreed with the president that some punishments in the bill should be dropped. But she said she would still push for a modified version of the bill when it comes to parliament in late February or early March.

The Ugandan lawmaker who proposed a highly contentious bill that would, if enacted, broaden the criminalization of homosexuality in the east African nation said Friday that he will refuse any request to withdraw the legislation.

Member of Parliament David Bahati said he felt the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is necessary to protect Uganda's children from being recruited into homosexuality: I stand by the bill. I will not withdraw it. The process of legislating a law to protect our children against homosexuality and defending our family values must go on.

Bahati's statement was made one day after Minister of State for Investment Aston Kajara said the government would ask Bahati to scrap the bill because they fear backlash from foreign investors.

Ever since the bill was tabled, there have been a lot of outcries not only here but from all over the world, Kajara said. There has been negative publicity on Uganda which is not good for investment. As government, we shall talk to the private member who brought it to parliament and request him to withdraw it.

Breaking his silence on Uganda's controversial homophobic bill – which was put forward by a member of the ruling party – Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, said it had become a foreign policy issue and needed further consultation before being voted on in parliament.

The proposed law, which has been pushed by local evangelical preachers and vocally supported by senior government officials, also threatens life imprisonment for anyone convicted of gay sex.

While broadly supported domestically, the legislation has caused a storm of protest abroad and consternation from western donors who fund a large chunk of Uganda's budget.

Addressing a party conference, Museveni said numerous western leaders had spoken to him about the bill.

When I was at the Commonwealth conference, what was [the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper] talking about? The gays. UK prime minister Gordon Brown ... what was he talking about? The gays, said Museveni.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, had also called him to express strong concerns about the proposed law, he said. It's a foreign policy issue, and we must handle it in a way that does not compromise our principles but also takes into account our foreign policy interests.

Museveni said the proposed law did not necessarily reflect party or government policy and his cabinet would discuss the bill with David Bahati, the MP who introduced it, before it was put to a vote.

The UN's top human rights official has called on Uganda to drop a proposed anti-homosexuality law that would impose the death penalty on some gay and lesbian people.

Navi Pillay, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, joined a growing chorus of opposition condemning the bill as discriminatory and called for homosexuality to be decriminalised in the country.

The bill proposes draconian punishments for people alleged to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered – namely life imprisonment, or in some cases, the death penalty, she said: To criminalise people on the basis of colour or gender is now unthinkable in most countries. The same should apply to an individual's sexual orientation.

Pillay called on the Ugandan government to put the draft bill on hold because it breaches international human rights standards.

The UN said Uganda's parliament may discuss the bill as early as next week. It has provoked criticism from western governments and gay rights groups and protests in London, New York and Washington.

A Ugandan preacher said he was planning a million-man march to support the legislation. Pastor Martin Ssempa, who has close ties to US evangelicals and to the family of the president, Yoweri Museveni, said the demonstration was being organised for 17 February. We want to show how many people support the bill, Ssempa told journalist

55 British Members of Parliament (MPs) have condemned Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

They have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM 575) in the UK Parliament, urging the scrapping of the Bill. Support for the parliamentary motion comes from across the political spectrum, from left to right. Many more signatures are expected as MPs return to the House of Commons.

The EDM, drafted by east London Labour MP Harry Cohen, urges the Ugandan government to uphold international humanitarian law by abandoning the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, decriminalizing same-sex acts between consenting adults in private, and outlawing discrimination against gay people.

That this House calls on the British Government and the European Union to press the government of Uganda not to proceed with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which violates the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights; abhors that this Bill, currently before the Uganda parliament, proposes the death penalty for repeat homosexual acts, extends the existing penalty of life imprisonment for anal intercourse to all other same-sex behaviour, including the mere touching of another person with the intent to have homosexual relations and imposes life imprisonment for contracting a same-sex marriage; notes that under the provisions of the Bill membership of providing funding for gay organisations advocating gay human rights and providing condoms or safer sex advice to gay people will result in a sentence of between five and seven years for promoting homosexuality and that a person in authority who fails to report offenders to the police within 24 hours will incur a three year prison sentence; further notes that this monstrous proposed law contains extra-territorial jurisdiction so that it will apply to Ugandans who breach its provisions whilst living abroad, even in countries where such behaviour is not a criminal offence, and that such Ugandans living overseas could be subject to extradition, trial and punishment in Uganda; and demands that the Ugandan government uphold international humanitarian law by abandoning the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, decriminalising same-sex acts between consenting adults in private, and outlawing discrimination against gay people.

We hope this motion will send a signal from the British parliament to the Ugandan government that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill constitutes an outrageous attack on the human rights of Uganda's lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens, said Peter Tatchell of the London-based gay human rights group OutRage!

Even if the death penalty is dropped, the Bill will still be unacceptable. It will still violate the equality guarantees of international human rights agreements, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, added Tatchell.

The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.

Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV – which will be called aggravated homosexuality.

The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as serial offenders.

It also calls for life prison sentences for those promoting homosexuality, which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.

One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down. President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.

A proposed anti-pornography law could see journalists and ISPs jailed for terms ranging from five to 10 years and their businesses closed, 'Ethics' Minister James Nsaba Buturo said.

Buturo said pornography, which he described as a terrible vice, was growing in the country but the laws against it were too weak. He said the new law, which extensively expands the definition of pornographic material and the accompanying sanctions, will help rein in offenders. Those who deal in pornographic materials, your days are numbered, Buturo said.

We have finally acted and this time, this law will work because our integrity is not for sale, he told journalists. The Bill, he said also provides for fines. He emphasised that pornography is evil and makes the mind receptive to other vices such as homosexuality.

The current legal provisions on pornography prohibit obscene publications but Buturo says this law is incomprehensive. The issue of pornography transcends publications and includes communication, speech, entertainment, stage play, broadcast, music, dance, art, fashion, motion picture and audio recording.

Under the proposed Bill, pornography is defined as any form of communication from literature to fashion or photography that depicts unclothed or under-clothed parts of the human body (such as breasts, thighs, buttocks or genitalia), that narrates or depicts sexual intercourse or that describes or exhibits anything that can lead to erotic stimulation.

According to the proposed Bill, pornography includes fashion, implying that women could be arrested for wearing short skirts and skimpy dresses.

An increase in pornographic materials in the Ugandan mass media and nude dancing in entertainment world calls for long legal framework to regulate such vices, he said. Only teaching aides, spouses and sportsmen will get exemptions of punishment from the new law.

However, analysts say the flaws of the proposed law, lies in the broad definition of pornography.

A planned conference by sex workers, which was scheduled to start in Entebbe, was abruptly halted by the government, saying it was illegal.

The conference was organised by Akina Mama Wa Afrika, an international women's rights NGO with offices in Kampala, was to be held in a hotel in Entebbe.

Addressing journalists in Kampala, 'Ethics' Minister James Nsaba Buturo said the conference had attracted prostitutes from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Government reiterates its position that prostitution is a punishable offence. While it is true that we have had problems with enforcing the law, the government is determined to defend innocent Ugandans who very often fall victim to selfish as well as misguided individuals who are promoting prostitution, Dr Buturo said, adding he ordered the hotel not to allow the meeting to take place. Promotion of criminal acts under the claim of defense of one's human rights is not one for this government.

The Ugandan parliamentarian behind a nasty anti-gay bill says backers are willing to drop the death penalty provision of the legislation.

The death penalty is something we have moved away from, MP David Bahati told the Associated Press. He says his group would go along if the committee handling the bill wants to drop that portion.

Many people have expressed concern about that provision providing for the death sentence and I'm sure when we start hearings on that bill, we will hear many more concerns, Bahati says.

The bill could come up for a vote by mid-May, he says.

Uganda's anti-gay bill has been deemed out of time for the current sittings of parliament and its proponents are unlikely to be able revive it for some time.

Uganda's reviled anti-gay bill, which mandates the death penalty in some cases, remains in limbo after parliament adjourned without a debate.

Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuk, the parliamentary speaker, ruled there was no time to take up the bill this session. He has adjourned the parliament and set no date for its return.

Helen Kawesa, spokeswoman for parliament, told Associated Press that the anti-gay bill could come back up for debate in the next parliament but would probably take time to get back to the floor. David Bahati, the MP who authored the bill, had said he would try to move it forward in the next session if it was not voted on this time.

Opponents of the legislation welcomed the setback. Alice Jay, campaign director of the online group Avaaz, said:

The news that the brutal anti-gay law won't be discussed in parliament today is a victory for all Ugandans and people across the world who value human rights. This vile bill is a matter of life and death for gay Ugandans, and would have seen the execution, imprisonment and persecution of friends of Avaaz, and thousands of others who have committed no crime at all. We must now ensure this heinous bill can never return to parliament again.

The administration of Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has rejected MP David Bahati's anti-gay bill.

Bahati's controversial bill would increase the penalties for being gay in a nation where it is already a crime. The measure, first introduced in 2009, proposed putting repeat offenders to death under certain circumstances. It also would have criminalized discussion of homosexuality and penalized a person who knowingly rents to a gay or lesbian person.

Lawmakers closed their legislative session in May without voting on the measure, but a defiant Bahati insisted he would re-introduce his bill in February. But Uganda's Cabinet have decided to drop the measure.

Bahati said: The future of this country's children will be determined by the people's representatives in Parliament.

A Ugandan MP has revived a controversial anti-gay bill but dropped the provision for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.

A BBC correspondent says MPs laughed, clapped and cried out: Our bill, our bill, when its architect David Bahati reintroduced the draft legislation as a private members bill.

The bill increases the punishment to life in prison for homosexual offences. Anyone failing to report to the authorities a person they knew to be homosexual would also be liable to prosecution.

But those found guilty of aggravated homosexuality - defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a serial offender - would no longer face the death penalty, as originally proposed.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was shelved in 2011 after an international outcry.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda.