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Uganda’s parliament passes a bill that threatens the death penalty for the LGBT community. The move prompted the United States to threaten to impose sanctions. Photo/REUTERS
KAMPALA – Parliament Uganda has passed a bill (RUU) anti- LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), which carries the death penalty for that community.
The African country’s move has made the Head of Human Rights (HAM) of the United Nations (UN), Volker Turk, uneasy.
Turk urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to block the anti-LGBT bill.
In addition to the death penalty, Uganda’s new regulations also contain life imprisonment for the LGBT community.
“The passage of this discriminatory bill, possibly among the worst in the world, is a deeply troubling development,” Turk said in a statement.
In the United States (US), National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said if the bill were to become law, Washington should look at imposing economic sanctions against Uganda.
He noted that the move was unfortunate because most of US aid to the African country was in the form of health assistance, especially anti-AIDS assistance.
Uganda’s parliament passed the bill Tuesday night in a protracted plenary session during which last-minute changes were made to the draft law, which originally included a penalty of up to 10 years in prison for homosexual acts.
