The US Would Have More Credibility on Gay Rights in Uganda if it
Talked More About All Human Rights in Uganda
The Slatest (blog) - 45 minutes ago
A woman holding a placard as she takes part in an anti-gay
demonstration in Kampalaon February 14, 2010.
Photo by Trevor Snapp/AFP/Getty Images
In the days leading up to President Yoweri Museveni finally signing
Uganda's anti-gay bill into law on Monday, he was heavily lobbied from
Washington, including a warning from President Obama that the law
would "complicate our valued relationship" and a phone call from
National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
The Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda - who has argued in favor of gay
rights - makes the case
that the very public pressure from the governments of the U.S. and
European was counterproductive. The sad truth, Mwenda notes, is that
while certainly no one would ever describe Museveni as progressive on
the issue of gay rights, he may be less hostile than many of his
citizens, 96 percent of whom say society should reject homosexuality.
Museveni has opposed previous versions of this law, but political
realities in Uganda came to hold more sway than international
pressure.
(Yes, U.S. evangelical groups played a now-well-documented role in the
law's development, but it would be hard to argue they're solely
responsible for Ugandan public sentiment or the bill's widespread
popularity.)
"If Museveni declined to sign the bill, people would interpret it as
a result of Obama's threats, a factor that would have made the Ugandan
president look weak and cowardly," he writes. "This is an impression
Museveni cannot afford to have Ugandans hold of him."
In Foreign Policy, Uganda-based journalist Elizabeth Allen argues that
the ongoing outcry from gay rights groups, the international media,
and foreign governments threatening to withhold aid, made the bill
into an issue of international sovereignty for Uganda and fed the
narrative that homosexuality was an example of western culture being
forced on the country.
As John Nagenda, a presidential advisor who had previously opposed the
bill, told the BBC in 2011, "this kind of ex-colonial mentality of
saying, 'You do this or I withdraw my aid' will definitely make people
extremely uncomfortable with being treated like children."
As my colleague June Thomas has noted, gay rights groups in Nigeria
have also warnedthat threats of aid cuts and boycotts are
counterproductive.
Of course, this shouldn't stop gay rights groups from pointing out
discriminatory laws and horrific abuses when they occur anywhere, but
governments might have more credibility on these issues if they were
more consistent on their approach to human rights.
As Helen Epstein points out at Al Jazeera, the issue of homosexuality
tended to come up as a major topic of politics in Uganda after major
political crackdowns on the opposition to Museveni's rule - in 2009
after the killing of 13 protesters in Kampala, in 2011 during Arab
Spring inspired protests, and again in recent months:
The bill died once again but was resurrected in December and passed
parliament, just in time to divert public outrage from some of the
worst human rights abuses in Uganda's history. These include 1) the
ongoing theft of government revenues and donor aid; 2) the resulting
collapse of Uganda's systems of public education and health care; 3)
the virtual house arrest of Kizza Besigye, the country's main
opposition leader, who is followed wherever he goes, including even
short trips to the local coffee shop, by truckloads of police in riot
gear; 4) the harassment and possible murder of other government
critics; 5) the draconian Public Order Management Bill, requiring
police authorization for all meetings of more than three people; 6)
Uganda's support for the M23 rebels, who are wreaking havoc in
neighboring Congo; and 7) worst of all, Uganda's involvement in South
Sudan's civil war, which commenced Dec. 15. Ethiopia is reportedly
considering entering the war to counter Uganda's support for President
Salva Kiir, and the conflict may well evolve into a massive regional
conflict, with no end in sight.
None of these garnered nearly as much attention from Western
governments or the media as the anti-homosexuality bill, and the U.S.
has actually been increasing its support for the Ugandan military over
this period. When the Ugandan public hears nary a word from the
international community on these issues, it's not hard to see why even
those who oppose the law, or oppose Museveni, see the west as uniquely
preoccupied with the issue of gay rights.
There are reasons for the silence on these issues of course. The U.S.
in particular seems to have made a calculation that its close security
cooperation with Uganda outweighs concerns over human rights. But we
shouldn't be surprised that our very selective concern for the human
rights of Ugandans - or Nigerians, or Gambians, or Russians - is
viewed a bit skeptically.
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international
affairs and writes the World blog.
http://www.google.ca/gwt/x?gl=CA&hl=en-CA&u=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/02/27/uganda_s_anti_gay_law_the_u_s_would_have_more_credibility_if_it_were_more.html&q=The+U.S.+Would+Have+More+Credibility+on+Gay+Rights+in+Uganda+if...
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