International Organizations Condemn the Shutdown of Ugandan Organization Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Call for Authorities to Reverse the Decision Immediately
August 9, 2022 – The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the decision to shut down the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a leading non-governmental organization committed to protecting and advancing the human rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in Uganda. We call on the Ugandan government to reverse this decision, and to bring an end to the longstanding persecution of Uganda’s vibrant LGBTQI+ community.
On August 3, the National Bureau for Non-Government Organizations (NGO Bureau), the Ugandan government body that regulates NGOs in the country, halted SMUG’s operations for failing to register with the NGO Bureau. However, SMUG applied for registration with the Bureau in 2012. In a 2016 letter, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) rejected its application to reserve the name “Sexual Minorities Uganda” on the basis that the name was “undesirable and unregistrable that the proposed company to be incorporated to advocate for the rights and wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer persons, which persons are engaged in activities labeled criminal acts under sect. 145 of the Penal Code Act.”
This latest attack highlights the prevalence of discrimination, homophobia, and transphobia in Uganda and the readiness of Ugandan Government authorities to repress the country’s LGBTQI+ population. This decision to shut down SMUG’s operations discriminates against LGBTQI+ people and is in direct contravention of Uganda’s international legal obligations to treat all persons as equal before the law and to respect their right to freedom of association.
We join SMUG to ask that:
1. The Ugandan government comply with its obligations to protect the LGBTQI+ community under international human rights law.
2. Ugandan law enforcement not use this recent pronouncement as a means to attack members of SMUG or the broader LGBTQI+ community.
3. Bilateral partners continue to urge the Government of Uganda to uphold basic human rights and freedoms within their borders.
And we call on the international community to protest this decision at the highest levels before the situation deteriorates any further.
Action Citoyenne pour l’Egalité Sociale en Haiti
Activist Education & development centre
African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies
African Young Positives Network
Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School
American Jewish World Service
amfAR
Amnesty International Canada
AVAC
Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention
Bruce Charity Organization
Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity
Capital Rainbow Refuge – Refuge Arc-en-ciel de la capitale
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, USA
Civil Rights Defenders
Clinique internationale de défense des droits humains de l’UQAM (CIDDHU)
Colectivo de Abogados “José Alvear Restrepo” (CAJAR), Colombia
Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Community Justice Project, Inc.
Community Resource Centre
Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Association (CCRDA)
Council for Global Equality
Equality Australia
Equitas
Fast-Track Cities Institute
Fierté Montréal Pride
Fòs Feminista
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria
GLAAD
Global Gay Men Connect (GBGMC)
Global Health Justice Partnership of the Yale Public Health and Law Schools, Yale University
Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
Global Justice Institute Metropolitan Community Churches
Global Labor Justice- International Labor Rights Forum
Global Network of Black People working in HIV
Global Network of Movement Lawyers – Movement Law Lab
Health GAP
Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung
HIV Dental Alliance
HIV Legal Network
HIV/STI Intervention and Prevention Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
HRLN
Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Defenders Network-Sierra Leone
Inter Pares
International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
Ipas
IPPF – International Planned Parenthood Federation
Kenya Network Of People who use Drugs (KeNPUD)
Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany LSVD
Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany LSVD
Lesbian Intersex Transgender and Other Extension
LGBT+ Denmark
Long COVID Justice
MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity
McCain Institute
Men For Positive Living
Morgane Oger Foundation
MPact Global Action
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Working Positive Coalition
Nouvelle Dynamique de la Société Civile
OutRight Action International
PFLAG National
Prevention Access Campaign
Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
Rainbow Faith and Freedom
Rainbow Railroad
Reframe Health and Justice
Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, UC Hastings
Renewal Fellowship UCC
Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, NYU School of Law
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Santa Clara Law, International Human Rights Clinic
Socio- economic Rights Institute of South Africa
Spiritual Living Center Atlanta
Stephen Lewis Foundation
Strategies for High Impact (S4HI)
SUARAM, Malaysia
Swaziland Network of Young Positive
Synergía – Initiatives for Human Rights
The Global Justice Institute
The Trevor Project
Treatment Action Group
Ursel Phillips Fellows Hopkinson LLP, Toronto, Canada
Voice of Our Voices
Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic
Why We March
Womankind Worldwide
World Movement for Democracy