By Kevin Githuku
More calls are being made for President Yoweri Museveni to veto new laws approved by parliament, which further criminalise people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and those who defend them.
The latest call is from a group of independent UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts who argue that making homosexuality punishable by death is an egregious violation of human rights.
The experts add that the imposition of the death penalty based on such legislation is per se an arbitrary killing and a breach of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),”
In a press statement, they warn that the new legislation would exacerbate and legitimise continued stigmatisation, violence, harassment, and discrimination against LGBT persons.
They have thus appealed to president Museveni to tread a new path towards respect of human rights and acceptance of difference and reject the proposed law.
Special Rapporteurs and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.
