Article author:
Reuters
Kampala-The Ugandan government has suspended the activities of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that defend the rights of sexual minorities and has accused them of working illegally in East African countries, officials said.
The sexual minority Uganda (SMUG) has long defended the rights of Ugandan LGBT people whose homosexuality is illegal and gay people are facing arrests, ostracism and violence. rice field.
Stephen Okero, head of a government agency that regulates NGOs, said in a statement shared with Reuters on Saturday that SMUG's activities were suspended because "they were operating illegally." rice field.
"SMUG ... continues to operate without the permission of a valid NGO," he said, adding that the group was immediately shut down.
Uganda is a very conservative and religious society in which LGBT people face general hostility. Parliament once passed anti-homosexuality laws that impose life imprisonment on several categories of homosexual crimes.
The law was finally withdrawn by a court that stated it was adopted without a parliamentary quorum, but some lawmakers and the general public tried to reintroduce it.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, has previously described Ugandan homosexuality as a symbol of Western "social imperialism" in Africa.
(reported by Elias Biryabarema; edited by Ayenat Mersie and Mark Heinrich)
