IN a significant legal setback for LGBT rights in Uganda, the country’s high court dismissed a petition by an advocacy group seeking government registration. According to a statement from the petitioner’s lawyer, the court ruled against Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) on Tuesday.
SMUG had initially filed the suit in Uganda’s high court in 2015 after facing rejection from the government’s registrar of companies to list the organisation. The refusal stemmed from the registrar’s assertion that SMUG’s name was ‘undesirable’ and that the organisation promoted activities deemed illegal under Ugandan laws.
The organisation faced further challenges in 2022 when the Ugandan government suspended its operations due to lack of official registration. Same-sex relations have been illegal in Uganda since the British colonial era, and the country enacted stringent anti-LGBT laws in May, including outlawing the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality.
Tuesday’s ruling marked an appeal of a lower court decision from 2018, which had previously ruled against SMUG, one of Uganda’s prominent LGBT rights organisations. SMUG’s lawyer, Edward Ssemambo, commented on the court’s decision, stating, ‘The court ruled that since the objectives of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) were actually to promote the rights and welfare of people whose conduct is criminalised under the laws of Uganda, then the registrar was right that the name was undesirable.’
The appellate court that issued the judgment is the same court expected to soon rule on a challenge to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which imposes severe penalties, including the death penalty, for certain same-sex acts. Ssemambo expressed concern over the implications of Tuesday’s ruling, especially as the court prepares to deliberate on the anti-LGBT law.
He remarked, ‘Tuesday’s ruling was “not reassuring” as the forthcoming ruling on the anti-LGBT law approached,’ adding that the broader political and economic issues could influence the judges’ deliberations.
The ruling has sparked concerns among LGBT rights activists in Uganda, who await the court’s decision on the legal challenge against the Anti-Homosexuality Act, anticipating its potential impact on the rights and freedoms of the LGBT community in the country.