The Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN) stands shoulder to shoulder with our friends, siblings and colleagues in Uganda. The shuttering of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Uganda’s leading civil society organisation fighting for the rights of LGBTI Ugandans, is a discriminatory decision that is likely to have a tremendously negative impact on the LGBTI Ugandans SMUG supports, empowers and protects.
Across the world, LGBTI people continue to bear the brunt of societal inequalities, are made forcibly vulnerable to violence and have our human rights infringed upon by citizens and officials alike. TCEN would like to remind the Ugandan government that they, too, have a duty to meet their obligations under enshrined human rights legislation – both at the Commonwealth and international levels.
We join a global chorus of activists and organisations demanding the immediate reversal of the decision to shut down SMUG and that further action be taken to ensure SMUG – and any other civil society organisation that will take up the fight to advance LGBTI human rights – be protected as they undertake the brave, essential and life-giving work required to ensure no LGBTI person is left behind in the fight for equality.
The Commonwealth Equality Network
You can read the full statement issued by the Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), here.