A Monash University human rights expert has condemned the Ugandan President Museveni’s approval of anti-homosexuality law, which will impose life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death penalty for ‘aggravated’ cases.
Associate Professor Mai Sato, Director of Eleos Justice, at Monash University Law has highlighted that state sanction killing over sexuality extends beyond those countries who bring in explicit laws.
“As the world shifts towards increased acceptance, inclusion and celebration of sexual diversity, it is easy to overlook the fact that in some countries, same-sex sexual acts may carry the death penalty.
“With Uganda’s new law, same-sex sexual acts may carry the death penalty in 12 countries.
“However, the state-sanctioned killing of sexual minorities is often perpetrated well beyond the use of the death penalty, and even in countries that do not criminalise such conduct.” Associate Professor Sato said in a statement.
“Even in States that appear to embrace sexual diversity, sexual minorities continue to be subjected to stigmatisation, discrimination, and violence at the hands of the state.
“Looking beyond the death penalty, our research has found that in at least 23 countries, sexual orientation—whether actual or perceived—may be the motivating factor in state-sanctioned killings.”
Homosexual practices were already illegal in Uganda, but the new laws increase penalties and also make it a crime to “promote homosexuality”.
The new laws include the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” which can lead to the death penalty. People who are HIV positive who are found to be having sex with someone of the same gender will face the possibility of execution.
A 20-year jail sentence can also be applied to people found guilty of promoting homosexuality, a move which has medical experts worried that safe sex education and preventative measures to stop the spread of HIV might be curtailed.
The report State-Sanctioned Killing of Sexual Minorities: Looking Beyond the Death Penalty was published in 2021. Researchers Mai Santo and Chriostopher Alexander reported that at the time 69 countries around the globe continued to criminalise homosexuality, and eleven of them included the death penalty.
They also highlighted the Chechen Republic, who are accused of instigating a gay purge that led to the deaths of citizens, despite there not being a formal death penalty. The Chehen leadership has also regularly promoted the concept of honour killings within families if people discover a relative is gay.
Countries including Jordan and Iran also recognise the concept and have given reduced sentences, or completely exonerated people accused of murdering a gay family member.
There are also countries without stable governments where insurgent groups have reportedly killed people on the basis of their sexuality, Afganistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen were noted as locations where this is occurring.
The researchers also highlighted the allowance of ‘gay panic defence’, where people accused of murder are allowed to justify their actions claiming a fear that their victim was going to sexually proposition them. They highlight a 2018 case in the USA where a man received only a six-month prison sentence using the defence.
State enforced conversion therapy and sex reassignment procedures were also identified as leading to deaths.
Altogether the researchers found twenty-three countries in which sexual orientation—whether actual or perceived—may be the motivating factor in state-sanctioned killings.
OIP Staff
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