CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world is seriously concerned about a recent decision by the Ugandan authorities to suspend the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an organisation that has for years championed the rights of LGBT people in Uganda.
On 5 August 2022, Stephen Okello, Executive Director of the National Bureau for NGOs, a government agency that regulates the operations of NGOs, suspended the operations of SMUG with immediate effect, accusing it of working illegally, without a valid NGO Permit. The government of Uganda is obliged to protect and promote the rights of its citizens and create an enabling environment for civil society organisations to operate by removing any undue restrictions on the right to freedom of association.
“The suspension of this organisation is a new low for human rights in a country that has continuously failed to respect fundamental freedoms, including freedom of association. This is intended to silence civil society voices committed to defending human rights of LGBT community in Uganda. Ugandan authorities should immediately reverse this decision and allow SMUG to resume their work,” said Mawethu Nkosana, LGBTI Advocacy Lead for CIVICUS.,
Background
The closure and suspension of Sexual Minorities Uganda follows several attacks, restrictions, and harassments imposed on NGOs, particularly LGBTQ organisations. Uganda is a deeply “conservative and religious” society where LGBT people face general hostility. Homosexuality remains illegal and gay people face arrest, ostracism and violence. The country's parliament once passed an anti-gay law that handed out life sentences for some categories of homosexual offences. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has always criticised and attacked gay people as disgusting and social deviants running “social imperialism”.
The NGO Bureau has imposed the current restrictions on SMUG at a time when the government has deliberately closed one of the biggest basket funds - Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), a major funder of civil society organisations in Uganda. CIVICUS calls on the government of President Yoweri Museveni to rescind the suspensions of SMUG, respect its international human rights obligations, and create an enabling environment for all civil society organisation and human rights defenders.
The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space – the space for civil society – in Uganda as repressed