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International Organizations Condemn the Shutdown of Ugandan Organization Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Call for Authorities to Reverse the Decision Immediately

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The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the decision to shut down the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a leading non-governmental organization committed to protecting and advancing the human rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in Uganda. We call on the Ugandan government to reverse this decision, and to bring an end to the longstanding persecution of Uganda’s vibrant LGBTQI+ community.

On August 3, the National Bureau for Non-Government Organizations (NGO Bureau), the Ugandan government body that regulates NGOs in the country, halted SMUG’s operations for failing to register with the NGO Bureau. However, SMUG applied for registration with the Bureau in 2012. In a 2016 letter, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) rejected its application to reserve the name “Sexual Minorities Uganda” on the basis that the name was “undesirable and unregistrable that the proposed company to be incorporated to advocate for the rights and wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer persons, which persons are engaged in activities labeled criminal acts under sect. 145 of the Penal Code Act.” This latest attack highlights the prevalence of discrimination, homophobia, and transphobia in Uganda and the readiness of Ugandan Government authorities to repress the country's LGBTQI+ population.

This decision to shut down SMUG’s operations discriminates against LGBTQI+ people and is in direct contravention of Uganda’s international legal obligations to treat all persons as equal before the law and to respect their right to freedom of association.

We join SMUG to ask that:

  1. The Ugandan government comply with its obligations to protect the LGBTQI+ community under international human rights law.
  2. Ugandan law enforcement not use this recent pronouncement as a means to attack members of SMUG or the broader LGBTQI+ community.
  3. Bilateral partners continue to urge the Government of Uganda to uphold basic human rights and freedoms within their borders.

And we call on the international community to protest this decision at the highest levels before the situation deteriorates any further.

  • Action Citoyenne pour l'Egalité Sociale en Haiti
  • Activist Education & development centre
  • African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies
  • African Young Positives Network
  • Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School
  • American Jewish World Service
  • amfAR
  • Amnesty International Canada
  • AVAC
  • Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention
  • Bruce Charity Organization
  • Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity
  • Capital Rainbow Refuge - Refuge Arc-en-ciel de la capitale
  • Center for Constitutional Rights
  • Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law
  • Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
  • Chicago Women's AIDS Project, USA
  • Civil Rights Defenders
  • Clinique internationale de défense des droits humains de l'UQAM (CIDDHU)
  • Colectivo de Abogados "José Alvear Restrepo" (CAJAR), Colombia
  • Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic
  • Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
  • Community Justice Project, Inc.
  • Community Resource Centre
  • Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Association (CCRDA)
  • Council for Global Equality
  • Equality Australia
  • Equitas
  • Fast-Track Cities Institute
  • Fierté Montréal Pride
  • Fòs Feminista
  • Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria
  • GLAAD
  • Global Gay Men Connect (GBGMC)
  • Global Health Justice Partnership of the Yale Public Health and Law Schools, Yale University
  • Global Justice Clinic, NYU School of Law
  • Global Justice Institute Metropolitan Community Churches
  • Global Labor Justice- International Labor Rights Forum
  • Global Network of Black People working in HIV
  • Global Network of Movement Lawyers - Movement Law Lab
  • Health GAP
  • Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung
  • HIV Dental Alliance
  • HIV Legal Network
  • HIV/STI Intervention and Prevention Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  • HRLN
  • Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Human Rights Defenders Network-Sierra Leone
  • Inter Pares
  • International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
  • Ipas
  • IPPF - International Planned Parenthood Federation
  • Kenya Network Of People who use Drugs (KeNPUD)
  • Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany LSVD
  • Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany LSVD
  • Lesbian Intersex Transgender and Other Extension
  • LGBT+ Denmark
  • Long COVID Justice
  • MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity
  • McCain Institute
  • Men For Positive Living
  • Morgane Oger Foundation
  • MPact Global Action
  • National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • National Working Positive Coalition
  • Nouvelle Dynamique de la Société Civile
  • OutRight Action International
  • PFLAG National
  • Prevention Access Campaign
  • Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School
  • Rainbow Faith and Freedom
  • Rainbow Railroad
  • Reframe Health and Justice
  • Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, UC Hastings
  • Renewal Fellowship UCC
  • Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, NYU School of Law
  • Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
  • Santa Clara Law, International Human Rights Clinic
  • Self
  • Socio- economic Rights Institute of South Africa
  • Spiritual Living Center Atlanta
  • Stephen Lewis Foundation
  • Strategies for High Impact (S4HI)
  • SUARAM, Malaysia
  • Swaziland Network of Young Positive
  • Synergía – Initiatives for Human Rights
  • The Global Justice Institute
  • The Trevor Project
  • Treatment Action Group
  • Ursel Phillips Fellows Hopkinson LLP, Toronto, Canada
  • Voice of Our Voices
  • Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic
  • Why We March
  • Womankind Worldwide
  • World Movement for Democracy