uhspauganda

Activists stranded at the National Theatre, soon after Dr Buturo blocked film.UHSPA Photos Dec 17-2010-Human rights defenders yesterday gathered in Kampala to protest Nsaba Buturo, the Ugandan Ethics minister’s ban of the viewing of a documentary highlighting the work of UHRC and the challenges they face. In the film, Mr Kikonyogo Kivumbi, Executive Director of UHSPA who is identified as the defender of minorities, disparages the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill as an object to deny the rights of the minorities. Led by Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) chairperson Medi Kaggwa, the rights defenders in a joint statement said Mr Nsaba Buturo’s move was unconstitutional. “The documentary was one of the series of activities aligned in commemoration of the International Human Rights Day on December 10. In Uganda, the UHRC spearheaded the activities to mark the day in partnership with the UN Office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Network –Uganda, the Human...

Minority leaders have this morning met the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi to petition over the right to Health. The group was led by Macklean Kyomya,leader of sex workers rights organisation Wonetha, and Mr Kikonyogo kivumbi, the UHSPA executive director. We gave him condom gifts and macklean told him the hiv/aids control bill 2010 should be fair and incorporate sex workers as active stakeholders in the fight against hiv/aids prevelance in Uganda. The speaker said he was happy and would forward the opinions in the petition to the social services committtee currently handling the bill for consideration, and possible inclussion.

Photo:Minority activists make a case for equal access to treatment before Parliamentary HIV/AIDS Committee.( L-R)Ms Macklean Kyomya (WONETHA), Mr.Kikonyogo Kivumbi (UHSPA)and Ms Daisy Nakato( WONETHA) Kampala, November 30,201O…. We, the leaders of Minority Rights Organizations in Uganda with Special interest in reversing HIV/AIDS prevalence rates among our constituencies; Aware of the important contribution of Ugandan Civil Society to best practices in Global management of HIV/AIDS, In full Solidarity with you our sisters and brothers in CSO in the genuine struggles ahead to better management of HIV/AIDS Uganda, Cognizant of the incredible contribution to past and ongoing research involving sex workers and LGBTI community in Uganda and other countries to the development and advancement of knowledge on Anti Retroviral Therapy, prevention, care and diagnostic regimes, currently benefiting Ugandans, Underscoring the important lobbying you do for Universal access to Anti retroviral Th...

Kampala- November 26, 2010 A High Court Judge in Uganda has questioned the legality and assertions that two women in an intimate sexual relationship were “against the order of nature.” In a first to casting a shadow of doubt and unconstitutionality on the draconian Ugandan Penal Code criminalizing same sex relationships in Uganda, Justice Kibuuka Musoke wondered Friday in Kampala what wrong two intimate women in Love commit. “Two women…..Tell me counsel; …….what order of nature is violated here?!” Justice Musoke, asked a defense lawyer in a case in which three alleged gays sued a Ugandan tabloid for violating their Constitutional Rights. The defense lawyer had told a packed court that two of the plaintiffs (names with held) were lesbians, committing acts against the order of nature, and promoting homosexuality. He cited several internet sites where the photos of the plaintiffs are alleged to appear as gay activists. The defense lawyer also struggled to tell court that the plaintiffs ha...

FOUR American Evangelical Christian Pastors have donated US$30,000 to an HIV/AIDS organisation along Sentema road in Kampala to facilitate the publishing of the Rolling stone tabloid,advocating for hatrade,violence and death against Ugandan homosexuals.The move is to ensure that the money is not frozen by the High Court on Rolling stone account, following a recent high court order against the paper.The latest issue of the rolling stone photographed above claims homosexuals carried out kampala bombings,and were behing al-shabab attacks in Kampala in July 2010. This time round the pastors are working behind an American trained Ugandan Catholic priest attached to Nalukongo Vulnerable peoples home along Ndeba road in Kampala who is a board member of the NGO. It is not clear if the catholic priest is working as an individual or has institutionalised blessing. If he has institutionalised go-ahead, it will be a departure from the Uganda Joint Christian Council Position, opposing the ...

PICTURE CAPTION LGBTI and Sex workers rights activists join a match through the streets of Kampala (June2010) to demand increades funding and equal access to health care from leaders to be elected in next years's Presidential elections. The Ministry of Health has since intentionally omitted LGBTIs from HSSIPIII November 7, 2010 The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 7272 Kampala- Uganda Dear Sir, RE: OMISSION OF SEXUAL MINORITIES FROM ACCESSING VITAL HEALTH SERVICES UNDER MARPS IN HEALTH SECTOR STRATEGIC PLAN III Uganda Health and Science Press Association (UHSPA-Uganda), a network of groups and individuals working to mainstream minority rights in Uganda’s Public Health Policies and laws is concerned about the omission/ exclusion of sexual minorities from accessing vital health services in the soon to be launched Health Sector Strategic Plan III. Although UHSPA participated in the Civil Society Joint Assessment of the HSSPIII, we have founded fears that the policy ...

A group of American Evangelical Christian Pastors have started a newspaper in Uganda to fuel hatrade crimes and calling for death against Gays. The tabloid named the rolling stone in its maiden issue, scanned copies besides here,Monday this week, called for the " Hang them", while publishing photos and names of alleged homosexuals in Kampala.This is an innovation after the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2009 has been put on hold by Ugandan parliament.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams (R), meets bishops Ian Ernest of the Province of the Indian Ocean (C) and Nathan Kyamanywa of Bunyoro Kitara Diocese yesterday at Entebbe International Airport. The head of the Anglican Church is here for the All African Bishops International Conference which starts tomorrow in Entebbe (Monitor Story www.monitor.co.ug)The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will today meet African bishops, most of whom are unhappy about his perceived tolerance of homosexual behaviour in the Anglican Communion. Dr Williams, who arrived in the country yesterday, will be the lead preacher at the opening of the All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe aimed at fostering unity and breathing life into a Church, the Archbishop of Uganda Luke Orombi, described as “broken”. 400 participants The leader of the Anglican Church worldwide was received by the Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), Rt. Rev. Ian Ernest and Ugandan bishops Na...

The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Ms. Naveneth Pillay(left) , has said her office shall continue to engage the Ugandan government on minority health Rights. She said during a meeting with UHSPA Executive Director, Mr Kikonyogo Kivumbi, Friday in Kampala that access to treatment is a right every individual should be accorded irrespective of who they are. She was responding to concerns raised by Mr. Kivumbi about a number of bills and policies being proposed by the Uganda government that discriminates sexual minorities from access to care and treatment. The Anti homosexuality Bill 2009 wants doctors to report gay clients to police within 24 based on information obtained by virtue of their job. Mr. Kivumbi told the commissioner that Uganda’s new position sitting at the United Nations Human Rights Council should not be used to send the wrong signal to other African countries by enacting laws that suppress minority groups. He cited the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2009, the HIV/ AID...

In this photo taken Thursday May, 20, 2010 file photo, Tiwonge Chimbalanga, foreground, and Steven Monjeza, left back, are led from court in Blantyre, Malawi, after a judge sentenced the couple to the maximum 14 years in prison for unnatural acts and gross indecency under Malawi's anti-gay legislation. Malawi's president says he has pardoned and ordered the release of the two Saturday May 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Alex Ntonya, File) A prison spokesman in Malawi says a gay couple pardoned by the president has been released. Evance Phiri said Sunday that Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were released late Saturday, hours after President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them without condition. Mutharika stressed that homosexuality remains illegal in the conservative southern African country. It was not clear where the men went after their release. They were not at their Blantyre home when an Associated Press reporter visited Sunday. Malawi had faced international condemnation for the c...

Hon Beatrice Rwakimari, the Ntungamo District Member of Parliament and Chairperson of the HIV/Aids Committee in Parliament has said all concerns of sexual Minority groups in Uganda regarding the HIV/AIDS control Bill 2010 she tabled mid this year in Parliament shall be addressed. She said this in a meeting in Kampala with the Executive Director of UHSPA-Uganda, Mr. Kikonyogo Kivumbi. Ms Rwakimari said she “understood" UHSPA's concerns of minority, LGBTI groups if the bill is passed in the current form and said a position paper by minority groups is welcome. “This law is for all Ugandans. Minorities are Ugandans and we shall listen to them equally," She said. Mr. Kivumbi told Rwakimari that LGBTI and sex workers are being targeted by the spirit behind the bill to control them. “Minorities need not be controlled. They are partners in the fight against the pandemic and should be part of the process," Kivumbi asserted. He specifically raised a clause on the confidenti...

After enduring decades of state torture and gross human rights abuse,minorities in Uganda are the next target When he arrived at Kampala’s Hotel Triangle for a three-day conference, the Rev Kapya Kaoma knew that he would not like what he heard. The clue was in the event’s title — “Exposing the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda” — and in the line-up of guest speakers arranged by Stephen Langa, head of the Ugandan-based Family Life Network (FLN), and an outspoken advocate for the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda. Given top billing at the event hosted by the FLN was Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries, an American conservative Christian group from California, and a Holocaust revisionist whose controversial book The Pink Swastika names homosexuals as “the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities.” Weeks after the Kampala conference in March last year — which followed a meeting between the speakers and members of...

UGANDA HEALTH AND SCIENCE PRESS ASSOCIATION _____________________________Press Release__________________ For immediate release: Contact person: Kikonyogo N. Kivumbi (English, Luganda, and Kiswahili) Cell: +256 752 62 84 06 Email: uhspauganda@gmail.com HIV/AIDS Control Bill 2009 unfairly targets minorities Kampala: May 19, 2010… Uganda Health and Science Press Association is concerned about the spirit and implications behind the HIV/AIDS Control Bill 2009 tabled this morning in the Parliament of Uganda. Whereas it is true that Uganda needs a formal policy or legal mechanism to manage the pandemic, the spirit behind the “Control” bill is an attempt to target minority groups, including LGBTI, Commercial sex workers and People Living with HIV/AIDS as the problem fuelling the pandemic whose prevalence statistics are stagnated at 6.4% in the last few years. Rather than seeking “to control”, Uganda should be looking at “Managing” the pandemic, in which the propose...

( Minorities do not cause drug shortages in hospitals. corruption does) The law will drive people, especially minorities underground; in the face of possible prosecution and forced disclosure, most people will hide way,(shy away). There would be no reason to take tests in fear of prosecution. Besides, Uganda already has laws on the penal code that criminalizes sex work and LGBTI community. By Kikonyogo N.Kivumbi At about 6.7%prevalence rate of Hiv/aids in the general population( NAFOPHANU estimates), Uganda government is stuck with the statistics for some years now. In an effort to appease donors and electorate for the 2011 general presidential campaign in which the current President Yoweri Museveni is contesting the fourth term after 23 years in power, the blame for the stuck statistics has been delivered to the door step of minority groups in the country. The thinking in the ruling party is that sex workers and LGBTI are the problem why the rates are not going down. Then another...

(Monitor Story- www.monitor.co.ug) Kampala A committee of Cabinet has made recommendations that could end Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s ( pictured above) proposal to have a separate law punishing homosexuality in Uganda. The recommendations, which Saturday Monitor has seen, come close to dismissing Mr Bahati’s draft legislation. The committee, put together to advise the government after Mr Bahati’s draft legislation left Uganda condemned by sections of the international community, looked deep into the language, tone and relevance of the draft legislation, dissecting every clause to determine its usefulness. It was not clear who wrote the draft legislation, the committee’s report says, noting that the document had “technical defects in form and content”. The result left the draft legislation almost bare, as nearly all of the clauses were found either redundant, repetitive of existing laws, or even useless. In fact, the committee found that only “Clause 13” of the draft legislation, abou...

Against the bill: teleevangelist Joyce Meyer The statement from the Ministries follows From: Joyce Meyer Ministries Date: Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 3:03 PM It is increasingly evident that the proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” introduced in the Ugandan parliament is a profoundly offensive, dangerous and disturbing attack on the very foundation of individual liberties and human rights afforded not only to the good citizens of Uganda, but on the at-large global community. If enacted, this hostile legislation will also further, and adversely, serve as a major setback in the global health efforts to combat Uganda’s AIDS epidemic and reduce the record-high infection rates among the country’s HIV population, an already at-risk community that could be further ostracized, threatened, and targeted as potential criminals. Our missions and ministry message has always been to teach that the Word of God is about helping people – all people – learn that God loves them and has a purpose for their live...

Guess they didnt teach him to show porn in Church there....! visit this link to read university statement.....http://www.pbu.edu/news/100326ssempa.htm Response to Ugandan Pastor Recently, Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa made statements concerning public policy regarding homosexuals in that nation. Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU) categorically condemns any position that calls for violence against human beings created in the image and likeness of God, or violent solutions to socially controversial issues. While PBU holds to a biblically defined position regarding human sexuality, to call for such action clearly violates the teaching of the Bible, and the principles and practices taught at PBU. Ssempa did earn a graduate degree from PBU in 1994. Ssempa also received an honorary degree from PBU in 2006 for his ministry of compassion to HIV/AIDS victims in his native land. The University was not aware at that time of Ssempa’s recently expressed views. His present publicly stated positio...

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Rev. Rizi Nasele Timane (in picture)' and the Gospel Truth Music Ministry (http://www.rizigospel.com) are voicing their support for Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and their distress at the new perils that the community faces under the country's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the proposed legislation would create a new offense of "aggravated homosexuality," punishable by death. An extraterritorial clause would require that even Ugandans living in other countries be extradited to face prosecution for offenses listed within the bill. The bill also proposes jail sentences for failure to report a homosexual act and for "promoting homosexuality," which could cover the activities of human rights groups, including organizations working on HIV and AIDS prevention. Christianity is the most widespread religion in Uganda. In an open lette...

By Ariel Rubin/Guest Blogger Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill has received considerable international attention, particularly concerning its harsh criminal sanctions, but another piece of repressive legislation threatens to criminalize the activities of another maligned group: the vibrant independent press in this East African nation at the confluence of Africa’s largest lake (Victoria) and the world’s longest river (Nile). Uganda is not above putting restrictions on journalists and politicians deemed as opposing President Yoweri Museveni, the former guerilla leader who has ruled the country since 1986. The police here have a special “media crimes” division. One journalist, Andrew Mwenda, is battling more than 20 separate criminal cases alleging libel, sectarianism, and sedition for his reporting. Under the Ugandan 2002 Anti-Terrorism Act, journalists risk lengthy prison sentences or death while reporting on the activities of groups the government deems “terrorists.” Now, it appears th...

March 5, 2010 The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) applauds efforts by people living with HIV in Uganda to stand up against the proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009”, and urges HIV service providers in the country to join them by making a clear, collective public statement condemning the proposed legislation and calling for its immediate dissolution. If enacted, this legislation will have a profoundly detrimental impact upon the effort to address HIV in Uganda. Implementing organizations dedicated to delivering HIV & AIDS prevention, treatment and care services in Uganda have contributed enormously to fighting the epidemic on the ground, and as such are uniquely positioned to speak out against the bill - especially those implementers receiving significant funding from large global donors like PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Moreover, implementers have an obligation to the health and safety of all people in the communities they serve, including gay men and other men who have sex...

Statement from Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights The Urgent Action Fund-Africa, a Pan-African women’s human rights organisation, notes with great concern Uganda’s draconian Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009, the ongoing parliamentary debates and the suggested amendments to the Bill. We acknowledge that people have different personal persuasions on the question of homosexuality. However, we are deeply concerned that by enacting this law, the State will set a precedent where anyone different from the mainstream can be legally demonized, stripped of their dignity and rights and persecuted, at a time when we seek to establish democratic societies of tolerance and equality. There will be no limit to a state’s tyranny and manipulation of laws to oppress any group of people considered different, dissenting or a minority. We underscore the fundamental principle that people are different in their beliefs, orientation and opinions YET equal in their rights, dignity and worth. UAF-Africa ass...