Let’s Walk Uganda is proud to participate in the paralegals training organised by HRAPF. Represented by our Administrative Officer, Darrian, we seek to increase our overall understanding and awareness of the legal issues faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities in Uganda.
Globally, individuals who identify as LGBTI endure avast array of discriminatory laws and practices. These include: entrenched forms of heteronormative bias in community, school and work settings; legal prohibitions on certain sex practices; legal prohibitions on freedom of expression, including freedom of speech and freedom of association; homophobic hate speech; and homophobic hate crime, including physical violence and killings.
Very few countries have taken a comprehensive approach to repealing discriminatory law and enacting legal protections against discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender, sexual orientation, or sex characteristics. The more common situation is that LGBTI persons face pervasive forms of everyday discrimination, and pervasive risks to their physical safety and well-being, for which they find little redress, if any, in law.
Contact with the criminal justice system imposes a range of additional risks to individuals that are perceived to be, or who identify as, LGBTI. This is irrespective of whether they are brought into contact with the law as victims, witnesses, or individuals accused or proven as having committed a crime.
It should thus be recognized that LGBTI prisoners are likely to face discrimination that impedes their equal access to fundamental services while in prison, including health services, contact with family, and access to complaint mechanisms without fear of reprisal.