Amnesty International is gearing up to launch a report titled “Everybody Here Is Having Two Lives and Two Phones”: The Devastating Impact of Criminalization On Digital Spaces for LGBTIQ People in Uganda. The report alleges that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 (AHA) has further entrenched discrimination and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV) against LGBTQ individuals in Uganda.
The report allegedly reveals that TfGBV has forced LGBTQ individuals and organizations to drastically alter their digital presence and behaviors, compromising their rights to freedom of expression and association. Many are claimed to have been forced to deactivate accounts, delete or censor posts, unfollow LGBTQ content, and limit website content, severely impacting sexual and reproductive health services.
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The AHA allegedly creates a climate of fear, with LGBTQ individuals facing arrest, violence, and extortion. The report’s findings paint a dire picture of the lives of LGBTQ people in Uganda, who are forced to live in secrecy and fear.
Amnesty International’s researchers and advisors, Shreshtha Das, Marco Perolini, and Roland Ebole, will present the report’s main findings during a virtual press conference on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Nairobi Time.
The report’s launch comes amid widespread international condemnation of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into law in February 2014, permitting sentences of life in prison for some sexual acts between consenting adults.
