Uganda’s Sexual Offenses Measure Faces Public Resistance
Voice of America
KAMPALA, UGANDA - Ugandan lawmakers this week passed a bill on sexual offenses that would increase punishments for offenders and would strengthen protection for victims. But critics note the measure also would enshrine the criminalization of same-sex relations, sex work and those living with HIV.
Monica Amoding, the legislator who pushed for the Sexual Offenses Act, said that for 10 years there has been a high incidence of sexual offenses, with sexual violence topping the list of crimes that needed to be battled. However, not everyone supported the bill. Under terms of the act, consensual same-sex relationships would remain a crime in Uganda and could lead to 10 years in prison.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
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