CRISPIN BLUNT MP
PRESS STATEMENT – THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2014
Crispin Blunt leads over a hundred MPs and Peers in a letter Urging President Museveni to amend the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Crispin Blunt, along with over 100 other MPs and Peers, has written to President Yoweri Museveni, calling on him to amend the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The letter brings to President Museveni’s attention the strong concerns in the British Parliament about the consequences for human rights if this Bill becomes law:
“Across all Parties represented in the United Kingdom Parliament, there is immense anxiety that Uganda doesn’t send a message about itself to the world that it aligns its values with one of the more regressive and regrettable parts of the British colonial era and not in a way consistent with a growing global consensus that sexuality is innate and all people deserve the proper protection of a universal standard of human rights and freedom from discrimination. The LGBT Ugandans who you represent must be no exception.”
Attached to the letter is a reference to the Adjournment Debate which Mr Blunt organised last night, 12th February 2014, in the House of Commons. In his speech Mr Blunt called for Travel Bans on the principal sponsors of this Bill as well as redirection of all British aid away from the Ugandan Government to suitable civil society organisations, if the Bill isn’t amended consistently with the protection of the human rights of all Ugandans. The signatories support Sexual Minorities Uganda’s, Uganda’s largest LGBT group, request that the bill is refocused to:
1) Make sexual offences laws gender neutral
2) Ensure a system of mandated reporting of child abuse
3) Commit the Government to addressing risk factors associated with child sexual exploitation
4) Prevent discriminatory access to healthcare in line with Uganda’s own HIV Prevention and Control Bill 2010
Crispin Blunt was unequivocal about the UK’s obligation to take responsibility for its disgraceful colonial legacy.
“It is for the Government of all the citizens of the United Kingdom to uphold the dignity of the individual and freedom from discrimination around the world. We therefore look to our Government to act and protect these values, to take up the United Kingdom’s special historic responsibility as the original author of this intolerance.”
Reflecting on the debate and the letter, Crispin Blunt stated:
“Ugandan activists have asked that we act and so we should. The UK cannot be seen to abdicate its special responsibility. Let us hope, for the sake of LGBT Ugandans and the reputation of Uganda, that my parliamentary colleagues and I can give President Museveni cause to act consistently with the tide of scientific understanding and history ”.
-Ends-
