Foreign Secretary William Hague has re-iterated the government's opposition to Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, urging local officials to reject it.
Writing on micro-blogging site Twitter he said: “We oppose this bill and will continue to raise our concerns with Ugandan government. We urge Ugandan MPs to reject it.”
He continued: “Our embassy is lobbying Ugandan go and the UK initiated a formal EU demarche to the Ugandan foreign minister on the bill.”
Currently under review, the bill could see homosexuals either placed in prison or - if earlier versions of the Bill are passed - sentenced to the death penalty.
The proposed bill has been under a committee review for the past 48 hours and is expected to be either voted-in or rejected imminently.
A core supporter of the Bill told the parliamentary committee he doesn’t support the Bill’s death penalty clause. Despite this, Pastor Martin Ssempa still urged MPs to pass the legislation to control queers.
Naturally, global pressure is mounting. Conservative civil liberties spokesman in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, and Charles Tannock MEP also called on the EU's External Action Service to reinforce the EU's opposition to such a Bill, which the parliament has twice condemned in foreign affairs resolutions.
Tannock said: "The European Parliament and the EU's High Representative Ashton must bring the influence of the international community to bear on Uganda. We must make it clear that this outrageous law must not be allowed to pass.
"There is a very worrying violent and abusive environment towards homosexual people in Uganda and it must be condemned as far and wide as possible by the West."
Kirkhope added: "The right to live free from fear on the basis of sexuality should be an inviolable right across the world.
"There is no place in this world for laws that make homosexuality a criminal offence punishable by either long prison sentences or even death. The parliament of Uganda needs to look at how it can create a climate of tolerance in its country, rather than the very worrying climate of hatred that we have seen in recent years."
Source: PinkPaper.com, May 11, 2011
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