PERSONS IN UGANDA

INTRODUCTION
The booklet is intended to be a one-stop reference publication on Uganda’s legal and
human rights regime regarding LGBTI rights. The existing literature on this subject is
scattered in different publications and legislation, which poses numerous challenges
to efforts to study and understand the LGBTI rights question in Uganda.
This booklet is intended to be a guide for members of the LGBTI community, academics
and researchers, activists and human rights defenders, policy makers and the public
who seek information on the legal standards applicable to LGBTI persons in Uganda.
This booklet does not make a very deep analysis of the provisions but simply restricts
itself to stating the law as it is and how it applies to LGBTI persons.
With regard to the hierarchy of laws in Uganda and to the role and recognition of
international law within the domestic settings, and the tendency by Ugandan courts
to give precedence to specific protections within the domestic law, this booklet starts
with an analysis of the domestic legal framework. It then goes on to the East African
sub regional system, the African regional system and then the international system.
Each of the systems is contained in a section of its own as follows:
The first section discusses the national legal framework of Uganda and how the laws
have been interpreted and implemented regarding LGBTI persons. This part looks at
different laws and provisions that specifically concern LGBTI persons.
The second section discusses East African Community law, and how it is relevant to
LGBTI rights.
The third section discusses the African regional framework. It looks at the instruments
ratified by Uganda at this level and how their provisions have been interpreted in
view of rights of LGBTI persons.
The fourth section discusses the international perspective. This examines the
international human rights instruments that are legally binding on Uganda, provisions
relevant to LGBTI persons and their rights and how they have been interpreted. It also
contains a discussion of the Yogyakarta Principles, a set of international guidelines
that have been put in place to aid the interpreting of international human rights
instruments in light of rights of LGBTI persons. Although these are not legally binding,
they provide good guidance on how international human rights can be interpreted to
include protection of LGBTI persons. The booklet states the position of the law as at
July 2015.
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