The charity Open for Business estimates that Uganda’s anti-gay law could cost the country as much as $8.3 billion over five years due to diminished foreign investment, trade, and tourism. Since enacting the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, Uganda has already faced losses between $470 million and $1.66 billion. One of the strictest anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world, the act prescribes life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations and the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality.’ In response, the World Bank suspended its loans to Uganda but is considering reinstating funding with new ‘mitigation measures’ to prevent discrimination in its projects.
This economic penalty contrasts sharply with the West’s absent or limited responses to Uganda’s other regional actions, raising questions over whether these sanctions are driven by justice or narrower Western interests. Despite its constitution granting the right to peaceful assembly and demonstrations, Uganda’s record of suppressing opposition politics is well-known. Protests against corruption in July, for example, were met with arrests and torture, yet Western voices remained largely silent. Similarly, the UN has cited Uganda exploiting mineral resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and supporting armed groups like M23 for destabilising the Great Lakes Region for more than 20 years. The UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, also ruled in 2022 that Uganda pay $325 million in reparations to the DRC.
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There’s a lot of treacherous manipulation coming from the Euros meddling into other sovereign nations’ affairs. I give a middle finger salute to the World Bank and International Court of Justice. This is all theatre.
The U.S. unabashedly support several countries in West Asia (Middle East) that have equally strict or even more strict laws regarding homosexuality. The hypocrisy is stunning and obvious.