mr president i crave the house's indulgence if we can move away from points of order and to the issue of discrimination
there is currently a bill before the ugandan parliament and some argue what is it to do with us
breaches of international obligations the cotonou agreement and breaches of human rights as we have always shown have everything to do with us
this bill's provisions are draconian and among them let me inform the house are any person alleged to be homosexual would be at risk of life imprisonment or in some circumstances the death penalty any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities would face fines and probably three years in prison any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within twenty-four hours would face the same penalties any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual would risk seven years of imprisonment
similarly the bill threatens to punish or ruin the reputation of anyone who works with a gay or lesbian population such as medical doctors working on aids and hiv civil society leaders active in the fields of sexual and reproductive health hence further undermining public health efforts to counter the spread of hiv
it is vital that this afternoon in this house we put aside our prejudices and we defend those who have no one left to defend them
therefore i warmly welcome the statement by the commissioner on development and humanitarian aid commissioner de gucht statements from the british french and swedish governments as well as president obama and the chair and vice-chair of the us house of representatives committee on foreign affairs
i urge the house to give this the high importance which it deserves and to speak out for those in uganda who currently are not being heard
