The World Medical Association has urged Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to veto the proposed Bill that would criminalize certain homosexual acts making them punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Nigel Duncan, WMA Public Relations Consultant, disclosed this on Friday in a statement to Media Talk Africa, condemning the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill that Ugandan Members of Parliament have approved.
On March 20, the MPs of Uganda okayed a bill proposing the death penalty for LGBTQ.
But as a follow-up from an emergency resolution, the WMA council members unanimously called on the Ugandan President to veto it and prevent it from becoming law.
The Council also condemned the proposal to criminalize individuals who “hold out” as transgender or queer and called for appropriate legal measures to protect their equal civil rights.
Professor Jungyul Park, Chair of the WMA Council, said: ‘The meeting expressed grave concern about this Bill. The WMA has a clear policy condemning all forms of stigmatization, criminalization and discrimination of people based on their sexual orientation. Our policy states that homosexuality is a natural variation within the range of human sexuality. And prejudice, stigmatization, peer rejection and bullying continue to seriously impact the psychological and physical health of people with homosexual orientations.
“We are calling for this Bill and any similar proposed legislation to be vetoed by the President”.
Most African countries including Nigeria had criminalized LGBTQ.
