The Sexual Offences Bill, 2019 was a bill in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

that consolidated a number of previous laws regarding sexual offences, introduced some provisions toward addressing sexual violence, and criminalised same-sex relationships. The bill was passed by the

Parliament of Uganda The Parliament of Uganda is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Uganda. One of its primary functions is to pass laws that support effective governance in the country. Government ministers are required to answer to the people's represe ...

on 5 May 2021, but was vetoed by President

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

on 18 August 2021.

Legislative history

The bill was introduced by Kumi District Woman Representative Monicah Amoding in 2015, the year after the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 was signed into law but subsequently struck down by the

Constitutional Court of Uganda The Court of Appeal of Uganda (also constituted as the Constitutional Court of Uganda) is the second-highest judicial organ in Uganda. It derives its powers from Article 134 of the 1995 Constitution. It is an appellate court when hearing case ...

on procedural grounds. Amoding's bill then spent four years under review by the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs before returning to Parliament in February 2019. A number of amendments were then proposed during parliamentary debates, among others an amendment that would've made consent required for sexual acts but that failed to gain majority support. It was passed by the Parliament of Uganda in early May 2021. In August 2021, President

vetoed it, suggesting much of its content is already covered by existing legislation and sending it back to Parliament to address these redundancies. Museveni reportedly also had concerns about foreign policy implications and democratic buy-in and felt it was not politically advantageous to sign it as he had already recently won re-election.

Reception

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

called on the Ugandan president to veto the law, stating that "Ugandan lawmakers should focus on ending endemic sexual violence rather than seeing this as an opportunity to imbed abusive provisions that criminalize the sex lives of consenting adults." Concerns have also been raised about the impact the bill would have on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda.

References

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Legislative history

Reception

References

See also