Ugandan attorney Nicholas Opiyo received Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism this year along with five other individuals who have devoted their lives to defending human rights. Nicholas played a central role in the legal response that overturned the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) in his country. Many human rights heroes’ accomplishments go unsung, and so Nicholas was truly surprised when he learned of this recognition. He was simply doing the work he felt compelled to do.
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One of our last meetings is with Lady Mermaid’s Bureau, an outreach group that works with female sex workers of all ages. This is just one of the ten different projects we were able to visit, a snap-shot of the inspirational work being in the global HIV/AIDS response.
Spectrum Uganda, yesterday released the full list of nominees for this year’s Human Rights Awards. The awards which were inaugurated in 2014 recognise individuals and organisations for their dedicated work
Ugandans have overtime tried to grasp what it really means to be either lesbian or gay. While some may not accept what it fully entails to be a sexual minority, they will still have a better understanding of the situation the latter find themselves in.
What is still hard to grasp for most Ugandans however is the concept of gender minorities. Today being Trans Awareness Day, we talked to a few transgender individuals to shed light on what their everyday lives are like and how they have managed to cope in a greatly transphobic society.
Nicholas Opiyo is probably most known as the lawyer that spearheaded the team that saw the Anti Homosexuality Act struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2014. For that, Opiyo was forced to relinquish his position as General Secretary of the Uganda Law Society.
Defenders Protection Initiative (DPI) is conducting a research on “THE THREATS LIKELY TO AFFECT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS TOWARDS 2016 ELECTIONS IN UGANDA” which is
aimed at identifying the likelihood of such threats that may arise during this
period and may affect civil society organizations – Human Rights Defenders (HRDs)
in particular and develop recommendations to mitigate them.
Abbey Kiwanuka Ugandan refugee in the United Kingdom and the Chief Executive of the African LGBTI organisation Out and Proud Diamond Group wins an award for his work towards eliminating the stigma attached to HIV and the LGBTI community.
Former US Ambassador to Uganda Scott H Delisi did not shy away from his stand on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) issues in the country; and with his term of office having ended and a new envoy set to assume office, questions have been raised on what the latter’s viewpoint will be.
Together with fellow LGBTI organization Youth On Rock, Spectrum Uganda has released the list of categories for the 2015 LGBTI/SW Human Rights awards. The awards which were inaugurated in 2014 recognise individuals and organisations for their dedicated work towards inproving the lives of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons as well as the sex workers community.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex youth in Uganda continue to defy the notion that the community is characterized by lazy, self-pitying individuals. To curb the issue of unemployment, a group of youth have come together and formed an alliance named Rainbow Mirrors.