22 April, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sexual Minorities Uganda has today launched a report titled, “And That’s How I Survived Being Killed”: Testimonies of Human Rights Abuses from Uganda’s Sexual and Gender Minorities.

The report is intended to document the many forms of persecution that LGBT identifying individuals in Uganda face. In this report, based on first-hand testimonies, Sexual Minorities Uganda documented from May 2014 until December 2015 the physical threats, violent attacks, torture, arrest, blackmail, non-physical threats, press intrusion, state prosecution, termination of employment, loss of physical property, harassment, eviction, mob justice, and family banishment that are all too often apart of the lived experience for sexual and gender minorities in Uganda.

This report has documented 264 verified cases of persecutions of LGBT individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Of the 264 cases documented in this report 48 involved acts of violence, including 35 cases involving physical threats or violent attacks, and 13 instances of torture by the state. The largest proportion of documented cases involved intimidation, with 84 cases, while 73 involved loss of property (including loss of employment, physical property, and eviction), and 59 involved social exclusion (including discrimination when accessing healthcare, community discrimination, and family banishment) — all of which the Ugandan government has failed to investigate.

Dr. Frank Mugisha, the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda said, “This report is unique and unlike those that have come before it because it elevates the voice of the persecuted. What is inside this report is the human story – that is the lived experience of sexual and gender minorities in Uganda.”

For the full report please visit https://sexualminoritiesuganda.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/And-Thats-How-I-Survived_Report_Final.pdf.

For further information please contact

Grace Waitherero, Communications Officer

Sexual Minorities Uganda

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +256 392174432