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Africa’s Governments Can Do More to Protect Pregnant Students

African Committee Should Press Countries to Respect Girls’ Right to Education

Across Africa each year, tens of thousands of adolescent girls drop out of school or suffer discrimination or exclusion from schools because they are pregnant or have become mothers. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, teenage pregnancies have increased…
A female student wearing a school uniform walks out of a building
News

Africa: Rights Progress for Pregnant Students

Five More Sub-Saharan Countries Act to Protect Girls’ Education; Barriers Remain

On November 8, 2021, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education adopted the Policy on Prevention and Management of Pregnancy in Schools, which states students’ right to remain in school throughout and after their pregnancy, a policy that Human…
Young mothers at secondary school in Kenya
News

Saint Kitts and Nevis Universal Periodic Review Outcome Statement

Item 6 - Universal Periodic Review

It is disappointing to observe the Saint Kitts and Nevis government’s refusal, once again, to accept the recommendations to decriminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults. Articles 56 and 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act punish so…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

Uganda Lagging on Protecting Women Workers

Government Should Ratify Landmark Treaty on Workplace Violence

Stella (not her real name) had worked in Mukono as a waitress for about a year and a half and came to the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA Uganda) in 2019 to seek help because her supervisor was harassing her. What began as “uncomfortable…
Grace Twisimire, 25, sits in her shop selling clothes and plastic shoes in Kampala, Uganda, June 20, 2020.
News

Uganda: Reject Sexual Offenses Bill

Draft Law Criminalizes Consensual Sex, Lets Down Assault Survivors

Update: On August 3, 2021, President Museveni rejected the Sexual Offenses Bill and returned it to Parliament, stating that it covered offenses already provided for in the Penal Code. (Kampala) – Uganda’s Sexual Offenses Bill, 2019 both…
Brenda, a Ugandan transgender woman, was arrested and assaulted by police in the wake of the passage of Uganda’s 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Activists fear that the passage of the Sexual Offences Bill will similarly lead to anti-LGBT violence.
News

LRA’s Ongwen: A critical first ICC conviction

Eighteen years ago, in February 2003, Human Rights Watch interviewed Angela P, who was 10 years old when the brutal armed group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped her in northern Uganda. At age 15,  she was forced to become a “wife” to an LRA…
Dominic Ongwen at his confirmation of charges hearing in ICC courtroom I on 21 January 2016 © ICC-CPI.
News

Court Awards Damages to 20 LGBT Youth in Uganda

Homeless Shelter Residents to Be Compensated After Arbitrary Detention

The High Court of Uganda awarded damages of UGX 5,000,000 (about US$1,340) to 20 homeless gay, bisexual, and transgender people who had been arbitrarily detained and held without access to their lawyers. Their arrests had occurred in response to…
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News

LGBT Africans Share Challenges of Life During Pandemic

AfroQueer Podcast Explores Varied Experiences of Coping with Covid-19

AfroQueer podcast recently launched a special episode in advance of its upcoming third season. Checking in with queer Africans on how they are faring during the Covid-19 pandemic, the episode was aptly titled “How are you doing?” The wide…
A Ugandan transgender woman in a town near Kampala, shortly before she fled the country. She left to escape police harassment and violence.
News

Uganda: Drop Charges Against 19 Homeless Youth

Gay and Transgender People Still Detained Under Bogus Covid-19 Pretext

  UPDATE: On May 18, the Nsangi Magistrate’s Court ordered the release of the 19 shelter residents after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew charges against them, and they were released from Kitalya Prison the next day.…
Ugandan police and other security forces chase people off the streets, after police cleared a stand of motorcycle taxis which are no longer permitted to operate after all public transport was banned for two weeks to halt the spread of the new coronavirus,
News

Uganda LGBT Shelter Residents Arrested on COVID-19 Pretext

Release 20 Detainees, End Arbitrary Arrests

Living in a shelter for homeless people shouldn’t be illegal. But according to Ugandan police, 23 people arrested on March 29 living at a shelter serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kampala are guilty of “a…
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News

Uganda: Respect Rights in COVID-19 Response

Ensure Security Forces Refrain From Violence, Abuse

(Kampala, Uganda) – The Ugandan government should ensure that its security forces refrain from using excessive force or committing other abuses when enforcing measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Security forces have been using…
Ugandan police and other security forces chase people off the streets, after police cleared a stand of motorcycle taxis which are no longer permitted to operate after all public transport was banned for two weeks to halt the spread of the new coronavirus,
News

Sexual Violence: Uganda Police Should Support Victims, Not Blame Them

It was disappointing to read a recent article by a  senior police officer, Emilian Kayima, in The New Vision blaming women for being victims of sexual violence. Instead of taking on the men responsible for the violence and abuse, Kayima,  a former police…
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News

Uganda: Stop Police Harassment of LGBT People

Drop Charges Against Dozens Detained in Recent Roundups

  (Nairobi) – The Ugandan authorities should drop charges against dozens of people arrested over the last month in Kampala, the capital, on the basis of their presumed sexual orientation or gender identity, Human…
A medical report filled out by a doctor in Kampala, Uganda, after conducting a forced anal examination on a man suspected of consensual same-sex conduct.
News

Uganda: Brutal Killing of Gay Activist

Amid Attacks, Officials Threaten Death Penalty for LGBT People

  Update: On October 12, a government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo, tweeted that the government "does not intend to introduce any new law with regards to regulation of LGBT activities in Uganda because the current…
Relatives of Brian Wasswa carry his coffin during his funeral on October 6, 2019.
News

Africa: Educated Girls Crucial for Skilled Workforce

End Discrimination in Education Against Pregnant Girls, Adolescent Mothers

African governments should ensure the right to education for all girls by ending discrimination against those who are pregnant or have children, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of the United Nations International Day of the…
Cartoon for Tanzania Education Report
News

From the Americas to the Far East, Courts Are Advancing LGBT Rights

  In January, a colleague of mine at Human Rights Watch predicted that 2018 would be the “year of the courts” for LGBT people’s rights. Seven months into the year, courts around the world have indeed come down with important rulings that…
The Indian Supreme Court building in New Delhi, India.
News

African Union Shouldn’t Tolerate Banning Pregnant Girls from School

In June, Burundi joined a small group of African countries that ban pregnant girls from continuing with formal education in government schools. Burundi’s Education Ministry  banned the boys who get the girls pregnant as well as the girls themselves…
“Harriet,” 17, from Migori county, western Kenya, dropped out of the first year of lower secondary school when she got pregnant.

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