With last week’s announcement, Sweden became the latest donor to withhold all government assistance to Uganda, following the African country’s passage of a divisive bill criminalizing homosexuality.
Maria Burnett, senior researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, told Devex that “the whole discussion surrounding the rights of LGBTI people has become criminal and that obviously has to change the way donors do work.”
As with Uganda’s aid embezzlement scandal in 2012, donor response to the harsh law is mixed. While nearly all donors are united in condemning the law as a violation of human rights, not everyone believes cutting aid is the proper response to the anti-gay law.