How foreign aid supported anti-LGBTQ+ advocates in Uganda

Aid donors including the United States and United Kingdom gave at least $40 million since 2014 to organizations that advocated against LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda, according to a new report. The money was handed over, as part of development programs worth $75 million in total, to anti-LGBTQ+ religious organizations including the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, which previously lost U.S. aid funding due to its anti-LGBTQ+ activities. The report comes as the country looks set to pass a draconian anti-LGBTQ+ law that would prescribe the death penalty for “serial offenders” of homosexuality. Report author Claire Provost, co-founder of the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, said the research revealed “a really staggering number of connections” between aid donors and anti-LGBTQ+ religious organizations in Uganda but the “true scale of connections” is likely much larger than those identified in the report. “Let’s start scrutinizing every cent that comes to those religious leaders.” --— Edward Mutebi, a Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist Donors named in the report include the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, which has an ongoing project aimed at delivering “an open society” that lists the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda as an implementing partner. IRCU has so far received £134,900 ($168,000) through the project, which runs from 2021 to 2024 and is tagged as supporting women’s rights organizations and movements. IRCU has denounced “the growing spread of homosexuality and LGBTQ agenda in Uganda” and strongly advocated for the anti-homosexuality bill. IRCU also appears to have received money from the EU-funded, U.N.-implemented Spotlight Initiative against gender-based violence and from Danish aid. The anti-homosexuality bill — which was passed by the Ugandan Parliament in March but is currently awaiting changes — prescribes the death penalty for homosexuality under certain circumstances and requires citizens, under threat of jail time, to report people that they suspect of homosexuality. In 2014, the U.S. — which was supporting IRCU’s HIV work — diverted $6.4 million of planned aid funding away from the organization over its support for similar legislation. A U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief project has instead obligated $9.3 million to the Uganda Episcopal Conference for HIV work running from 2020-2025. UEC, which represents the Catholic hierarchy in Uganda, has been more reserved in its response to the bill, issuing few public statements on the matter. UEC Secretary-General John Baptist Kauta recently said “We do not support homosexuality” but that its bishops also did not support the death penalty for homosexuality, since “We believe [homosexuals] can change.” “There’s a really important obligation to make sure that money is not funding human rights abuses.” --— Beirne Roose-Snyder, a U.S.-based LGBTQ+ rights advocate There is no evidence that aid funds have specifically paid for anti-LGBTQ+ activities. The funded projects cover topics such as education and health care, and even — according to the donor data — gender equality. But the report notes that many of the grants “include support to develop the capacity of the groups involved. Having aid funding and prominent development partners can boost groups’ credibility, their reputations, and their access to power and other finance.” Edward Mutebi, a Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist, said the anti-homosexuality bill has been “very much supported and pushed by the religious actors and religious organizations,” which hold a lot of influence in the country. He said that their teachings have helped to stigmatize LGBTQ+ people and spread violence and discrimination against them, arguing that Western donors should instead work with LGBTQ+ and women-led organizations as implementing partners. “Instead of putting money where it’s going to turn out to be deadly to a certain section of people or a community, I would suggest that this money is directed to these women and LGBT organizations. … Let’s start scrutinizing every cent that comes to those religious leaders,” he said. U.S.-based LGBTQ+ rights advocate Beirne Roose-Snyder said donor governments are putting huge amounts of money into Uganda and that “There’s a really important obligation to make sure that money is not funding human rights abuses, that it’s not funding organizations who then use the capacity … to call for the death of LGBTQI Ugandans.” She highlighted, in particular, the paradox of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ organizations to do HIV work, since “stigma and criminalization against LGBTQI people is what drives the HIV epidemic in many places.” The report was published by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change and the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, which are gathering responses from the identified donors as they come in. In response to this story, Koye Adeboye, a spokesperson for the EU-U.N. Spotlight Initiative, told Devex: “Spotlight Initiative and our partners believe that all women and girls should live in a world free from violence and fear. To achieve this goal, with governments in the lead, we take a whole-of-society approach — including engaging religious groups with influence in the communities we serve. “We believe the anti-LGBTQI+ bill if signed into law, will have ‘serious negative repercussions on society as a whole and erode gains made,’ as stated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights." Updates, April 25 and 26, 2023: This story has been updated to clarify that $40 million was given to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations as part of programs worth $75 million, and to add donor response.