Brussels, 26/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The publication by a Ugandan newspaper on Tuesday of the names of 200 alleged homosexuals after the country introduced a new anti-gay law on Monday 24 February, has been severely criticised by Hannes Swoboda, leader of the S&D Group at the European Parliament.
Slamming what he described as a “witch-hunt”, Swoboda threatened that the EU would apply sanctions - either targeted sanctions under the EU's foreign and defence policy or sanctions under the cooperation and development policy - as a last resort if prior political dialogue were not successful. A high-ranking EU official told EUROPE on Wednesday that the EU member states were already in consultation about sanctions, but this could not be confirmed before we went to press.
Call for sanctions. “We are appalled by the witch hunts against people flagged up by the anti-homosexual law in Uganda. This has nothing to do with rejecting or embracing Western values, but it does have to do with respecting fundamental human rights”, said Hannes Swoboda.
He went on to state that “the EU's development aid commitments to Uganda will not change immediately, but we are considering the formal sanctions available to us, including visa bans for officials involved in the anti-gay law and launching consultations to suspend the Cotonou agreement with countries such as Uganda and Nigeria which have adopted homophobic laws. Development aid will be re-channelled in such a way as to guarantee that EU funds reach the most vulnerable people without discrimination.”
A few days before the enactment of the Ugandan law toughening criminal sanctions against homosexuals, Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, reminded Uganda of its international obligations (see EUROPE 11022). International pressure was piled on upstream of the enactment of this law, but has so far left Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni unmoved. With regard to the possible opening of consultations with the Ugandan authorities under the article of the Cotonou agreement between the EU and the ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) countries, the European Commission will have to make a proposal to this effect to the Council of the EU. (AN)