Ugandan and international civil society organisations are “alarmed” that the World Bank may resume lending to Uganda after it paused its funding in response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) becoming law.
In August 2023, the bank halted new lending to Uganda, after the country passed one of the most draconian anti-LGBTIQ laws in the world. Since July, the World Bank has been testing ‘mitigation measures’ intended to ensure that LGBTIQ people do not face any exclusion from the ongoing projects it funds in Uganda.
These include issuing “training manuals and sensitisation materials” with “direct language” to “guide the government team, contractors, and subcontractors by indicating that sexual and gender individuals and groups are included” in bank-funded projects. The measures came about after a four-day consultation with the Ugandan government and civil society organisations in January this year.
Campaigners fear the bank may resume lending to Uganda if these measures are deemed successful. Last week, 115 rights organisations urged World Bank president Ajay Banga against this – backing an open letter organised by Convening for Equality, a group campaigning against Uganda’s anti-LGBTIQ+ laws and policies.
The World Bank has hired SREO Consulting, an independent research consultancy, to work with the Ugandan government to put these mitigation measures in place. Campaigning organisations have described this arrangement as akin to “putting the Taliban in charge of monitoring violations of women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan”.
Their letter also warned that the measures were “appallingly weak” and a “facade” that would lead to “enabling government embrace of discriminatory policies and laws globally”.
Speaking to openDemocracy this week, Asia Russell, who leads Health GAP, one of the 115 organisations, said: “The World Bank must continue to pause lending to Uganda. President Banga’s equivocation now, when the law is being brutally enforced, is shocking.”
There has been “an increase in human rights violations occasioned by the passing of the AHA and the court decision on AHA”, according to a report co-published by Convening For Equality earlier this year. (Uganda’s constitutional court upheld the law in a ruling in April.) The AHA was signed into law on 29 May 2023, and the report found the number of documented human rights violations against LGTBIQ+ people in Uganda rose from 306 between January and August 2023 to 1,253 between September 2023 and April 2024.
The AHA was passed on 29 May 2023. By August this year, more than 90 people had been charged under it, according to the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), a Ugandan organisation promoting rights and legal aid. There has also been “an increase in human rights violations occasioned by the passing of the AHA and the court decision on AHA”, according to a report co-published by Convening For Equality earlier this year. (Uganda’s constitutional court upheld the law in a ruling in April.) The report found the number of documented human rights violations against LGTBIQ+ people in Uganda rose from 306 between January and August 2023 to 1,253 between September 2023 and April 2024.
Russell’s sentiment echoed a press statement co-released by Convening for Equality and Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda, a human rights organisation, earlier this week.
The statement said there was no way to mitigate against the harms of the law, adding that: “Inclusive economic development that benefits all Ugandans is impossible as long as this law is in effect.”
Representatives of some of the organisations that signed the open letter are also planning a protest in New York against the Bank’s plans to restart financing to the country. This will take place outside Uganda’s Permanent Mission to the UN on Thursday 26 September.
As of December 2022, the World Bank – through its member organisation the International Development Association (IDA) – had earmarked $5.4bn in loans and grants for disbursement to Uganda. The funding was spent on projects supporting smallholder farmers, women entrepreneurs and refugees, as well as infrastructural development and health facilities providing services including HIV/AIDS care and maternal health services.
Earlier this year, in apparent efforts to resume its spending, the bank produced the mitigation measures after holding consultations with the Ugandan government and civil society groups. Russell told openDemocracy that several of the 115 groups that signed Convening for Equality’s open letter took part in the talks. She said some of the concerns raised by these groups were not included in the eventual package of measures. For example, the groups called attention to the measure of ‘effectiveness’ for the mitigation package. “We pushed for the metric to be ‘positive, replicable evidence of inclusivity’, which is reasonable, but that was not included,” said Russell.
In a statement to openDemocracy, the World Bank said it “has not set a date to assess [the measures’] effectiveness”.
Asked whether the bank will resume funding to Uganda if the mitigation measures are found to be effective, the World Bank said: “That’s a premature discussion at the moment.”
The statement continued: “The World Bank Group is committed to ensuring inclusion and non-discrimination in our work in Uganda.
“We cannot deliver on our mission to end poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet unless all people can participate in, and benefit from, the projects we finance.”
