Blind Alleys: The Unseen Struggles of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Urban Refugees in Mexico, Uganda and South Africa - Part II - Country Findings: Uganda

This report seeks to inform international agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as they work to improve the protection of sexually and gender non-conforming (SGN16) refugees in Uganda. The report is based on extensive field and desk research conducted over the course of a year. We interviewed thirty-seven SGN refugees and stakeholders working with them, including representatives of refugee-serving NGOs, LGBTI organizations, and UNHCR field officers. Our findings reveal serious and dangerous gaps in their protection.

Refugees interviewed report that, on account of being SGN, they experience harassment, discrimination, arbitrary arrest, extortion, physical and verbal abuse, and rape. This is at the hands of Ugandan civilians, fellow refugees, and Ugandan police alike. Eight out of the eleven male SGN refugees we interviewed had been raped. All but two of the SGN women had experienced some form of sexual violence. Only a few said they could practically or safely cohabitate with their partner. Most emphasized they had to keep their identities hidden from neighbors and landlords. Many report that only if they hide being SGN will they remain accepted in faithbased communities.

SGN refugees who manage to find work are often sexually abused by their employers and discriminated against by their fellow employees. Many are so heavily stigmatized by community members that they are too afraid to go looking for work. Legitimate employment opportunities for refugees in Uganda are rare; for SGN refugees they are almost non-existent, and many have had to resort to sex work in order to survive. Given the high percentage of SGN refugees involved in survival sex, and serious obstacles in accessing health care, HIV/AIDS prevention and care is a significant health issue. Pregnancies resulting from rape create a need for safe abortion options in a country where abortion remains illegal. Despite health needs, most SGN refugees avoid hospitals for fear of discrimination and mistreatment.

SGN refugees in Uganda report feeling that they can go nowhere to seek help, and convey resultant feelings of helplessness and diminished will to live. Isolated from local Ugandan society and ostracized by the wider refugee community, they commonly rely on each other for emotional support and to acquire the skills necessary to survive in a country that is largely hostile towards them.