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Hardly a day goes by in Uganda without a case of defilement making the rounds in newspapers and media outlets. From the lurid tales spewed out daily by the Red Pepper to the disheartening article in today’s Monitor where a policeman allegedly defiled a 14 year old girl who had actually gone to the police station to report a case of defilement, these stories are garnering more and more attention. But why? No other country seems to be as focused on defilers as Uganda. Indeed, one of the major justifications for the controversial “Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009” is that the proposed law is a necessary measure to counteract the increasing amount of sexual abuse being perpetrated by homosexuals throughout the country.

According to a recent report issued by the African Network for Prevention against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Uganda Chapter, sixteen children were sexually abused daily in the first six months of this year in Uganda. A total of 9,480 child-abuse related cases were reported to various sources and of these, around 2,600 were cases of defilement. According to Anselm Wandega, the national coordinator for research, information and advocacy at ANPPCAN, the number of child abuse cases in Uganda is “unacceptably high” and he blamed the high incidences of defilement on breakdown in the family system. 

This “breakdown of the family” is one of the major pillars of Bahati and company’s arguments for further marginalizing and criminalizing Uganda’s gay community. This sentiment is echoed by Topher Mugumya, programme coordinator for research, information and advocacy at the Uganda chapter of the ANPPCAN, who noted in 2007 the widespread myth that having sex with a young child can "cleanse" one of HIV had led to a spike in child rape by HIV-positive men. This blanket statement, without any substantial qualification, is all that supporters of the new bill need to further stoke the fire. A quick glance at comments on Andrew Mwenda’s November 10^th op-ed piece, found some concise arguments for and against the Bill, but just as many people resorting to lowest-common-denominator hate speech and crude and egregious misinformation (e.g. “Gay-morra people recruit and sodomize our children, and most often it is aggraveted sex” and “Coz America n Europe slept and wen they woke up; their entire education sector (pity the school children !!!!)was in the hands of gays”).

Unfortunately much of the debate over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 and the serious problem Uganda faces regarding child abuse seem to have become intertwined and confused. Indeed, ANPPCAN’s numbers pose a serious problem to Ugandan society but the spurious and offensive notion of a massive homosexual recruitment and rape drive is not the reason why. The difference between pedophilia and homosexuality must be cleared up so that the real reasons behind this bill can be understood and the appropriate responses to child abuse can be generated.

Ultimately, it would be prudent to investigate just how many cases of child rape by HIV-positive men are occurring as this is the kind of claim which can (and given the popular support for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, clearly has) stoke serious and often spurious biases against one small segment of the population. It is worth noting that according to one World Vision survey, 60% of girls reported sexual abuse while the number for boys was only 13%, indicating that heterosexual defilement is still a significantly bigger issue than same-sex abuse. However, no one is tabling an "Anti-Heterosexuality Bill" in Parliament.

If defilement is in fact occurring because of the mistaken idea that sexual relations with a boy can cure HIV/AIDS, then it represents just another bit of misinformation regarding safe sex practices and sexually transmitted diseases in Uganda. There is no doubt that sexual abuse of minors poses a serious problem but it must not be conflated with the practice of consensual homosexual relations between two adults. The two issues must be separated and dealt with accordingly. Instead of spending so much time and money advocating for the execution of those with HIV/AIDS, the government would be wise to start educating.  

By Ariel Rubin, Independent Reporter

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