E/C.12/UGA/CO/1
Extraction activities
14.
The Committee is concerned about increasing incidents of land grabbing in the State
party owing to extraction activities. The Committee is concerned that oil and gas extraction
as well as mining activities are carried out without prior and meaningful consultation with
communities whose lands lie beneath these projects. It is also concerned about the
disproportionate effect land grabbing has on women and customary landowners (art. 1).
The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the legal
framework governing extraction and mining activities. It urges the State party always
to enter into prior and meaningful consultations with the communities concerned
before granting concessions for the economic exploitation of the lands, and fulfil the
obligation to obtain their free, prior and informed consent, including and in particular
that of women and customary landowners. The Committee also recommends that the
State party guarantee that in no case will such exploitation violate the rights
recognized in the Covenant and that just and fair compensation be granted to the
communities concerned. It should further ensure that these activities as well as the
resources generated bring about tangible benefits to the enjoyment of economic, social
and cultural rights by the population.
Non-discrimination
15.
The Committee is concerned about the lack of comprehensive anti-discrimination
legislation that encompasses all prohibited grounds of discrimination, and about the
prevalence of societal stigma and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation,
gender identity, sex, ethnicity and disability. It also regrets the lack of information on the
mandate and the actual functioning of the Equal Opportunities Commission (art. 2 (2)).
Recalling its general comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in
economic, social and cultural rights, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that includes all the
grounds for discrimination set out in article 2 of the Covenant;
(b)
Take steps to combat and prevent discrimination and societal stigma, in
particular against persons with disabilities, persons with albinism and lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals, and ensure their enjoyment of the
rights enshrined in the Covenant, in particular access to housing, employment, social
security, health care and education;
(c)
Allocate the resources necessary for the Equal
Commission to discharge its role effectively and independently.
Opportunities
Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity
16.
The Committee is highly concerned about the draft law on the “prohibition of
promotion of unnatural sexual practices” that discriminates against persons on grounds of
their sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as about the criminalization of
consensual same-sex sexual conduct in the State party’s Penal Code. The Committee is also
concerned about information that there has been an increase in arbitrary detention and
police abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons since the passage of
the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2014 (art. 2 (2)).
The Committee urges the State party to withdraw the draft law on the
“prohibition of promotion of unnatural sexual practices” and to urgently take steps to
amend the Penal Code to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct. The
Committee also urges the State party to investigate, deter and prevent acts of
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