{"id":43565,"date":"2014-06-02T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=43565"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:48","slug":"critics-slam-the-u-n-for-appointing-ugandas-anti-gay-minister-to-top-leadership-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/06\/critics-slam-the-u-n-for-appointing-ugandas-anti-gay-minister-to-top-leadership-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics Slam the U.N. for Appointing Uganda\u2019s \u201cAnti-Gay\u201d Minister to Top Leadership Role"},"content":{"rendered":"

The appointment is being called “the very antithesis of what the U.N. is supposed to embody”.<\/em><\/p>\n

The United Nations is getting hit with some serious backlash over the inauguration of Uganda\u2019s foreign minister as the head of its general assembly, the Guardian reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sam Kutesa\u2019s appointment to the year-long post comes just months after Uganda\u2019s president, Yoweri Museveni, signed a draconian anti-homosexuality act<\/a>\u00a0that promises life sentences for \u201crepeat homosexuals\u201d along with prison time for those who provide services to gay people or who help them avoid detection.<\/p>\n

Kutesa\u2019s role heading up the U.N. will be largely figurative, yet it\u2019s hard to ignore the symbolic significance of having a cabinet member in a government that\u2019s responsible for some of the world\u2019s most vile anti-gay lays serve as the figurehead of a council responsible for instituting\u00a0political, economic, humanitarian, social and legal<\/a>\u00a0actions throughout the world.<\/p>\n

The criticism, per the Guardian<\/a>, encompasses that perception, and also takes aim at Kutesa\u2019s own history of alleged corruption:<\/p>\n

New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand said: \u201cIt would be disturbing to see the foreign minister of a country that passed an unjust, harsh and discriminatory law based on sexual orientation preside over the UN general assembly.\u201d In the UK the rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on the government to intervene. \u201cDavid Cameron and William Hague should be lobbying the UN to block Kutesa\u2019s appointment on the grounds that his political record is inconsistent with UN principles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2026A Change.org\u00a0petition<\/a>\u00a0calling on the Obama administration to revoke Kutesa\u2019s visa to enter the US and thus prevent him taking up the presidency has attracted almost 3,000 signatures. It was written by a Ugandan, Milton Allimadi, who edits the New York-based site\u00a0Black Star News<\/a>. Allimadi said that Kutesa represented \u201cthe very antithesis of what the UN is supposed to embody globally \u2013 peace, security and human rights for everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked recently what he thought about the petition, Kutesa said: \u201cI\u2019m not bothered by that, because it\u2019s incorrect. It\u2019s a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026Cissy Kagaba of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda in Kampala said that Kutesa\u2019s elevation to such a prominent UN role was sending the wrong message: \u201cIt says that people who have been linked to alleged corruption can still represent their country, and that will make the fight against it much more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

Lindsay Abrams is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on all things sustainable.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 salon.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The appointment is being called “the very antithesis of what the U.N. is supposed to embody\u201d. The United Nations is getting hit with some serious backlash over the inauguration of Uganda\u2019s foreign minister as the head of its general assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}