Members of Congress urge World Bank to suspend loans to Uganda
Nearly a dozen members of Congress this week asked the World Bank Group to suspend loans to Uganda in response to the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Al Green (D-Texas), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and D.C.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton in a letter they sent to World Bank Group President Ajay Banga urged him “to immediately postpone and suspend all current and future lending to Uganda until the recent Anti-Homosexuality Act, signed by President Yoweri Museveni on May 29, 2023, is struck down.” “While we undoubtedly support efforts to promote long-term economic development and poverty reduction in Uganda, the recent law mandates state-sponsored discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, creating a humanitarian crisis that plainly violates World Bank stated policies,” states the letter.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act, among other things, contains a provision that calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” The Council for Global Equality, the Human Rights Campaign, Outright International, Rainbow Railroad and Planned Parenthood Global are five of the 170 human rights organizations that urged the World Bank on June 15 to suspend loans to Uganda.
