HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER/UGANDA: “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa."

 Ugandan Activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been awarded the 2011 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva, selects Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera as the Laureate for her work for LGBT rights and marginalised people in Uganda

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, is the founder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a main lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organization. Kasha has had the courage to appear on national television in Uganda, she has issued press statements on behalf of the gay community, and spoke on several radio stations. Already in 2007 she was harassed at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, and on many occasions afterwards she was hackled, threatened and even attacked by people for appearing in the media. Since then she has been shifting from house to house, afraid to stay long in the same place. On 26 January 2011 one of her colleagues, gay activist David Kato, was murdered following the publication of a “gay list” by the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone calling for their hanging; in this black list Kasha Jacqueline’s name also appears. The Chairman of the Jury of the MEA, Hans Thoolen, describes the laureate as “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa”. With this award the Jury wants to underline its position against the discrimination of people based on gender or sexual orientation.

The Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award will take place in the Victoria Hall of Geneva late in the year. HERE

The Heroic Kuchus of Uganda

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Hans Thoolen, MEA
·  Thanks to Martin Ennals Award
·  Thanks to Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera
· Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices