The country of Sweden on Wednesday announced that it would stop all development aid payments to Uganda immediately “because of the anti-gay legislation” passed in late February.
“The government reaffirms its strong condemnation of the Ugandan legislation that violates the fundamental rights of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people,” International Aid Minister Hillevi Engström said.
“Swedish aid is not unconditional. That’s why the government has decided to withhold state-to-state payments,” she added without specifying the amount involved.
On February 24th, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a series of bills banning the promotion of homosexuality and making it mandatory to report gays in a country where they can face life-time imprisonment.
Other European nations, namely Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, announced on the very same day that they would freeze their aid to the Ugandan state or redirect it towards private sector initiatives, aid agencies and rights organizations.
Sweden’s subsidies to Uganda in 2012 amounted to $34.1 million dollars.
Sorry, but the countries mentioned are not the only ones limiting or ending aid to Uganda… the Netherlands has also limited providing financial aid to Uganda, the Secretary of Equality Affairs has blocked the transfer of money to the Ugandan government, due to the anti-gay legislation, and is re-considering the money transferred to non-governmental organizations in Uganda if those organizations are cooperating with the Ugandan government.
And apart from the Dutch government, several cooperations and businesses (ao the KLM, Unilever) have announced that they will reconsider their tradings with Ugandan government.