Uganda kicked out of AGOA over anti-LGBT law
by Mathew Otieno, Mercator:
The United States has suspended Uganda – along with Niger, Gabon and the Central African Republic – from trading with it under the terms of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA).
In his notice to Congress about the suspension of Uganda, President Biden wrote that the country had engaged in a “gross violation of internationally-recognised human rights” and was thus no longer eligible to participate in the programme, as specified in section 104(3) of AGOA act.
The gross violation in question is the enactment by the Ugandan parliament, earlier this year, of a law that penalises same-sex and transgender relations with up to life in prison.
In 2022, Ugandan exporters sold US$12.3 million worth of goods to the United States through AGOA. This accounted for only 0.0055 percent of the country’s exports, which were valued at US$2.22 billion that year. The suspension is therefore unlikely to diminish Uganda’s overall export prospects. And the United States knows this. But it still went ahead to suspend the country.
Speaking to The New York Times, Susan Muhwezi, a trade advisor to President Museveni of Uganda, characterised the suspension itself as a violation of human rights, since it would impinge on the livelihoods of traders who had come to rely on the scheme, without redirecting Uganda’s sovereign legislative trajectory.
She was right. But she was barking up the wrong tree.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
