Kato murder condemned
World leaders have condemned the murder of Ugandan activist David Kato.
US President Barack Obama said the US would continue to push for GLBT rights around the world.
“David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate. He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom,” Obama said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Ugandan authorities to make a thorough investigation.
“His tragic death underscores how critical it is that both the government and the people of Uganda, along with the international community, speak out against the discrimination, harassment, and intimidation of Uganda’s LGBT community, and work together to ensure that all individuals are accorded the same rights and dignity to which each and every person is entitled,” Clinton said.
Kato’s death also received the attention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay.
“Such laws are an anachronism — in most cases a hangover from the old days of colonial rule,” Pillay wrote in Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper.
“They are inherently discriminatory and constitute a violation of the human rights of those whose conduct they seek to sanction.”
