Summary
Last year (2025), GATE supported Prism Empowerment and Development Initiative (Prism Uganda) under the Researching Inclusion and Safety for Equality (RISE) Project. As part of Uganda’s 4th Cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Prism Uganda developed and submitted a shadow report documenting the lived realities of trans and gender diverse persons in Uganda.
The report highlights the government’s failure to implement recommendations from the previous review and highlights the impact of criminalization on the community.
What are the challenges?
The report responds to the invisibility of trans communities in Uganda’s official human rights reporting, highlighting urgent concerns, including:
- Criminalization and violence under the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
- Healthcare exclusion, including HIV, sexual and reproductive health rights, mental health, and gender-affirming care.
- Internally displaced trans people’s rights need protection and inclusion in humanitarian and development frameworks at both national and international levels.
- Barriers to safe housing, education, and economic opportunities.
- Shrinking civic space for trans-led organizations and defenders.
- Rising anti-gender movements are undermining rights and safety.
How to protect and include trans rights in Uganda?
To address the concerns raised above, GATE, Prism Uganda and partners submitted recommendations that aim to protect trans people from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; include trans and gender diverse sexual reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS policies, programs and services within the National Strategy; take legal steps to recognize the existence of trans and gender diverse people, ensuring that identification documents, such as national IDs, passports, and birth certificates eflect their gender identity.