KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda’s Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, has lashed out at producers and distributors of pornography in the country, accusing them and the material itself as being partly to blame for the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The minister, who said during a recent press conference that most cinemas in Uganda show pornographic films, added that the government “is out to punish whoever is engaged in the promotion of pornography in Uganda. After watching pornographic materials many people go for sex thus leading to an increase in the spread of AIDS."
According to an article in Afrik-News, the prevalence of HIV cases in the country has been reduced by 30 percent since the late 1980s to 6.7 percent of the population today. The government contends, however, that the number of cases is on the rise, and last year accused sex workers from neighboring Congo for much of the increase.
Buturo has called for aggressive action against the Congolese sex workers, saying, “Those who infect others with HIV-AIDS knowingly must be arrested and prosecuted in courts of law.”
The recent comments equating pornography with the spread of HIV/AIDS is just another front in the country’s traditional anti-porn stance. In 2008, the government introduced new laws intended to strengthen those already on the books that made consuming pornography against the law. At the same time, a new film-governing body, the Federation of Uganda Movie Industry, was established to maintain ethical standards of movies and copyright laws for producers and video-hall owners.
Uganda also has been in the news over the past years for a law introduced for consideration in October 2009 that would have extended the death penalty for people who engage in homosexual acts who have previous convictions, are HIV-positive or engage in same-sex acts with people less than 18 years of age.
The extreme law—which itself would have built upon the current illegality of homosexuality in the country, punishable by incarceration in prison for up to 14 years—was roundly denounced by many countries, leading to the softening of some of its provisions, and earlier this year, the formation by the president of a commission to look at the implications of the law. In May, the commission recommended scrapping it.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) also has had a significant presence in Uganda over the years. Though it professes to support the adult industry, AHF’s national campaign to force the mandatory use of condoms on all porn sets could possiby have had an influence on the recent remarks by Buturo linking porn to HIV/AIDS, though the minister’s comments did not seem to distinguish between pornography that utilizes condoms and that which does not.
