During 2013 Uganda's political situation remained relatively unchanged, with Yoweri Museveni still in power and Uganda contributing troops to peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. Oil finds in the country remained a major issue, with ongoing concerns about management of the oil sector and the impacts on communities.

Uganda's ethnic minority groups and indigenous peoples, such as Batwa, Karamajong, Nubians, Ugandan Asians and others, have reported for many years that they are targets of hate speech and hate crimes on the basis of their culture and ethnicity. Ugandan Batwa are regularly portrayed as poachers or destroyers of the Ugandan forests, despite their long history of stewardship. Such stereotypes are used by state actors and neighbouring communities to justify evictions of Batwa from their traditional lands. Batwa women in Uganda are the subject of multiple stereotypes, including the myth that having sex with a Mutwa woman can cure certain ailments, including HIV.

Uganda's Penal Code prohibits 'promotion of sectarianism' which can be interpreted as a prohibition of hate speech. According to section 41(1), a person engages in the prohibited action when that individual:

'prints, publishes, makes or utters any statement or does any act which is likely to (a) degrade, revile or expose to hatred or contempt; (b) create alienation or despondency of; (c) raise discontent or disaffection among; or (d) promote, in any other way, feelings of ill will or hostility among or against, any group or body of persons on account of religion, tribe or ethnic or regional origin commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.'

However, Ugandan laws that could curb denigrating speech and other discriminatory practices are often in practice not being used to protect minority and indigenous rights.

With limited avenues for legal redress, Ugandan minority and indigenous communities have adopted other avenues of recourse. Batwa communities in Uganda have created drama programmes that highlight common stereotypes about Batwa and work to counteract them. For example, several international partners worked with Batwa in Kabale district of Uganda to create an educational play and video called Neitwe Tury'abantu, or 'We are People Too' in an attempt to dispel the stereotype of Batwa as sub-human.

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