Five years imprisonment for sharing sexual content — proposed law

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A new Sexual Offences Bill 2024, which strengthens penalties for non-consensual distribution of sexually explicit content, has been tabled in Parliament.

The Bill introduces provisions that impose severe penalties for the transmission of such material, including up to five years of imprisonment for offences involving the sharing of explicit images, videos, or recordings without the consent of the individual depicted.

Similar penalties will apply to individuals who record or film another person in a state of nudity without consent.

• Proposed law calls for rapists’ execution, imprisonment for nudity
  
  

Anne Ebaju Adeke, MP for Soroti District (FDC). (File/Courtesy photo)

Under clause 7, it is an offence for a person to: physically, electronically, or via an online platform, transmit, transfer, send, or forward unsolicited material of a sexual nature to another person, record or take photographs of an individual in a state of nudity or engaged in a sexual act without consent, publish, print, or distribute images or videos showing a person in a state of nudity or engaged in a sexual act.

It is an offence to use artificial intelligence (AI) or other digital means to create, generate, or manipulate images, drawings, or videos that depict a person in a state of nudity or engaged in a sexual act. Persons found guilty of any of these actions may face a fine of up to sh10m, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

Aggravated offences

The Bill establishes aggravated offences in cases where the non-consensual sharing of explicit content occurs in specific contexts, such as against a current or former spouse or partner, whether in a sexual or romantic relationship, with the intent to incite violence, hatred, or other harmful actions against the victim, or to blackmail, intimidate, harass, coerce, or cause emotional distress, for financial gain, by the perpetrator or any third party and where the victim is a minor. For these aggravated offences, the penalty increases to imprisonment for up to 10 years.

For the purposes of this Bill, "material of a sexual nature" includes, text, conversations, images, videos, objects, or written content depicting a person in a state of nudity, engaging in a sexual act, or showing a person’s sexual organs, breasts, or buttocks.

Currently, most of these offences are grouped under cyber harassment offences of the Computer Misuse Act 2011, which prescribes a punishment of sh1.44m or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both.

The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act 2022, provides for a fine of sh15m or imprisonment not exceeding seven years, or both, for sending, sharing or transmitting malicious information about or that relates to another person through a computer.

The Sexual Offences Bill 2024, introduced by Anne Ebaju Adeke, MP for Soroti District (FDC), seeks to overhaul the country’s legal framework for handling sexual crimes and consolidate several existing laws into one comprehensive piece of legislation.

Anne Ebaju Adeke, MP for Soroti District tabling in Parliament the new Sexual Offences Bill 2024, which strengthens penalties for non-consensual distribution of sexually explicit content. (Courtesy photo)

Speaker Anita Among, who chaired the House last week, referred the Bill to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Committee on Gender, Labour, and Social Development for further scrutiny.

She instructed the committee on legal affairs to lead the review and present a report within 45 days.

Speaker Anita Among referred the Bill to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Committee on Gender, Labour, and Social Development for further scrutiny. (File photo/Maria Wamala)

The Bill is a reintroduction of a version that was passed by the 10th Parliament but returned by President Yoweri Museveni in 2021. Due to the lapse of the 10th Parliament’s term, the Bill was not processed and has had to be reintroduced for consideration.

Indecent exposure

Clause 6 states that a person who, while in a public place, intentionally exposes his or her bare sexual organ to any other person commits the offence of indecent exposure, punishable with three years imprisonment.

The same punishment is prescribed for individuals who use social media and other online platforms to expose others’ bare sexual organ, breasts or buttocks.

“A person commits an offence even if the sexual organs, breasts or buttocks are generated electronically by use of artificial intelligence or through the use of video, imagery photograph, drawing, caricature, or other visual presentation,” states the Bill.

“A person who commits the offence of indecent exposure in the presence of a person's spouse, family member or child, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for five years.”

However, there will be no offence if a person’s sexual organs, breasts or buttocks are exposed while participating in a cultural/customary event or recreational sport, while feeding an infant directly from the breast, or if it is done by a medical professional, for sound medical purposes.

Death penalty for aggravated rape

The Bill also seeks to introduce a death penalty for aggravated rape. Under clause 3 of the Bill, aggravated rape, a more severe form of rape will carry the death penalty upon conviction. The clause outlines several circumstances that would classify rape as aggravated, including if the offender is a serial offender, if the victim is disabled or suffers mental health consequences due to the assault, or if the offender is infected with HIV or another sexually transmittable disease.

The Bill also targets cases where the victim is elderly (55 years and above), a person in authority commits the offence, or where the act is carried out in the presence of another person.

Othe provisions

Among other key provisions is a ban on indecent gestures such as touching one’s sexual organs, with penalties of up to three years in prison.

One of the significant proposals is the creation of a national Sex Offenders’ Register, which would be maintained by the National Identification and Registration Authority.

This register would track individuals convicted of sexual offences and is intended to help prevent repeat offenders from engaging with vulnerable populations, such as children.

Govt and legal concerns 

Among said, Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, raised concerns that some provisions of the Bill duplicate existing laws, such as those under the Pornography Act and the Computer Misuse Act, which already criminalize certain forms of sexual misconduct like sharing nude pictures without consent.

Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka. (Photo by Dedan Kimathi)

Kiwanuka also pointed out that the Bill could require additional funding for its implementation, which is yet to be approved.

Despite these concerns, Adeke defended the Bill, arguing that its consolidated approach is necessary to address the fragmentation of sexual offences laws, which currently exist across multiple pieces of legislation, including the Penal Code Act, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, and the Children Act. She pointed out that in countries like India, the United Kingdom, and Kenya, similar consolidation of laws has proven effective in the fight against sexual violence.

Peninah Kwagala, a human rights lawyer, supported some aspects of the Bill but also raised concerns over its potential overlap with existing laws, particularly on issues such as sharing nude images.

She suggested that rather than creating a new law, lawmakers could amend the existing Penal Code Act to address these gaps.

Kwagala warned that the introduction of the new clauses might raise concerns about privacy and enforcement challenges.

“There are new things because the Constitution sets the age of 18 as being the age for contracting marriage and consent to sexual intercourse; there are new aspects like sexual offences register happening in other countries where someone who is convicted has that information put on their records such as the national ID and you are not put in places where you can violate children and women. All these can be achieved with amendment in the penal Code,” Kwagala said.

She noted that passing the Bill in its current form may bring complication of enforcement although it has good innovations. Kwagala cited the Employment Act that creates offences for sexual harassment.

Meanwhile, Grace Lwanga, the chief executive officer of the Chapter for Empowerment and Rights Uganda (CERU), highlighted the importance of ensuring that the Bill addresses not just legal technicalities but also the social and cultural context in which sexual violence occurs.

Other key clauses

Under Clause 5 about sexual assault, a person who intentionally touches the breasts, buttocks, thighs, sexual organs of another person or forces or induces a child to touch their sexual organ when convicted can face up to three years in jail.

On sex work, the Bill states that a person who engages in a sexual act with a sex worker commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for two years.