By URN
A Lawyer and human rights activist, Steven Kalali, has petitioned the High Court in Kampala, challenging a law that allows courts to compel a husband or wife to return to their partner and offer them sex.
Kalali argues that Section 20 of the Divorce Act, which provides for the restitution of conjugal rights, violates fundamental rights to dignity, privacy, and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.
In his petition before the Civil Division of the High Court, Kalali says it is unconstitutional and demeaning for a court to order someone to live with or have sexual relations with a person against their will. He is representing himself in the case, naming the Attorney General as the respondent.
“It would be barbaric and unrealistic to compel two unwilling parties to perform a sexual act against their will, contrary to the Bill of Rights, which courts are mandated to protect,” Kalali notes in his petition.
The contested section of the Divorce Act was inherited from colonial legislation and allows one spouse to petition the court for a decree of restitution of conjugal rights when their partner refuses to live with or be intimate with them.
Kalali contends that such a decree effectively sanctions forced sex and slavery within marriage, both of which are contrary to Uganda’s Constitution and international human rights norms. He adds that no Ugandan court has ever successfully enforced such a decree, making it redundant, unrealistic, and unenforceable in practice.
