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Nairobi, Kenya: 12 June 2025 – At the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Region (IPPFAR), we recognise the critical role of development financing in tackling poverty, strengthening infrastructure, and improving access to essential services across Africa. However, such financing must be inseparable from a strong commitment to human rights and international human rights standards. The World Bank’s decision to lift its suspension on funding to Uganda, despite the country’s enforcement of one of the world’s most extreme anti-LGBTQI+ laws, is alarming and unacceptable.   Since the passing of Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), LGBTQI+ Ugandans have faced alarming levels of violence, eviction, and state-sanctioned persecution. While the World Bank has stated that it will implement 'mitigation measures' to protect against harm and discrimination, we remain deeply skeptical that such mechanisms can meaningfully protect Ugandan LGBTIQ+ communities when national laws actively criminalise their very existence.  “As the World Bank reinstates lending to Uganda, LGBTQI+ communities remain criminalised, targeted, endangered, and erased. Financial inclusion cannot come at the cost of human rights and dignity. There is no development without rights, and no progress worth celebrating while people live in fear simply of being who they are,” said Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, IPPF Africa Regional Director.   True development requires centering rights, dignity, and justice as fundamental principles. This means recognizing the historic and ongoing inequalities marginalized groups face and actively dismantling barriers hindering their access to human rights, freedom, and equality.  We stand in solidarity with LGBTQI+ Ugandans and others across the continent whose rights and freedoms are being erased and disregarded. We cannot allow development institutions to quietly retreat from their responsibilities while communities suffer. This is not impartiality; it is complicity.  “This decision sends a dangerous signal: that persecution can coexist with international economic agreements, and that the rights of the most marginalised can be deprioritised in the name of development. At a time when anti-rights groups are actively working to roll back hard-won protections, we urge global institutions to act morally, ethically, and with principled consistency. Development is not development if it emboldens discrimination, normalises violence, or ignores the lived realities of LGBTQI+ people”, said Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, IPPF Africa Regional Director.  We call on:  The World Bank to publish its mitigation measures, ensure they are community-informed, and report transparently on how they will protect human rights in practice;  The Government of Uganda to repeal the Anti-Homosexuality Act and uphold its constitutional and international human rights obligations;  All development partners centre rights, dignity, and equality as non-negotiable conditions for engagement.  At IPPF Africa Region, our commitment is clear: meaningful health and development cannot exist without justice and inclusion. We stand with LGBTQI+ communities in their pursuit of a future where all people can live openly, safely, and with full dignity.  END  For further information or to request an interview, please contact:  Mahmoud GARGA, Lead Strategic Communication, Voice and Media, IPPF Africa Regional Office (IPPFAR) – email: [email protected] / Tel: +254 704 626 920      ABOUT IPPF AFRICA REGION (IPPFAR)  The International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Region (IPPFAR) is one of the leading sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service delivery organizations in Africa, and a leading sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy voice in the region. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the overarching goal of IPPFAR is to increase access to SRHR services to the most vulnerable youth, men, and women in sub-Saharan Africa.  Supported by thousands of volunteers, IPPFAR tackles the continent’s growing SRHR challenges through a network of Member Associations (MAs) in 40 countries. We do this by developing our MAs into efficient entities with the capacity to deliver and sustain high-quality, youth-focused, and gender sensitive services. We work with Governments, the African Union, Regional Economic Commissions, the Pan-African Parliament, United Nations bodies, among others, to expand political and financial commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa.   Learn more about us on our website. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Nairobi – 25 June 2022 – The decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe V Wade on abortion will trigger total or near total bans on abortion care in approximately 26 states across the United States of America. This decision not only affects the United States but undoubtedly we will see a ripple effect across the world. Overturning Roe v. Wade is the biggest blow to women's health and rights in recent U.S history. It removes 50 years of safe and legal abortion across the U.S. and puts the lives of millions of women, girls and gender diverse people into the hands of state legislators – many of whom are Conservative extremists who are anti-woman, anti-LGBTI+ and anti-gender. By continuing this attack on women's bodies and forcing them to carry pregnancies to term, the highest court in the United States has reached its lowest point, robbing millions of their liberty, bodily autonomy and freedom - the very values the United States prides itself on. The decision is also out of step with the America people, the majority of whom support access to abortion care. "The fallout from this calculated decision will also reverberate worldwide, emboldening other anti-abortion, anti-woman and anti-gender movements and impacting other reproductive freedoms. The justices who put their personal beliefs ahead of American will, precedent and law will soon have blood on their hands, and we are devastated for the millions of people who will suffer from this cruel judgment", said Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. “We know from our experience in sexual and reproductive health and rights that extremist groups and lawmakers opposed to gender equality have fought long and hard to control women’s and girls’ bodies. These groups play politics with the bodily integrity of women and girls, denying scientific findings and challenging well-grounded evidence that banning abortion does not stop women from choosing to have the procedure, only forcing them to turn to potentially dangerous alternatives. These groups also force health care providers to choose between saving a woman’s life and facing criminal charges. There is no such thing as preventing abortion; there is only banning safe abortion”, said Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Africa Region (IPPFAR) Regional Director.  She further added that “while the US may be regressing and rolling back on the human rights of women and girls, we now look to other countries including Benin and Kenya, which have recently signalled their commitment to protecting and fulfilling the rights of women and girls to access safe abortion care. These countries now lead the charge, and we as global voices in reproductive rights worldwide, must continue working hard to make these rights a reality, while maintaining and building on them.”  END Media Contacts: Mahmoud Garga, Lead Specialist - Strategic Communication, Media Relations and Digital Campaigning, IPPF Africa Regional Office (IPPFARO) – email: [email protected] -Phone +254 704 626 920 ABOUT IPPF AFRICA REGION (IPPFAR) The International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Region (IPPFAR) is one of the leading sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service delivery organization in Africa, and a leading sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy voice in the region. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the overarching goal of IPPFAR is to increase access to SRHR services to the most vulnerable youth, men and women in sub-Saharan Africa. Supported by thousands of volunteers, IPPFAR tackles the continent’s growing SRHR challenges through a network of Member Associations (MAs) in 40 countries. We do this by developing our MAs into efficient entities with the capacity to deliver and sustain high quality, youth focused and gender sensitive services. We work with Governments, the African Union, Regional Economic Commissions, the Pan-African Parliament, United Nations bodies among others to expand political and financial commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa. Learn more about us on our website. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.