Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera – a campaigner for gay rights who faces daily discrimination in her home country of Uganda – has been a refused a visa to enter the UK. She was due to speak at the Foyle Pride Festival in Derry next week.
This freedom campaigner is the latest victim of the UK’s points-based visa system, which puts a burdensome series of barriers in the way of people trying to visit the UK on temporary visits – whether to give a talk or go to a conference.
The UK was the only country to deny Nabagesera a visa. Apparently there were ‘concerns about her financial status’ – suggesting that she was not able to demonstrate sufficient funds to reassure immigration authorities that she would not abscond. This failure to prove ‘sufficient funds’ is a common barrier faced by visitors from less developed parts of the world.
It is shameful that the UK lectures Africa about gay equality, yet employs such discrimination at its own borders.