VOA标准英语2014--HRW: US Should Cut Security Aid to Uganda Over Anti-Gay Law 人权观察称美国应该削减乌干达的安全援助

 

HRW: US Should Cut Security Aid to Uganda Over Anti-Gay Law 人权观察称美国应该削减乌干达的安全援助

STATE DEPARTMENT — Human Rights Watch says the United States should cut back security assistance to Uganda in response to the country's new anti-gay laws. Several European countries have already suspended aid over tougher criminal penalties for homosexuality, but the Obama administration says it is still considering how best to respond.

Supporters of Uganda's new anti-gay law - which can lead to life in prison for homosexual activity - say Washington should stay out of the country's affairs.

"Somebody go tell Barack Obama: 'Africa says no.  Africa says no to sodomy," said Pastor¹ Martin Ssempa. "We only know one way to love - a man marrying a woman.'"

Some in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community are leaving Uganda in fear.

The new law has far broader consequences for the country, says Human Rights Watch's Sarah Margon.

"We see the space for independent actors, activists², and civil society closing very quickly," she said.

The World Bank moved quickly to postpone³ a $90 million loan to Uganda.  But the Obama administration says it is still considering how it might respond so as not to hurt the Uganadan people.

"A lot of the aid that we provide goes to ensure services for things like lifesaving health and medication for HIV/AIDS, to bring justice to those responsible for atrocities⁴, like the [rebel] LRA [Lord's Resistance Army]," said State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "So we want to make sure that actions we take don’t have a detrimental⁵ impact on the Ugandan people who need those health services."

Margon says it is time the U.S. linked human rights with Ugandan security assistance.

"There's been a lot of condemnatory⁶ statements.  The time has kind of passed for that," she said. "The U.S. needs to actually take some concrete actions.  One of the things we've been talking about is looking at U.S. assistance to the police and security forces, given that they are going to be the ones tasked with implementing⁷ the law."

Uganda remains⁸ defiant⁹ in the face of Western pressure over the anti-gay law.

"It is an attempted blackmail¹⁰ which the Western world has employed on the Africans for the last two centuries, and I think Uganda is leading the way to stand up to this blackmail," said government spokesman Ofwono Opondo.

President Yoweri Museveni says he will not be lectured on an issue that he says was "provoked by Western groups who come to [Ugandan] schools and try to recruit children into homosexuality."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Museveni has agreed to meet with U.S. officials on the issue.

"He committed to meet with some of our experts so that we could engage him in a dialogue, as to why what he did could not be based on any kind of science or fact, which was what he was alleging," he said. "And he welcomed that."

 

Kerry says Washington is taking an individual approach to the more than 80 countries that discriminate¹¹ against the LGBT community, instructing U.S. diplomats¹² to become "an advocate of facts" on gay rights.

1 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

4 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

6 condemnatory   

adj. 非难的，处罚的

参考例句：

• Public security punishs a law to also have corresponding condemnatory regulation. 治安处罚法也有相应的处罚规定。
• Public security management does not have such regulation on condemnatory byelaw, can not detain. 治安治理处罚条例上没有这样的规定，不可以拘留的。

7 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

10 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

11 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

12 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》