Collaboration Uganda Christian University put on hold

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This spring, we decided to put on hold our collaboration with one of the charitable causes we were supporting during our anniversary year: the Incubation Hub of Uganda Christian University (UCU). We took this decision in response to the possible introduction of even more oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Uganda. In view of this, we no longer considered it appropriate to offer support to the Incubation Hub in the context of our anniversary year. Our views on diversity and inclusion and those of UCU are too far apart. At the time, we also stated that we would monitor developments in Uganda and their possible consequences for our collaboration.

There have been various developments in Uganda in recent weeks. The even more oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has gone into effect. The Dutch government has cut back its development aid in response to the new legislation introduced in Uganda. Hanze UAS has likewise decided to put its collaboration with UCU on hold. This has consequences for the upcoming scheduled activities. It means that both the summer school and the employee trip to Uganda will not go ahead. The participants in the employee trip and the summer school have already been informed of this.

In the coming period we will closely monitor the situation and developments in Uganda. In this context, we are also in dialogue with UCU. This again underlines the importance of the conversation we will have within Hanze UAS about international collaboration in general and how we want to deal with situations where there is a mismatch between our values and those of partners we collaborate with.