Dr Frank Mugisha

Executive Director, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Rafto Laureate, Human Rights Defender

Frank Mugisha is a respected champion of Human Rights, an anti-violence advocate and one of the few openly LGBTI activists in Uganda, serving as the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). In 2009, Frank led human rights activists in a march to petition the Ugandan Parliament to stop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which then had a death penalty, and was among the petitioners to fight the anti-gay law that was eventually nullified by the Ugandan courts.

Frank was awarded United Nations Human Rights Defenders Recognition in 2010, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the Rafto Prize, the Cinema for Peace Human Rights Award. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Ghent University in Belgium and Glasgow University in Scotland.