Vice President Jessica Alupo (3rd right), First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga (2nd right) and other government officials with some of the members of Janani Luwum family during celebrations to mark Janani Luwum Day at Kololo in Kampala on February 16, 2022. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
The Church of Uganda has asked the government to conclusively investigate and end reported cases of torture of civilians, many of them political opponents and critics. Speaking yesterday at the 45th commemoration of the martyrdom of archbishop Janani Luwum, archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu said eliminating cruelty allegedly perpetrated by State operatives, and enforcing accountability, would make the annual tribute to the slain prelate “meaningful”. https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/church-to-state-in-luwum-s-name-stop-ongoing-torture-3719954
Police arrests Moses Sserugga, a member of ‘Torture Survivors Movement Uganda’ at the headquarters of Uganda Human Rights Commission during a protest calling for the resignation of the the commission chairperson Mariam Wangadya, in Kampala, Feb. 9, 2023.
KAMPALA —
Activists and opposition in Uganda have cried foul at the government’s decision to close the United Nations human rights office in the country. A letter from Uganda’s foreign ministry leaked this week said the U.N. office was no longer needed because the government is capable of upholding human rights. Rights activists in the country strongly disagree.
The mandate of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights effectively ends today, February 9, three years after it was last renewed.
Human rights activists say the government of Uganda has been playing hide and seek whenever renewal of the mandate came up.
The government in a letter dated February 3 said that due to the prevailing peace throughout the country, coupled with strong national human rights institutions and a vibrant civil society with the capacity to monitor, promote and protect human rights in Uganda, it will not renew the mandate of the office.
Livingstone Sewanyana, director of a local NGO, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, tells VOA that the closure is surprising, but he sees it as part of a larger trend.
“However, for the last couple of years, we are aware that Uganda’s civil society has been weakening,” he said. “The civic space has been shrinking. And increasingly we are also aware that the Uganda human rights commission’s capacity has been growing less and less. Now, it is the time to rebuild that.”
An overview of the special session on the situation in Ukraine of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
KAMPALA, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Uganda will not renew the mandate of the United Nations’ rights office in the East African country and will rely on domestic institutions to safeguard rights, the government said, after the body flagged torture and unlawful detention sites.
KAMPALA, Uganda — Rights activists and others are urging Ugandan authorities to restrain security agents accused of torture after a man who had been missing resurfaced with wounds on his chest.
Eric Mwesigwa says he was tortured by security personnel, allegations a military spokesman dismissed in a statement asserting that the man “was not in the hands of any security agency.” That statement angered some who saw it as a sign of impunity amid persistent allegations of torture in this East African country… https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/wireStory/man-torture-wounds-chest-stirs-anger-uganda-97250434
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.