Author - Thomas Aquinas LOKOL

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

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.

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Uganda Says It Will Not Renew Mandate of UN Human Rights 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.”

In February 2021, after Uganda’s general elections, Bobi Wine, the leader of the opposition National Unity Party platform, delivered a petition to the U.N. human rights office in Kampala.https://www.voanews.com/a/ugandan-activists-decry-closure-of-un-human-rights-office-in-uganda-/6955677.html

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.

In a letter by Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry sent to Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Feb. 3 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the ministry noted progress Uganda had made in developing a domestic capacity to monitor rights as the main reason for its decision.https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/uganda-says-it-will-not-renew-mandate-un-human-rights-office-2023-02-08/

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