Uganda won’t renew the mandate of the Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations which should finish this yr, contemplating that it has “developed dynamic inner establishments on human rights”, introduced Wednesday to AFP the federal government, instantly criticized by the opposition.
“The entire of Uganda is peaceable and we’ve developed dynamic inner establishments (…) such because the Uganda Human Rights Fee,” mentioned Henry Oryem Okello, Deputy Minister of Overseas Affairs, to justify the non-renewal of the mandate of the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, established since 2005 on this East African nation.
“Our human rights document has improved significantly through the years underneath the management of President Museveni,” he mentioned.
President Yoweri Museveni has dominated Uganda with an iron fist since 1986.
The Ugandan authorities knowledgeable the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a letter despatched on February 3, consulted by AFP, stating that “the federal government will proceed its cooperation with the OHCHR headquarters immediately or by way of its everlasting mission in Geneva.
The choice was criticized by Muwada Nkunungi, a member of the Nationwide Unity Platform led by Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, one of many primary opponents of President Yoweri Museveni.
“The Museveni authorities is paranoid. It’s not shocking that they aren’t renewing the mandate as a result of they worry strict respect for human rights,” Muwada Nkunyingi advised AFP, persevering with: “The federal government desires to violate human rights with out hindrance.
The human rights workplace in Kampala has not but responded to requests from AFP.
Over the past presidential election in 2021, journalists have been attacked, legal professionals imprisoned and several other opposition leaders muzzled.
An professional member of the UN Committee towards Torture mentioned in November 2022 that “torture and ill-treatment” remained “widespread and frequent in Uganda.
Uganda ranks 132nd (out of 180) within the 2022 World Press Freedom Index compiled by the journalists’ rights NGO Reporters With out Borders.
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