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Police top human rights violation in Uganda - UHRC report
Police officers arrest some of the several pre-medical interns who had organised a peaceful march to the president's office on May 15, 2023, protesting their delayed deployment. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Complaints against police in 2022 increased by 57 compared to those registered in 2021.
The 2022 Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) annual report on the state of human rights and freedoms in Uganda has revealed that the highest number of complaints on human rights violations registered by the commission were against the Uganda Police Force.
While launching the report in Kampala yesterday, Ms Mariam Wangadya, the UHRC chairperson said more than half of the registered complaints were against police, followed by the complaints against private individuals while Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) ranked third in violating human rights and freedoms.
“We registered 691 complaints, 52 per cent of the complaints (411 complaints) were lodged against police, 147 were against private individuals while 96 were registered against UPDF,” Ms Wangadya said.
“Complaints against police increased by 57 compared to those registered in 2021, while those against UPDF dropped from 135 in 2021 to 96 complaints last year,” she added.
According to the UHRC report, the highest numbers of complaints were reported by males compared to those reported by the females.
“Of the 163 complainants whose matters were registered by the UHRC, 524 were male and 169 females. This is due to the alleged violations which are mostly experienced by men who conflict with the law more frequently than women,” the UHRC report read in parts.
The report further notes that: “The alleged violation of freedom from torture ranked highest among the complaints registered, these were 277 while alleged violation of the deprivation of personal liberty stood at 271 complaints.”
“Moroto regional office registered the highest number of complaints which involved alleged violations of the right to freedom from torture, with 56 complaints, followed by the Soroti and central regional offices, with 54 and 43 complaints, respectively,” it added.
1,143 complaints were investigated by the commission, only 268 were investigated to the conclusion while 875 are still under investigation. The central region has the highest backlog of the investigated complaints, with 361, followed by Soroti with 189 complaints and Mbarara with 150 complaints with pending investigation.
The UHRC Tribunal disposed of 50 complaints, out of these, the tribunal awarded compensation in 44 and dismissed 6 complaints. The majority of the disposed complaints involved violating the rights to freedom from torture and a total of Shs510m was awarded to complainants in UHRC Tribunal compensation orders, the 2022 UHRC report noted.
Officiating at the launch of the report, the minister for Justice and constitutional affairs, Mr Nobert Mao said the continued violation of human right by security agencies is majorly out of misinterpretation of the laws.
“In Uganda, many people are confused about what the law says, for instance when you write to inform police that you want to hold an assembly, they believe that you are asking for permission, yet the permission is already in the constitution, so they end up clashing with the masses in trying to disperse the gatherings,” Mr Mao said.
“The ministry of Justice and constitutional affairs is finalizing the regulations under the Public Order Management Act (POMA) to ensure that police have straight regulations” he added.
