Tuesday, October 25, 2005

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NORTHERN UGANDA

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NORTHERN UGANDA

Contents


1 Fact sheet by StGiNU

2 Health and mortality survey among internally displaced persons in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts, northern Uganda, Jul 2005.

3 A Generation at Risk: Acholi Youth in Northern Uganda, October 2005 – The Liu Institute for global Issues.

4 Uprooted and Forgotten Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda – Human Rights Watch report.

5 The full picture -- uncovering human rights violations by government forces in the northern war - Amnesty International report

6 UN Human Rights Committee expresses concern about the situation in Northern Uganda: FIDH and FHRI publish an alternative report to the Government of Uganda’s Initial report on Civil and Political Rights in Uganda.


Who is Stop The Genocide In Northern Uganda (StGiNU)
StGiNU is a human rights activists group formed by individuals concerned about the genocide that is taking place in Northern Uganda and has lasted nearly two decades. StGiNU seeks to achieve its objectives by getting Uganda Government to: 1. declare the north a disaster zone. This action will allow intervention by foreign bodies including UN. 2. Unconditionally dismantle all concentration camps. 3. Abandon its military policy and pursue a peaceful solution with the Lords Resistence Army..

Stop the Genocide in Northern Uganda
Abuse of civilians with impunity by both the Ugandan army, Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the rebel army of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA); in its 19th year, continues unabated in Northern Uganda.

Fact: Over 1.6 million civilians in Northern Uganda are currently forced to live in government-controlled “internal displacement camps” (concentration camps).

Fact: Over the past 19 years, thousands upon thousands of civilians have been murdered and over 35,000 children have been abducted as a result of these concentration camps.

Fact: This forced displacement has contributed to producing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world by exposing civilians directly to violence, coercion, and deprivation at the hands of rebel and government forces.

Why? The government of President Yoweri Museveni has forced the civilians of Northern Uganda into these camps supposedly to “protect” them from the war between Museveni’s Ugandan Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) and the northern “rebel” group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Camp inmates are now dying more from preventable diseases in the camps than from hostile military actions.

The Problem: These 1.6 million civilians are no safer in the camps than they were in their homes. In fact, the camps have made them easy targets for both the LRA rebels and the corrupted UPDF soldiers. Furthermore, the civilians are not provided with adequate food, water, sanitation, health care, education, or security as required by International and National legal obligations such as the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the 1995 Ugandan Constitution.

Related Atrocities:
Both the LRA and the UPDF are raping, torturing, killing, and abducting Northern Ugandan children and forcing them into their military ranks. (See Amnesty International’s “Child Soldiers Global Report 2004”).
The children abducted into the LRA army, which consists of 95% children between 8-16 years old, are subsequently killed by the UPDF forces, who failed to protect the children from being abducted from the camps in the first place- a vicious cycle of killing children.
HIV/AIDS rate of infection has remained at 18-40% in the North and is often used as a biological weapon by raping.
Overcrowded camps lead to the spread of diseases (often preventable such as tuberculosis, malaria, and sleeping sickness), food and water shortages, and cultural destruction.

What Is the Ugandan Government Doing to Stop This Genocide? On the contrary, the Museveni government is using the Northern crisis to slowly kill off the civilian population in what is often called ethnic cleansing. Instead of seeking a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, Museveni insists on a military solution that has obviously been unsuccessful in defeating the “rebel” LRA army of children over the past 19 years. The concentration camps are being used as a mechanism to permanently remove people from their land by converting the camps into permanent settlements.

Demand for the immediate end to the slow genocide in northern Uganda.

Source: Government of Uganda
Date: 31 Jul 2005
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Health and mortality survey among internally displaced persons in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts, northern Uganda, Jul 2005

Executive summary

I. Background

In northern Uganda, nearly two decades of conflict have resulted in the internal displacement of up to two million persons. In Gulu, Kitgum and Pader Districts, the most affected by violence, nearly 90% of the population had relocated to camps as of 2005. The Government of Uganda’s national policy for internally displaced persons (IDPs) calls, among others, for provision of medical care and water and sanitation to all IDPs by both central and local government, and entitles them to security of person and property. The Office of the Prime Minister is tasked with advocating on behalf of IDPs and sharing information nationally and internationally on their plight. In 2005, the Ministry of Health of Uganda and the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF) requested assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess the health status of IDPs in the three Districts. The study was led by the Ministry of Health and WHO in partnership with the offices of the District Director of Health Services of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme, the UN Population Fund, and the International Rescue Committee. Study objectives were:

· primary: to estimate crude mortality rate (CMR) and under 5 mortality rate (U5MR) in the period between 1 January 2005 and the survey date (July 2005) among populations now living in IDP camps, recognised or unrecognised at the time of the survey, in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader districts.
· secondary: to measure other demographic indicators (age/sex structure of the population; monthly mortality; self-reported causes and circumstances of death; total excess mortality, violent deaths and abductions); estimate measles vaccination coverage; investigate caregivers’ management of episodes of illness among children under 5 in the two weeks prior to the survey; estimate bednet availability and coverage among children under 5; and measure water availability indicators (source of drinking water, quantity per person per day, time taken to collect water).

II. Methods

We conducted four separate surveys designed to be representative of all IDPs in Gulu District camps, Gulu Municipality unrecognised camps, Kitgum District camps and Pader District camps. Sample size was determined so as to measure a CMR and U5MR in excess of non-crisis levels. Households within each population were selected using a 30 cluster x 32 household design, with clusters allocated proportionally to camp population size (i.e. total 120 clusters). Teams of two interviewers administered a structured, pre-piloted questionnaire in the Acholi language (Luo) to adult household respondents. We analysed results separately for each population (stratum), and jointly for the entire Acholi region after weighting for stratum population size.

III. Main findings

Demographics and mortality:

· Both CMR and U5MR were well above respective emergency thresholds (1 per 10 000 per day and 2 per 10 000 per day) in all four surveyed populations, and were four times higher than non-crisis levels in Kitgum and Pader Districts (Table 1).

· There was no obvious monthly trend in CMR.

· Malaria/fever and AIDS were the top self-reported death causes (Table 1); among children under 5, top causes were malaria/fever and two lango, a local illness concept encompassing oral thrush, malnutrition and diarrhoea.

· Less than half of all deaths (Table 1), and 54.2% among children under 5, occurred in a health facility.

· A total excess mortality of 25 694 (of which 10 054 children under 5) can be projected for the entire Acholi region between January and July 2005, namely almost 1000 excess deaths per week (Table 1).

· Violence was the third most frequent cause of death (9.4%), occurring mostly outside of camps (68.8%) and health facilities (93.5%). Persons killed were mostly adult males (70.1%), but 16.9% were children under 15. We estimate that 3971 persons were killed in the study population between January and July 2005 (Table 1).

· Age/sex population pyramids in Gulu District, Kitgum District and Pader District display an apparent deficit in males 20 to 30 years old.

Full report (pdf* format - 2649 KB)
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http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/HMYT-6G3RHV?OpenDocument

FIND RELATED DOCUMENTS
By Emergency: UgandaBy Country: UgandaBy Source: Government of UgandaBy Type: AnalysisSituation Reports

From the Americas and the Caribbean:ReliefWeb New YorkOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffairsUnited NationsNew York, NY 10014, USATel. +1-212-963-1234From Europe and Africa:ReliefWeb GenevaOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffairsPalais des NationsCH-1211 Geneve, SwitzerlandTel. +41.22.917.1234



A Generation at Risk: Acholi Youth in Northern Uganda, October 2005 By Carla Suarez and Elizabeth St. Jean,

The Liu Institute for Global Issues and Gulu District NGO Forum. A Generation at Risk presents the voices and experiences of internally displaced youth (IDY) and their protection needs while living in the Gulu District of Northern Uganda. The report argues that neither the Government of Uganda nor humanitarian agencies officially recognize IDY as a vulnerable social category. Thus IDY are seldomly integrated into relief efforts or policies. The lack of recognition, research, and response to the particular threats facing IDY has generated a gap between government and humanitarian responsibilities, and field realities. The report found three main factors that foster IDY vulnerabilities. First, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Uganda’s People Defence Force (UPDF) often recruit youth into their forces. Their age group is viewed as ideal fighters or ”wives.“ Second, IDY are often the labour force in their communities, making them responsible for sustaining family members; when trying to fulfill these obligations this group is susceptible to a series of physical threats and dangers. Third, IDY are perceived as a homogenous displaced category. IDY are regularly grouped with children or adults, though they seldom belong in either category. IDY are at the mental development stage of adolescents, but are forced to take on responsibilities of adults - without receiving any aid that directly targets their needs. A Generation at Risk provides recommendations to a wide variety of actors responsible for protection and will be an important resource to humanitarian, governments and UN workers alike. http://www.ligi.ubc.ca/collateral/common/index.cfm?fuseaction=view&pageName=Publications&contentID=579§ion=Information&subSection=Publications


All Content ©2004. The Liu Institute for Global Issues. All Rights Reserved.6476 NW Marine Dr. Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z2. Tel 604-822-1593. Fax 604-822-6966

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Uprooted and Forgotten Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda

Summary – full Version: http://hrw.org/reports/2005/uganda0905/

For nineteen years the people of northern Uganda have suffered, victims of a war waged between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal rebel group responsible for countless acts of willful killing, torture, mutilation and abduction, and the Ugandan government, whose undisciplined army, the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), has committed crimes against civilians with near total impunity. While the war continues, the displaced people of northern Uganda remain isolated, ignored and unprotected, vulnerable to abuses by both rebel and army forces.

The UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland describes northern Uganda as one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters—and least known. While certain aspects of the war such as the LRA’s mutilations and abductions of children have received occasional media coverage, comparatively little has been done by the Ugandan government and the international community to alleviate the suffering of the more than 1.9 million people forced from their homes in northern Uganda to a precarious existence in government displaced persons camps.

Even less has been done by the government and international community to assist their safe return to their homes and livelihoods. Before this war, northern Uganda was overwhelmingly rural, like the rest of Uganda, and poor. Following the forced displacement of 95 percent of the population in the three districts inhabited primarily by the Acholi ethnic group, and the looting and destruction of property by the LRA, northern Uganda is poorer than ever.

The failure of the Ugandan government to address the concerns of the people of northern Uganda has been especially troubling. The UPDF has not provided adequate protection to its own citizens, even to those living in its displaced persons camps. The LRA’s 2005 offensive again targeted displaced persons camps and resulted in numerous atrocities, but the Ugandan army did little to protect this vulnerable population. At the same time, UPDF forces were responsible for widespread abuses against the civilian population in northern Uganda. And while President Yoweri Museveni has gained donor favor by pursuing economic reforms that brought some prosperity to the rest of Uganda, these improvements have not been shared in the north and the area remains economically marginalized.

Despite nineteen years of fighting, there is no sign that the war is abating. In 2002, the Ugandan army embarked on large operations to rout the LRA from its bases in southern Sudan where the LRA received Sudanese government support; the rebels probably continue to receive some aid from elements of the Sudanese army, according to commanders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), Sudanese rebels who concluded a peace agreement with their own government in early 2005. The Ugandan government claims that the LRA has only 400 fighters—while SPLA commanders estimate there are 1,000 LRA rebels still in Sudan.

In 2004, peace talks were held between the Ugandan government and the LRA spearheaded by the efforts of Betty Bigombe, a former government minister who is from the north. These negotiations broke down in early 2005 and fighting was renewed.

Both the LRA and the UPDF enjoy almost complete immunity from prosecution for their crimes in northern Uganda. Human Rights Watch believes all of those responsible for war crimes and other serious abuses should be held accountable, be they LRA or UPDF combatants and their commanders.

Thousands of LRA fighters and commanders, including many responsible for grave abuses, are among the 15,000 persons who have received amnesties under the Amnesty Act of 2000, which was enacted to encourage rebels to lay down their arms and surrender. The government provides these ex-fighters “amnesty packages” of cash and supplies to help them start over, which has created resentment among the impoverished civilian population in the north.
In December 2003, the Ugandan government referred the “situation concerning the Lord’s Resistance Army” to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has since expanded the scope of its inquiry to cover the situation in northern Uganda more generally, implicitly including serious crimes committed by Ugandan government forces.

The ICC referral, the first ever by a state party to the ICC treaty, has not generally been well received by the leadership of some communities in northern Uganda. Many traditional, civic and religious leaders as well as civil society groups in northern Uganda have opposed the ICC investigation on the grounds that it undermines the peace process and will lead to increased violence against civilians. They have instead advocated amnesty for all members of the LRA, including the top leaders who would be the individuals the ICC would most likely investigate and prosecute.

Opposition to the ICC also stems from the perception among many northerners that it will only investigate the LRA and not government forces despite the UPDF’s long record of abuses. The ICC is to blame for such perceptions: it has failed to undertake an effective outreach strategy to actively engage civil society and the general population in northern Uganda to explain its mandate and the scope of its inquiry. Despite its shortcomings, however, the ICC remains the best option for achieving some measure of justice and ending impunity for the people of northern Uganda.

Justice in northern Uganda requires that the ICC thoroughly examine UPDF abuses of the civilian population as well as abuses by the LRA. The willful killings, torture and mistreatment, rape and arbitrary arrests and detention of civilians by UPDF soldiers highlighted in this report are serious crimes that may fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction. The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes particularly when committed as part of a policy or plan or on a large scale.

The government remains responsible for many of the hardships and abuses endured by the displaced population. Since 1996 the government has used the army to undertake a massive forced displacement of the population in the north and imposed severe restrictions on freedom of movement. While justifying the displacements on grounds of security, the government has forcibly displaced people without a lawful basis under international law and then has failed to provide the promised security. Many of those displaced, including almost the entire population of the three Acholi districts live in squalid conditions in displaced persons camps that are susceptible to LRA attacks. The Ugandan army has failed to protect these camps, compounding the harm inflicted by the original forced displacement.

People in the camps are forced by extreme necessity to travel outside to farm, hunt and gather firewood or water, where army soldiers have raped women and girls and beaten and detained men and boys. And those displaced persons who must leave the camp confines may be greeted on their return by undisciplined soldiers who beat them for coming back past curfew hour or other minor infractions.

The government has failed to meaningfully prosecute military personnel responsible for abuses or otherwise discipline its forces in the north. These forces have committed deliberate killings, routine beatings, rapes and prolonged arbitrary detentions of civilians to such an extent that there is extreme resentment against their presence. Most complaints of army abuse result in no action. Even when action is taken, it is usually transfer of the offending soldier or unit, the dispersal of a small sum of money for “medical costs,” or the beating of the soldier in the barracks. Human Rights Watch found that the 11th Battalion of the UPDF based in Cwero and Awach camps of Gulu district committed numerous deliberate killings and beatings of civilians during the months in 2005 when it was assigned to those camps; it was transferred out of the area after numerous international complaints.

The current protection and accountability structures within the camps and within the army are grossly inadequate—charges the Ugandan government denies. In effect the safety of the camp population rests with the local army commander: where he does not tolerate undisciplined behavior, the level of abuse is far less. Unfortunately most commanders, up to the highest levels, show far too much tolerance for abuses, despite lip service given to respect for human rights
The importance of army discipline is even greater because in most displaced persons camps the army post is the only government presence—aside from local councilors who are often intimidated by the army. Police are far too few to address the widespread criminal acts committed by UPDF soldiers (and civilians) in the more than eighty displaced persons camps of northern Uganda. The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), a government body, is almost entirely absent from northern Uganda, with only four of its one hundred officers placed there.

While increased police and UHRC presence could provide other avenues of redress for the population against government army abuses, these organizations would need the consistent backing of higher authorities, up to President Museveni, to affirm their mandates to investigate and prosecute soldiers in the northern “war zone.”

The active involvement of civilian officials and the high command of the army in efforts to end impunity could radically improve the situation. In Bobi camp, Gulu district, training in 2004 of local leaders by a Ugandan human rights nongovernmental organization helped build confidence and understanding in the displaced population on what their rights were and how to complain about abuses. A high-ranking Ugandan army official was invited to and attended the workshop. His subsequent intervention with the local battalion helped to halt recurring sexual abuse in the camp. Such interventions are rare, however.

An international protective presence in the camps is just beginning—again, very late. Some protection activities were undertaken by UN agencies such as UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Activity (OCHA) and nongovernmental relief organizations in 2003 but their protection efforts remain a work in progress. The May 2005 decision of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to deploy several human rights monitors in northern Uganda is to be welcomed. It should make assistance to local nongovernmental rights organizations its priority.

The international community and the Ugandan government must act now to radically overhaul the protection and accountability structures in the north to ensure that, in peace or war, the continuing suffering of the people of northern Uganda is alleviated.

Northern Uganda has been ignored for too long. Despite the occasional spike in media coverage of the conflict the people remain subject to an unremitting assault of human rights abuses from both sides, and persistent poverty is exacerbated by the abuses. The intensification of hostilities this year has only highlighted the vulnerabilities of the civilian population; as of the time of this writing, the war is far from over, and the victims still have no peace, justice or protection.

© Copyright 2004, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA.
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News Service: 11/046/99
AI INDEX: AFR 59/05/9917 MARCH 1999http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR590051999?open&of=ENG-369

UgandaThe full picture -- uncovering human rights violations by government forces in the northern war KAMPALA -- The vicious circle of violence in Uganda's northern war zone will not be broken unless government forces confront their own largely hidden pattern of human rights violation, Amnesty International said today ( UGANDA: Breaking the circle: protecting human rights in the northern war zone.AI Index: AFR 59/001/99).The organization has documented scores of killings of unarmed civilians -- including of children -- dozens of rapes and hundreds of beatings by government forces over the last three years. While some soldiers have been arrested for these crimes, few have been brought to court as weaknesses in the criminal justice system delay trials of soldiers almost indefinitely. "The extreme violence of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has so far been allowed to obscure the government's failure to prevent its own soldiers from committing serious human rights violations," Maina Kiai, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Program, told a press conference in Kampala."We must have a full picture of the circle of abuse in order to restore respect for human rights in an area which has been torn apart by 13 years of bitter conflict." The organization's report describes the wide dynamic of human rights abuses in northern Uganda, where controlling civilians is a key strategic objective for both the government's Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) and the armed opposition LRA. This puts villagers at the heart of the war and makes them vulnerable to abuses by both sides. "Every time a government soldier or government official commits a human rights violation with impunity it further reduces people's trust in the authorities and the possibilities of building a lasting peace," Mr Kiai continued. "We therefore urge President Yoweri Museveni to make human rights protection in northern Uganda a national priority."Amnesty International published a report in September 1997 describing the LRA's extreme violence against civilians and their abduction of children to act as soldiers and sexual slaves. The report highlighted the Sudanese government's role in supplying the group with weapons and bases, which is enabling the LRA to continue its abuses and abductions on a weekly basis.Over the past three years approximately 400,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in northern Uganda, in a war which still shows little sign of resolution. The districts of Gulu and Kitgum are economically destroyed. In Gulu approximately 80 per cent of the rural population live in displaced persons' camps, dependent on humanitarian aid.Internal displacement is a particularly contentious issue for northern Ugandans. Many have fled their farms to escape brutal attacks by the LRA, while others have been forced to move by government soldiers. The authorities emphasize villagers' own search for security, while others point out that the army is also seeking to prevent the LRA from getting food. In some places the UPDF has committed human rights violations to force villagers from the countryside, including indiscriminately shelling villages refusing to move.Once in camps people are vulnerable to abuses by ill-disciplined government soldiers, who sometimes suspect them of being LRA supporters. The LRA has attacked camps to abduct children and loot food. It has also extended its operations to districts where people do not live in camps and have been able to cultivate the land. As a result of the creation of camps in Gulu District the LRA has redirected its human rights abuses onto other communities.Faced with food shortages in camps and unimpressed by the degree of security they provide, some villagers have returned to their homes to cultivate or forage for food. UPDF patrols and the LRA alike have shot dead displaced people living in supposedly cleared areas. In December 1998 UPDF soldiers shot Korina Atuk dead while she was cultivating her land south west of Gulu. Human rights violations also take place in the context of combat. In March 1998, 30 children who had been abducted by the LRA were shot dead by government soldiers at Ogole in Kitgum. The UPDF opened fire within 10 metres of their targets. The children had been bound together and many became tangled up as they ran in panic. There has been no investigation -- the army has simply denied that children were killed. International humanitarian law allows for civilians to be displaced when their security or imperative military reasons so demand. But it also obliges the authorities to keep displacement to a minimum, to end it as soon as possible and to provide people with the food, shelter, water and security needed. The longer displacement lasts without these conditions being properly fulfilled, as in northern Uganda, the harder it is to conclude that it is lawful. It is certainly never lawful to use violence to control the population."Internal displacement is a complex issue", Mr Kiai said. "We believe that the authorities must step up their protection of civilians from all kinds of violence and improve displaced people's living conditions. But we also doubt whether taking away people's choice about whether to leave their homes is currently the right course of action." Institutional failures in the administration of justice effectively allow soldiers to commit human rights abuses with impunity. The police are not able to carry out effective investigations and have developed a culture of beating as a normal method of inquiry. There is no Resident State Attorney, who is key to the prosecution of serious criminal cases. The army blames the police and the courts but is also at fault. Although the army denies it, soldiers freed on bail while facing serious criminal charges have been put back on active service. Amnesty International is urging the Ugandan government to challenge current barriers to effective human rights protection. Measures proposed by the organization include setting up a specialist task force to investigate alleged human rights violations by soldiers and police officers in Gulu and Kitgum, establishing an inquiry into whether camps are the best method of protection of civilians in the north, and a public inquiry that confronts the legacy of past human rights abuses. The organization is also calling on the authorities to enable the Uganda Human Rights Commission to open an investigative office in Gulu.

© Copyright Amnesty International









30th/04/2004
Uganda - http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=1008

UN Human Rights Committee expresses concern about the situation in Northern Uganda: FIDH and FHRI publish an alternative report to the Government of Uganda’s Initial report on Civil and Political Rights in Uganda

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) welcome the Concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee on the examination of the first periodic report of the government of Uganda, which were released last week. The organizations had presented a report (1) to the Committee which preoccupations are legally reflected in the Committee’s conclusions. The FIDH and the FHRI welcome in particular the following concerns of the Committee:

1. The lack of protection for the internally displaced persons confined in camps in Northern Uganda frequently targeted by the Lord Resistance Army and by government forces. In particular, our organizations express their concerns regarding the failure by the government to terminate the 18-year old war in Northern Uganda, which has led to the loss of many lives and displacement of half a million people, as well as the absence of adequate security in displacement camps. Our organizations also denounce the numerous reports of arbitrary arrests in the North, specifically of internally displaced persons suspected of being rebels.

2. The excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, and particularly the extra-judicial execution of civilians and the wide practice of torture in detention centres and notably in ungazzeted detention centres (safe houses). Our organizations reported many instances of loss of lives, torture and ill treatment in detention centres. Moreover, the organizations share the concerns of the Committee, which denounced the frequent lack of implementation of Uganda Human Rights Commission’s decisions to award compensation to victims of human rights violations and to prosecute their alleged authors.

3. The deplorable prisons conditions in Uganda, and in particular overcrowding, poor sanitation, malnutrition, inadequate bedding, lack of basic necessities and exploitation of prison labour.

4. Defections in the administration of justice. In particular, the FIDH and FHRI are concerned about the abuses of jurisdiction, violations of court procedures, lack of legal representation, lack of adequate training of defence attorneys, and prolonged detention, which have led to a lack of confidence in the judiciary, often leading to mob justice.

5. The call for the review of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2002, which criminalizes terrorist organizations without establishing objective criteria for determining membership in such organizations.

6. The violation of the right to peacefully demonstrate. Indeed, our organizations underline that the police has, on many occasions, dispersed rallies organised by the opposition, in a violent manner, which has led to a number of deaths.
In addition, our organizations vigorously recommend that death penalty be abolished, and express their concerns about the long periods that convicted prisoners spend on death row.

The FIDH and FHRI call upon the authorities to urgently implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Committee.
(1) FIDH/FHRI alternative report: « Uganda: a situation of systematic violations of civil and political rights », February 2004.





FIDH/FHRI ALTERNATIVE REPORT: « UGANDA: A SITUATION OF SYSTEMATIC VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS » PDF - 263.2 kb

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