US criticises govt on rights abuses
An FDC supporter runs away from a police officer recently. The US accuses Uganda of committing human rights violations against its people. Photo by ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
Justification. Accusations contained in the 2014 Country Report on Human Rights Practices
Kampala.
Torture, violation of civil liberties and unlawful killings top the list of the gross human rights abuses the US accuses the Uganda government of having committed on its people, according to a new human rights report.
The 2014 Country Report on Human Rights Practices released on Friday by US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington indicates that government agents committed arbitrary killings.
The abuses included firing of live ammunition during security operations to disperse demonstrators, and armed robbers in various districts, including Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja, Sembabule, Entebbe, Tororo, Gulu, Mbale, Arua, Lira, Luweero, and Jinja.
“Although government occasionally took steps to punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services or elsewhere, impunity was a problem,” the report reads in part.
Mr Kerry remarked that some governments with whom the US works closely may object to the report. “The discomfort that these reports sometimes cause does more to reinforce than to undermine the value and credibility of these reports. Truth cannot successfully be evaded or dented or defeated, not over time. It can be changed. The truth wins out,” he said.
The deputy head of the Uganda Media Centre, Col Shaban Bantariza, said government is pleased when ‘external eyes’ point out what is not being done right.
However, he said, the trouble with the US government’s reports is they are products of “hearsay and not necessarily investigations which renders them raw.”
“For us we think a report like that on human rights should not be done like an opinion poll. It needs to be factual enough and investigative to compel us to re-investigate further and take action,” Col Bantariza told Daily Monitor. “Other than that, it (the report) becomes basic,” he added.
The report also condemned government for the continued arbitrary arrests and limiting of freedoms of assembly of senior Opposition leaders such as Col Kizza Besigye, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, and the continued suppression of Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and locking him out of office despite several court rulings in his favour.
US Ambassador Scott DeLisi said: “Freedoms of speech and assembly, an active and vibrant press, a dynamic civil society, and a robust public discourse in which diverse voices are heard are all components of a democratic society and are all central to our discussion of human rights globally.”
More abuses cited
On the prisons conditions, the report observed that in a system with an approved capacity of 15,000, the Uganda Prisons Service has a population of 42,193 prisoners, including 1,907 women.
On the police, the report indicated the force is constrained by limited resources, including low pay and lack of vehicles, equipment, and training.
The report also cites politically motivated arrests or lengthy pretrial detention and restrictions on the right to a fair trial. Other abuses cited include official corruption, mob violence, trafficking in persons, child labour and harsh prison conditions.
