Don’t violate privacy of detainees

When many of our brothers and sisters come into conflict with the law, this never makes them less of humans than other citizens outside detention facilities.

In any case, our laws regard suspects as innocent until proven guilty.

But these suspects’ human rights continue to be violated by public officers who are mandated to respect their fundamental freedoms. The Arua Municipality parliamentary by-election fracas brought to the fore brutality meted on MPs, Opposition supporters and journalists and opposition supporters.
As I struggled to overcome disturbing images of brutality, reports of violation of detainees’ right to privacy emerged.

These reports were first revealed by MP Medardi Segona, who is also part of MP Robert Kagulyanyi and the Arua 33 legal team.
While appearing on Capital FM’s Capital Gang on August 18, MP Segona warned Ugandans against responding to phone calls to them using telephone numbers of the detained Arua 33 suspects.

He added that security officers had without consent of detainees obtained access to phone contacts and history of dialed calls from detainees’ phone and were using the same phones to make calls.
This was further confirmed by Kyadondo East MP Kyagulyanyi, who in a length online statement, informed his associates to ignore calls and messages sent via his Airtel number because “it was taken from me by soldiers and I am told they are using it to call my friends pretending it is me.”
I have also learnt that the same violation was experienced by NTV journalists Herbert Zziwa while in detention as security personnel used to call suspected television journalists to delete footage of the fracas in Arua.
However, it is disheartening some people are abusing their powers by violating the privacy of detained citizens. They ought to be informed that privacy is a qualified human right explicitly provided for under Article 27 of the Constitution, stipulating that: “No person shall be subjected to unlawful interference with their privacy, their home, correspondence, communication of any other property.” The UN Human Rights Committee, also recognised the need to safeguard the fundamental right to privacy under Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
With technological advancement, when one access another’s smart phone, they do not only invade the owner’s voice and text communication privacy, but rather the entire identity of the phone owner. The fact that majority of Ugandans are connect to the Internet via mobile devices, a phone can easily be used to identify one’s personal data related to health and financial status, etc. Ugandans in detention are entitled to the enjoyment of fundamental rights.
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