UPDF use WhatsApp to track soldiers violating human rights

The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) bosses are tracking their colleagues violating human rights through a WhatsApp group.

Col Deo Karikona, the director of human rights in the UPDF, said the platform includes only senior army officers, who have attained training in promotion of human rights.

“The platform has become a very good mechanism for monitoring human rights abuses in the units; you can no longer commit human rights violations in any of the army units and we don’t get information about it,” Col Karikona said during a four-day training of 45 senior UPDF army officers at Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre (URDCC) in Jinja City on Tuesday.

“Once there is an issue, we bring it to the attention of that particular person in that area,” he added.
The training was organised by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), and drew officers from various units across the country.

Col Karikona said there are currently 150 UPDF officers who have been training in human rights promotion deployed in the units as trainers of trainers, which has contributed to capacity building in the army.
He said: “The public or the civilians are our strength; therefore, it is very important to remind ourselves in maintaining our ideological foundation of the revolution.”

Ms Grace Pelly, the deputy country representative at the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), said the purpose of the training of the UPDF officers is for them to understand and grasp human rights concepts during their operations.

“The training will contribute to strengthening the capacity building of the UPDF to meet their human rights obligations while discharging their duties with links to relevant human rights standards and other instruments such as the UN code of conduct,” she said.

She further explained that as the officers interact with the public, they should constantly remind themselves of the human rights principles that must be upheld in all their security enforcement activities.

This is not the first time the UPDF is carrying out such training. Last year, the UPDF 3rd Division partnered with UHRC and UNHRC Moroto Office to equip UPDF frontline troops in south Karamoja with skills in human rights protection.

This was after the Division charged soldiers who were found to have committed human rights violations in Karamoja.

The violations
According to the High Commissioner of Human Rights, by November 2021, at least 22 soldiers were in detention waiting to appear before the court martial for their alleged involvement in various human rights violations.