Mandate of the UN Human Rights office willl not be renewed when it expires this year.
It is because it has “developed dynamic internal institutions on human rights,” the government announced Wednesday to AFP, prompting immediate condemnation from the opposition.
“The entire country of Uganda is peaceful, and we have formed dynamic internal institutions such as the Uganda Human Rights Commission,” said Henry Oryem Okello, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
This is to justify the non-renewal of the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has been in place in this East African country since 2005.
“Under President Museveni’s leadership, our human rights record has improved significantly over the years,” he said.
Since 1986, Uganda has been ruled with an iron fist by President Yoweri Museveni.
The Ugandan authorities briefed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a letter sent on February 3, consulted by AFP, asserting that “the government will continue its cooperation with the OHCHR headquarters directly or through its permanent mission in Geneva.
Muwada Nkunungi, a member of the National Unity Platform led by Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, one of President Yoweri Museveni’s main opponents, criticized the decision.
The Museveni administration is paranoid. It is not strange that they are not renewing the mandate because they fear stringent respect for human rights,” Muwada Nkunyingi told AFP.
The human rights office in Kampala is yet to give a response to AFP’s requests.
During the 2021 presidential election, journalists were attacked, lawyers were imprisoned, and several opposition leaders were silenced.
An expert member of the UN Committee against Torture said in November 2022 that “torture and ill-treatment” remained “widespread and recurring in Uganda.
The 2022 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the journalist rights NGO Reporters Without Borders, ranks Uganda 132nd (out of 180).
