Authorities attempt to silence human rights organisations ahead of constitutional amendment
Paris-Geneva-Kampala,September 25, 2017 - As Parliament ofUganda discusses the constitutional amendment to lift presidential age limit,the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT), FHRIand Chapter Four Uganda call upon authorities to refrain from further hinderingthe right to freedom of speech, association and peaceful assembly.
On September 20, 2017, police raidedthe premises of ActionAid Uganda (AAU) and Great Lakes Institute for StrategicStudies (GLISS) in Kampala as well as the house of GLISS Executive Director,Mr. Godbar Tumushabe. ActionAidUganda works to foster human rights and fight poverty in the country. GLISS isan independent policy think tank actively involved in regional public policyand human rights issues in the Great Lakes sub-region.
Search warrants included allegationsof “illicit transfer of funds for funding unlawful activities”. ActionAidUganda premises have since been sealed off and several documents, electronicequipment and bank related documents were seized from both organisations.Searches were carried out overnight until the next day at both organisations andwere supposed to resume at ActionAid Uganda premises on September 25, 2017 at10:00 am.
Our organisations believe that theraid of the two NGOs merely aim at sanctioning their human rights activities. Moreover,both organisations have been critical of the constitutional amendment to liftpresidential age limit to allow President Yoweri Museveni, 73, to run foranother term in 2021.
“Ugandanauthorities are using preventive arrests and detention to stifle criticalvoices and intimidate human rights defenders. Authorities must putan end to any form of harassment, including at the judicial level, againstcivil society organisations and ensure that they are able to carry out theirhuman rights activities without fear of retaliation”, said our organisations.
TheObservatory, FHRI and Chapter Four Uganda urge Ugandan authorities to uphold theirinternational obligations and ensure full respect for freedoms of expression, associationand peaceful assembly.
Context:
Several demonstrations planned inKampala on September 21, 2017, as the motion was supposed to be discussed inParliament, were contained by police forces who arrested several protesters. Onthat day, 28 youths were arrested at Makerere University and later detained inWandegeya and Central police stations. 27 of them were released on bond thenext day. One of them remained in detention at Central police station untilSeptember 25, 2017, on allegations of assault.
The same day, Mr. Erias Lukwago, Lord Mayor ofKampala, was briefly arrested on suspicion that he was going to lead a protestto Parliament. Earlier on, on September 18, 2017, the police fired teargas todisperse a group of youth activists protesting the constitutional amendment infront of the Parliament.
The Observatory for the Protectionof Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and theWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this program is toprevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDHand OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union HumanRights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.