Stop Whitewashing Torture & Abductions!
From Monday 6 November until Wednesday 8 November the Global Assocation of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark.
GANHRI supplies UHRC and many other non-functional African human rights organisations with “A-status”, while at the same time it removed Russia as a member. Again this confirms that white people have more human rights than black people.
This double standards on Human Rights has to stop!
The National Unity Platform will demonstrate against this Whitewashing of Ugandan Torture & Abductions by GANHRI & UHRC. Below it is explained why the UHRC does not comply with the so-called Paris principles.
- In 2021, author Kakwenza suffered an arrest, prolonged isolation, and brutal torture at the hands of Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan dictator Museveni. Shockingly, annual reports have remained conspicuously silent on this issue. An initial UHRC tweet describing ‘scars and injuries’ was mysteriously removed, casting doubts on the independence of the commission.
- Regrettably, several well-documented cases of torture, such as those of Samuel Masereka, Ziggy Wine, Muhammad Ssegirinya, Robert Kyagulanyi, and countless others, are noticeably absent from the annual UHRC reports.
- A report from the NUP outlining 18 cases of disappeared opposition members has been unjustly labeled as ‘questionable’ by the UHRC without providing any substantiated evidence.
- The infamous ‘November massacre,’ in which security forces allegedly killed over 54 unarmed civilians following the arrest of presidential candidate Kyagulanyi, remains unexamined in any of the annual UHRC reports.
- Shockingly, torture techniques in Uganda, including beatings with iron bars, whippings, burnings with hot flat irons, (anal) rape, genital torture, waterboarding, nail pulling, and flesh removal with pliers, have gone unaddressed by the UHRC.
- Despite the UHRC’s stated mandate that suspects should be brought to court within 48 hours, it’s deeply concerning that hundreds of opposition supporters have been held incommunicado in ungazetted prisons, with no accountability.
- Alarming statements from the UHRC chairlady suggest a desire to amend torture laws like the “Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act” to allow security forces greater leeway in protecting themselves.
- Equally concerning is the revelation that some commission members have been observed carrying firearms to their meetings, further undermining the commission’s perceived impartiality.
- Disturbingly, the selection of UHRC members appears to prioritize loyalty to the regime over a track record in civil society or human rights. Instances of members like Simeo Nsubuga, a supporter of Muhoozi Kainerugaba, threatening opposition leaders, and Jackline Atuhaire’s involvement in a murder case, raise serious questions.
- The troubling case of peaceful activist Nana Mwafrika, who was arrested along with her 14- and 2-year-old children when she sought to protest Kakwenza’s abduction at the UHRC, underscores the dismissive stance taken by the commission toward valid complaints.