Africa-Press – Uganda. Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) have asked heads of security agencies to subject their personnel to disciplinary actions for the misdeeds on deployment before, during and after the just concluded 2021 general elections.
Security agencies comprising the police and the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) are on spot for allegedly violating human rights following numerous complaints by citizens and human rights bodies.
The accusations include torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, assault killings as well as threats.
Under their National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Uganda (NCHRD-U), rights defenders have now tasked police and army to hold their officers accountable for errant actions during electoral processes.
“We urge the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prevail over the force to stop arbitrary arrests and stop sanctioning trumped up as well as frivolous charges often used in reprisal attacks against HRDs in electoral contests and strictly abide by the human rights policy of the force,” said Mr Robert Kirenga, the Executive Director of the NCHRD.
Addressing the media in Kampala about the HRDs operating landscape in the just concluded 2021 electoral cycle, Mr Kirenga flanked by a host of rights activists, demanded the security heads to work towards ending brutality, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention and attacks on journalists and other HRDs.
To the UPDF leadership, Mr Kirenga demanded, “Audit involvement of security officers faulted for brazen attacks on individual HRDs while undertaking their legitimate human rights monitoring with a view of holding them accountable.”
According to Mr Kirenga, during the electoral processes, HRDs suffered delays and deliberate denial of accreditations by the Electoral Commission, targeted arrests and trumped up charges, clampdown on rights’ expression, coordination challenges for monitoring teams, access restrictions as well as intimidation due to the heavily visible military deployment.
When contacted, Police Publicist Mr Fred Enanga demanded to know if the concerns have been addressed to the IGP reasoning that the force has a fully functioning and vibrant human rights desk which is at the forefront of handling such matters.
“What HRDs do not do is to invite the police while releasing such statements for us to respond which means they have a different view. Previously they would invite our Human rights director who has been cooperative and when we work with them, we carry out investigations based on the specifics,” Mr Enanga said in a telephone interview.
Mr Enanga disputed statements by rights defenders on the violence saying that: “On scale, the elections were peaceful and we have feedback from observers and stakeholders but the coalition should help us to bring out specifics on the violations to help us investigate their concerns.”
UPDF spokesperson, Brig. Flavia Byekwaso could not comment on the matter as her known telephone numbers were unanswered despite repeated calls.
The remarks and demands by the HRDs add voice to that of the Legal Aid Service Providers’ Network (LASPNET) report that said the 2021 general elections were marred by violations that negatively impacted on peoples’ rights to access justice.
The report dubbed “Trends and impact of the 2021 elections on human rights, access to justice and rule of law”- reveals that the just concluded polls fell short of International standards in ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights.
On the events preceding the election aside, in the election week alone, the report shows that a total of 67 people were arbitrarily arrested and detained over allegations such as disobeying lawful orders, inciting violence and interfering with the electoral process.
“Notably, detention of several National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters including the house arrest of first runner up in the presidential elections, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi who was only released after court order. These episodes of violence have continued to generate contention among sections of the public concerning the fairness and credibility of the general elections,” reads the report.
