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Uganda: Government must desist from attacks and arbitrary detention of #March2Parliament Protesters

RFK Human Rights condemns the wanton attacks by Ugandan security forces against #March2Parliament protesters on 23 July resulting in dozens of arbitrary arrests and police brutality. We call upon the Ugandan government to immediately investigate the human rights violations and desist from interfering with the right of Ugandans to peaceful assembly. 

The #March2Parliament protest follows investigative reports of corruption implicating the leaders of the Ugandan parliament. The protesters demand an investigation into those reports and the resignations of the implicated members of parliament including Speaker Anita Among. In addition, the protesters have complained about President Yoweri Museveni’s failure to prosecute corrupt government officials and loyalists

Ahead of the protests, government officials including President Museveni and the police chief threatened protesters with violence stating that they were “playing with fire”. A day before the 23 July protests, the Government deployed the military to patrol Kampala, security forces blocked off the roads to the parliament and sealed off the office of the National Unity Platform – the main opposition party. 

Suppressing peaceful protests is a violation of domestic and international human rights law, including obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Ugandan Constitution, all of which recognize the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. 

During the July 23 protests, at least 100 peaceful protesters were arbitrarily arrested, arraigned in court for phantom charges of “causing common nuisance” and also being “idle and disorderly”. Contrary to Ugandan law, the government agents denied the detained protesters access to lawyers and the Courts issued a blanket denial of bail adjourning the cases to the end of July and early August for three sets of detainees. 

“Fear mongering ahead of protests and criminalization of participation in peaceful assemblies as experienced in Uganda are anti-democratic and blatant violations of human rights,” said Ikechukwu Uzoma, Africa Staff Attorney at Robert F Kennedy Human Rights. “State authorities are duty bound to respect the right to peaceful assembly – protests are not crimes” he added.  

RFK Human Rights stands in solidarity with the Ugandan people, and strongly urges the Government to take all necessary measures to respect and protect the right of every person to assemble and share their opinions about pertinent issues of governance.