Sewanyana takes war against death penalty to Geneva

The Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana is in Geneva, Switzerland over issues of the death penalty, among others.

He is there to also discuss such matters as freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; freedoms of expression, association and assembly; detention and access to justice.

His organization's mission is to enhance the respect and observance of human rights practices and civic values, promote best practices through training, education, research, advocacy, ICTs and strategic partnerships.

Sewanyana says there is need to end the growing intimidation and attacks on journalists by various state actors.

"There is also need to create laws conducive for the freedoms of expression, association and assembly instead of laws that restrict these freedoms as is the case of the Public Order Management law," he said.

"In the last elections in Uganda, we saw an increase in the use of excessive force by security agencies. The Government enacted the Public Order Management Act, 2013. Section 8 of the Act gives the police broad powers, often misused to prevent and disperse opposition rallies."

He said excessive use of force on peaceful demonstrators is of increasing concern.

"FHRI wants the Police and other security agencies to refrain from using excessive force in regulating assemblies or effecting arrests, and ensure that police officers are equipped with sufficient non-lethal crowd control equipment," said Sewanyana.

 "The Government still needs to train police investigation officers and state attorneys on the provisions of the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act, 2012 to ensure the Act is applied efficiently."

He said there is need to set up a compensation policy to ensure that relevant government institutions act as focal points for paying out compensation awards to torture victims.