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The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has appealed for a budget increment. The commission says the increment will enable it to ably dispense their mandate.

UHRC, which serves to monitor and advance human rights in Uganda, was established under the 1995 Constitution Article 51 under the Bill of Rights found in Chapter four of the Constitution.

Officials led by the body’s chairperson, Mariam Wangadya, made this plea while handing over the 2023 report on the state of human rights and freedoms in Uganda to Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among. The Thursday, May 23, 2024, event took place at Parliament.

“In the financial year 2022/23, Government of Uganda remained the major funding source for the commission providing a total of sh20.24b for the entire year. This was supplemented by contributors from development partners amounting to sh1.849b,” Wangadya said.

According to her, the Government funding which amounted to 91.6%, only catered for three per cent of activities while donors financed 8.4 percent leaving a huge chunk unfunded.  

Wangadya observed that this was unfortunate considering the fact that the principles of international human instruments require that state funding should be sufficient for the functioning of human rights bodies.   

However, she noted that theirs is the least funded government institution.

“We, therefore, seek your personal indulgence to ensure that the commissions budget is fully met, reliance on donor support is not sustainable and neither is it wise or patriotic,” Wangadya contended.

“I was doing a quick research this morning and I realised that the Uganda Human Rights Commission is the least funded national human rights institution in the world. That’s very telling and we need all the support from Parliament in that direction,” UHRC commissioner Crispin Kaheeru added.

Wangadya was flanked by other commissioners including Shifra Lukwago. Other legislators present at the meeting included, Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe, NUP) and Esther Afoyochan (Zombo District Woman, NRM).

Speaker responds

However, Speaker Anita Among observed that whereas it is wrong to compare commissions in Uganda with those in other countries, the body deserves help.

“We have different levels of development with other countries. For you Uganda you are very poor, you can only compare the Uganda Human Rights Commission with Equal Opportunities Commission. But all the same we are going to support the human rights commission. That one be rest assured,” Among said.