Rights body urged to award torture victims less
May 17, 2009
LEADERS in northern Uganda have asked the Uganda Human Rights Commission to stop giving exorbitant awards to torture victims.
By Chris Ocowun
LEADERS in northern Uganda have asked the Uganda Human Rights Commission to stop giving exorbitant awards to torture victims.
“The commission should adjust the amount of money it awards to the victims because some of them are wrong-doers,†the deputy resident district commissioner of Gulu, Milton Odongo, said.
“The reward of sh50m and above is too much. Award what the Government can afford so that our treasury is not exhausted,†he added.
Odongo was closing a workshop of local leaders from Lango and Acholi areas, at Hotel Kakanyero on Tuesday.
The workshop aimed at sensitising the leaders about the guidelines on how to organise public demonstrations and assemblies.
He urged the human rights commission to warn the public against provoking armed security personnel.
The UPDF northern spokesman, Capt. Ronald Kakurungu, complained that the human rights commission always discriminated against the army, Police and prisons.
Amuru resident district commissioner Yakobo Komakech asked about the role of the commission in the areas where there were rebel activities. Komakech asked about what the commission had done about the children who were abducted and killed during the LRA insurgency.
The commission’s registrar of the tribunal, Ruth Ssekindi, said the commission did not give exorbitant awards to torture victims.
She disclosed that the highest amount of money that the commission had awarded to a torture victim was sh59m.
Ssekindi said the awards given to the torture victims were little compared to the gravity of the torture inflicted on them by State agents.
“Some of these victims have become impotent and cannot do anything to earn a living. Some die before getting the compensation because of the delays in paying them,†Ssekindi said.
She explained that the human rights commission did not protect rebels.
She said: “We do not deal with rebels and even do not want them to hide under the pretext of human rights. But there are also some people who have been tortured in the guise of being called rebels.â€
Ssekindi added that the commission had assisted many junior officers of the UPDF, Police and other security agents who complained about their bosses.
The leaders rejected a proposal by Ssekindi to display pictures of some torture victims.
LEADERS in northern Uganda have asked the Uganda Human Rights Commission to stop giving exorbitant awards to torture victims.
“The commission should adjust the amount of money it awards to the victims because some of them are wrong-doers,†the deputy resident district commissioner of Gulu, Milton Odongo, said.
“The reward of sh50m and above is too much. Award what the Government can afford so that our treasury is not exhausted,†he added.
Odongo was closing a workshop of local leaders from Lango and Acholi areas, at Hotel Kakanyero on Tuesday.
The workshop aimed at sensitising the leaders about the guidelines on how to organise public demonstrations and assemblies.
He urged the human rights commission to warn the public against provoking armed security personnel.
The UPDF northern spokesman, Capt. Ronald Kakurungu, complained that the human rights commission always discriminated against the army, Police and prisons.
Amuru resident district commissioner Yakobo Komakech asked about the role of the commission in the areas where there were rebel activities. Komakech asked about what the commission had done about the children who were abducted and killed during the LRA insurgency.
The commission’s registrar of the tribunal, Ruth Ssekindi, said the commission did not give exorbitant awards to torture victims.
She disclosed that the highest amount of money that the commission had awarded to a torture victim was sh59m.
Ssekindi said the awards given to the torture victims were little compared to the gravity of the torture inflicted on them by State agents.
“Some of these victims have become impotent and cannot do anything to earn a living. Some die before getting the compensation because of the delays in paying them,†Ssekindi said.
She explained that the human rights commission did not protect rebels.
She said: “We do not deal with rebels and even do not want them to hide under the pretext of human rights. But there are also some people who have been tortured in the guise of being called rebels.â€
Ssekindi added that the commission had assisted many junior officers of the UPDF, Police and other security agents who complained about their bosses.
The leaders rejected a proposal by Ssekindi to display pictures of some torture victims.