Torture tops list of violated rights

By John Odyek

KAMPALA - The top three violated human rights in Uganda are torture, personal liberty and child neglect, a report of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) 2012 has shown.

A total of 2,725 complaints were received and UHRC registered 706 new complaints on human rights violations – a 31% decrease from 1021 complaints recorded in 2011.

According to the findings, torture constituted 35.5% of the complaints, followed by detention beyond 48 hours recorded at 27.16% and denial of child maintenance recorded at 17.13%.

Deprivation of property was recorded at 6.4% and murder 3.15%.

Majority of new complaints were revealed to be against the Police with 346 cases, followed by private individuals with 190 complaints, then UPDF (85 cases), local government 20 and Uganda Prisons 34.

Most of the complaints by private individuals were to do with denial of child maintenance.

Others cases came from educations institutions, private companies, ministries and hospitals.

Med Kaggwa, the chairperson of the commission presented the report to Rebecca Kadaga, speaker of Parliament on Wednesday at Parliament, Kampala.

 “The complaints against torture and ill treatment mainly arose from the aftermath of the 2011 presidential elections characterized by the A4C pressure group activities and walk to work demonstrations in which civilians and security agencies clashed,” read part of the report.

Kaggwa asked government to ensure that victims of human rights violations are promptly compensated.

“The Uganda Police force should invest in training of the law enforcements to equip them with modern investigation skills.

“The Police and the Directorate of Public Prosecution [DPP] should be equipped with the necessary facilities to enable them fulfill the constitutional obligation to bring suspects to court within 48 hours and to efficiently perform their duties,” Kaggwa told Kadaga.

‘More judges’

He urged government to strengthen institutions dealing with children problems, to domesticate and implement the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

He also suggested the conclusion of the development of the legal aid policy and the operationalization of the industrial court.

The Speaker urged government to appoint more judges, underlining that the shortage of judges was heightening case back logs.

“The judges are very few and the population is increasing. The government has not reached the necessary threshold in the number of appointed judges.”

According to her, access to justice for people with disability remains a nightmare. And that in cases of rape there were no doctors who could understand the persons with disabilities.

“There are no doctors who know sign language or who read the Braille [system]. There are few court interpreters for people with disabilities,” she said.

The chairperson of the human rights committee in Parliament, Jovah Kamateeka stressed that there is severe congestion in some prisons.

“In Gulu, a modern prison facility exists but it is congested. In Gulu there is no resident judge,” Kamteeka pointed out.

Nevertheless, the report identified the positive development in places of detention, which include the phasing out of use of buckets for toilets, respect for freedom of worship.

But it admitted that the prisons are congested, children are detained with adults or with their mothers and also of the lack of special protection for people with disabilities.

There is sharing of facilities by male and female inmates and the problem of poor welfare of Prison and Police staff prevails.

The report focuses on the right to remedy and reparation following the insurgency in northern Uganda from 1986 to 2006 that caused massive destruction, with large numbers of civilians suffering serious violations.

The challenges facing the transitional justice process include the lack of transitional justice policy, limited resources for post conflict programmes, uncertainty on the future amnesty, rampant land disputes and stigma for children born in captivity and the inadequate documentation of the conflict.