Parliament asked to pass laws that are human rights sensitive

Ndifuna Mohammed(L) the Chief Executive Officer HURINET Uganda, John Mary Odoy(C) the Chairperson HURINET and Patrick Kaboyo(R) the Secretary HURINET chat after a press conference at HURINET Uganda offices on Friday January 10, 2016. Photo by Godfrey Kimono.

Human rights defenders have asked the parliament to pass laws that are consistent with the human rights standards laid down in the constitution and the various regional and international laws that the country ratified.

Speaking at a press briefing organized by Human Rights Network (HURINET) at their Ntinda office on Friday, John Mary Odoy, the Chairman board of directors, said that a number of legislations that have been passed by parliament are not human rights sensitive and have stirred a nationwide protest by citizens who feel their rights are being violated.

Some of the laws he pointed out include the Public Order Management Act (POMA), the Anti-terrorism Act, the NGO Act and the Income Tax (Amendment) Act which exempted legislators from paying taxes on their allowances.

"Parliament should take into account the rights of the Citizens when making laws. This will serve to ensure that all laws passed are human rights sensitive," Odoy said.

He stated that the human rights committee of parliament should do a comprehensive audit of all proposed laws to ensure that they are compliant with the constitution and international human rights standards.

In his remarks, Odoy also noted that there has been a growing concern about the safety and security of both individual and organizational human rights defenders, adding that there have been physical attacks on them and their offices across the country.

He said that however, the police have failed to thoroughly investigate and persecute the perpetrators of these crimes.

"We have made several complaints to police but nothing has been done. We would like the police this year to fully investigate our allegations and come up with a conclusive report," said Mohammed Ndifuna, the Executive Director Human Rights Network (HURINET).

He said that when unknown people broke into their offices in Ntinda in 2014, they complained to the police and to date police has not come out to give a conclusive report.

"We refuse to accept that the police and other security agencies are so helpless and are unable to crack the simplest of the incidents that occurred. We instead demand that they expeditiously investigate this and several other attacks on human rights defenders," he said.

Last year, unknown people ransacked the offices of the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, killed the security guard and took off with several documents. There was also an attempted break-in in the offices of Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ).
Ndifuna said that these together with several personal threats have been reported to police, but are never investigated.

Patrick Kaboyo, the secretary board of directors, asked government to set up a mechanism to protect human rights defenders and the media since it is instrumental in documenting human rights violations.

The briefing was held to present a documentation of developments that have either facilitated or limited the full enjoyment of rights by the country's citizens in 2016.

Odoy noted that 2016 was marred by gross violation of human rights and abuse of the rule of law.

He pointed out there were egregious attacks on the judiciary in a manner that was calculated to intimidate judicial officers from due dispensation of justice in a free and fair manner. An example was the attack on Makindye Chief Magistrates' court over the IGP, Kale Kayihura's court summon.

He said that there was a gross abuse of the freedom of assembly and demonstration through the passing of the Public Order Management Act which gave security agencies a right to crack down on several assemblies, mainly convened by the opposition parties.

Others rights that were infringed upon in 2016 are, abuse on the right to opinion speech and expression through social media blockage during the presidential polls, and the abuse on right to life.