Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Tell Minister for Interior Affairs, David Muhoozi, has reaffirmed the authorities’s commitment to retaining human rights, because the country prepares for the 2026 regular elections.
Speaking at a nationwide dialogue held to commemorate the United Nations Global Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Muhoozi emphasized that upholding human dignity is now not non-predominant however a constitutional and lawful obligation.
“Our commitments to total torture are now not correct staunch or rhetorical,” Muhoozi talked about. “They replicate the values enshrined in our Constitution, particularly Articles 24 and 44, which supply protection to 1 and all from merciless, inhuman, or degrading remedy.”
Held below the theme “In direction of Torture-Free Communities and Elections for All, ”the nationwide dialogue introduced collectively authorities officials, human rights defenders, building partners, and civil society organizations.
Muhoozi acknowledged Uganda’s ratification of world treaties such because the United Nations Convention Towards Torture and its gain home legislation the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act (Cap. 130), as key pillars in its staunch framework in opposition to torture.
He renowned that institutions below his ministry, particularly the Uganda Police Force and the Uganda Prisons Carrier, are being equipped to align their operations with a human rights-based entirely ability. “In the context of elections, the police need to take care of legislation and declare while guaranteeing citizens can declare their rights freely and safely,” Muhoozi said.
The minister emphasized that law enforcement officials are being expert on proportional declare of power, staunch crowd preserve watch over, and guidelines of engagement that respect freedoms of assembly, association, and expression. He additionally called for improved identification systems for officers within the midst of operations to promote transparency.
In regards to the correctional machine, Muhoozi said the Uganda Prisons Carrier is devoted to bettering stipulations for inmates and reducing pretrial detention times, particularly for capital offenses. He additionally pointed to ongoing efforts to amplify rehabilitation thru vocational skilling programs. “Skilling inmates is one amongst essentially the most attention-grabbing programs to diminish recidivism and promote reintegration into society. Statistics unique that folks which would be expert are less at possibility of reoffend,” he said.
Per Muhoozi the authorities is promoting choices to custodial sentencing, equivalent to neighborhood provider, to decongest prisons and carry out dawdle humane remedy of offenders, constant with the restorative justice approaches.
Mariam Wangadya, the Uganda Human Rights Price (UHRC) Chairperson, renowned that extreme violations persist, especially in detention facilities and within the midst of public declare enforcement.
“As a country, we should always accomplish more than correct condemn torture. We need to always hear to survivors, focal point on them, and carry out dawdle that they non-public decide up entry to to justice, rehabilitation, and meaningful redress,” Wangadya said.
She cited fresh tribunal hearings in Hoima District, where survivors testified to horrific abuses on penal advanced farms, including one young man who lost his leg and talent to non-public kids, and another who suffers from a rotting leg attributable to untreated injuries. “These are now not correct remoted incidents. They replicate systemic gaps that need urgent redress, torture is a virulent disease that eats away at the soul of our nation.”
Wangadya pressured out the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in guaranteeing a peaceable and rights-respecting election process in 2026. The UHRC called on the Electoral Price, security agencies, civil society, and the media to work collectively in fostering transparency, civic education, and accountability. “To the protection agencies, declare your instruments of authority to guard the powerless now to now not instill concern, to the Electoral Price, the model forward for democracy in Uganda lies on your hands,” she told.
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