Report fingers police on abuses

PHOTO|DAILY MONITOR

What you need to know:

  • The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) 18th annual report indicates that 385 of the 760 respondents registered in 2015 were against the police, representing 50.65 per cent of the respondents [complainants] that checked into UHRC to file grievances.
  • Out of the 486 complaints registered against the police, 219 were on the violation of the right to personal liberty (detention beyond 48 hours) while 200 were on torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Kampala. For the eighth year in a row, the police have been pin-pointed as the leading abusers of human rights in the country by the government agency charged with tracking rights’ violations.

The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) 18th annual report indicates that 385 of the 760 respondents registered in 2015 were against the police, representing 50.65 per cent of the respondents [complainants] that checked into UHRC to file grievances.

Out of the 486 complaints registered against the police, 219 were on the violation of the right to personal liberty (detention beyond 48 hours) while 200 were on torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

In violating human rights, the police was followed by private individuals who constituted 182 (23.94 per cent) of all the respondents and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces with 97 (23.94 per cent).

The report indicates that complaints of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment were the highest at 345 in 2015, a 3.36 per cent reduction from 357 in reported in 2014.

This was followed by complaints on detention beyond 48 hours at 247, which is also a 35.17 per cent reduction from 381[complaints] in 2014.

Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) registered 28(3.68 per cent), private business companies 15 (1.97 per cent), local governments with 14(1.84 per cent), educational institutions with 6 (0.78 per cent) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority with 11 (1.44 per cent) “There was notable reduction in the number of complaints registered against most security agencies in 2015,”the report reads in part.

Cultural institutions, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Local Defence Units (LDUs) and crime preventers each had 3 (0.39 per cent) complaints raised against them in 2015. (NMG)