Uganda Human Rights Commission is addressing the nation as the National Human Rights Institution mandated to protect and promote human rights in Uganda. In fulfilment of its constitutional functions, the Commission has been monitoring the human rights situation in the country and is hereby sharing its observations on the current salient
human rights concerns as well as its critical interventions and recommendations in the COVID-19 period, since the last address to the nation that was in June this year.
Emerging Human Rights Concerns
Whereas the Commission commends the efforts made so far by Government, its institutions, civil society, different communities, faith-based organizations, the media and all law-abiding citizens to manage the growing threat of the spread of COVID-19 in Uganda, we have however witnessed with great concern a lot of complacency and negligence by many people in adhering to the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs)
and following the Presidential Directives issued on different occasions.
The Ministry of Health continues to report rising community infections and deaths as a result of COVID19, and government has lately been expressing serious concern in this regard and is therefore contemplating the option of reverting to some of the lockdown measures that had recently been eased. The excitement involved in the current electoral activities has exacerbated the situation, with groups of people, mainly the youth particularly in urban centers, acting in total disregard of the safeguards put in place by the Ministry of Health and the Presidential directives issued for preventing the spread of Covid-19.
The menace of domestic violence, which the Commission pointed out in its address tothe nation in June this year, has persisted and spiked moreover, with more serious effects particularly to women, children and other vulnerable people within the families affected and in some cases, with lives even being lost; and new trends are emerging of unfortunate
brutal and ruthles land grabbing, illegal destruction of other people’s properties as well as incidents of murder and people who are committing suicide by burning themselves.
