There are ongoing knowledge-sharing sessions aimed at improving the Uganda Human Rights Commission’s (UHRC) capacity to prevent and counter Violent Extremism.
The sessions, being facilitated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), commenced on September 16th to 17, 2024 and are slated to end in November this year. The first of these engagements was graced by the Chairperson Hon. Mariam Wangadya and Hon. Members of the Commission; Crispin Kaheru, Jacklet Atuhaire Rwabukurukluru, Hajat Shifrah Lukwago, Col. Steven Basaliza, Lamex Omara Apitta and Simeo Muwanga Nsubuga. Also present were Directors, selected Heads of Units, Regional Heads and other senior members of staff.
While officiating at this inaugural session, the Chairperson Hon. Mariam Wangadya decried the congestion in Ugandan Prisons and appreciated UNODC for enabling the Commission fulfil its mandate of inspecting places of detention by facilitating some of its inspection visits.
“Together with institutions in the Criminal Justice System, we need to seriously and urgently address the issue of congestion in our prisons. Many of them hold beyond three times the capacity of prisoners they were meant for. It is particularly painful to note that a huge chunk of those prisoners are not supposed to be in prison at all. These are people facing victimless crimes such as public or common nuisance,” she said.
She said suspects facing such crimes do not deserve space “in our prisons. The starting point is to repeal the laws that create them and vow as a country that in future any other such laws must never be contemplated.”
She reminded everyone, especially the actors within the criminal justice system that the fight against Violent Extremism is not just the responsibility of security forces or policy makers.
“It is a fight for human rights, it is a fights for human dignity and the future of our people and our country,” she said at this training which was organised at Lake Victoria Hotel – Entebbe. She appealed to other UN agencies to join UNODC in supporting the Commission.
On her part, the UNODC head of Office in Uganda Ms. Sharon Lesa Nyambe noted that as much as they focus on the countering aspect of anti-fire arm protocol, trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, they work quite closely with the victim-centred approach and “that is where we see the opportunity to work with the Uganda human rights commission coming in quite closely.”
She said they are the custodian of the UN Convention Against Corruption which turned 20 years last years and are therefore aware of the various challenges and the vulnerabilities that corruption brings like “hindering the attainment of people to ascribe to their best as far as human rights are concerned.”
The Secretary to the Commission/Accounting Officer Ms. Margaret Ejang said Violent Extremism and Radicalization has become a very rampant vice and a complex global challenge that has reached unprecedented levels.
“It undermines international peace and security. It divides communities, exacerbate conflict and destabilize societies,” she said.
After this, another engagement for lawyers and staff from the Directorate of Monitoring and Inspection was organized. This ran from September 23rd to 24th, 2024 at the same hotel.
This was followed by another meeting for Human Rights Educators still facilitated by the same UNODC at the same Lake Victoria hotel in Entebbe. This commenced on October 7 to 8th, 2024. Plans are still underway to have the last engagement of these engagements in November this year for UHRC Investigators before the rollout of field activities like inspection of places of detention, holding community Baraza, among others.
Already, some spontaneous field activities like inspection of places of detention in Fort Portal by the Chairperson and our Fort Portal Regional Offices have been conducted.
Among the facilitators were senior police officers, prosecutors and consultants from civil society organizations and they discussed topics like; concepts and theories related to Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) in Uganda and the region, the barriers to preventing violent extremism, strategies for disengagement, demobilization, rehabilitation, and reintegration. The others were; the roles of key special groups such as MDAs, women, youth, and CSOs the legal processes and experiences in prosecuting violent extremism suspects and the implementation of the National PCVE Strategy, among others. Each of the groups engaged was composed of at least 50 members.
