Opposition leaders and activists have harshly criticized Uganda’s government’s decision to close the United Nations’ (UN) regional human rights office, claiming that it is evident of the nation’s deteriorating record on civil freedoms.
The government effectively expelled the rights monitors last week when it informed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that it would not renew the office’s mandate in the nation of east Africa.
Since its establishment in 2006 in Uganda, the agency has drawn attention towards a number of severe human rights abuses, including torture, unauthorised detentions, and official refusal to punish criminals.
Contrary claims were made by opponents of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration, who has been in power since 1986.
When asked about the government’s choice, Bobi Wine, a former pop sensation turned politician and leader of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), responded, “The regime in Uganda should be isolated by all individuals wanting democracy.”
Gun-toting security officers tear-gassed and attacked people who were protesting against the violence of the security forces during the presidential election in January 2021, in which Wine came in second to Museveni.
Wine, who claimed that the outcome had been heavily skewed, was detained multiple times throughout the campaign.
State minister for foreign affairs Okello Oryem told British news agency Reuters that the UN rights office had traveled to Uganda to keep an eye on rights abuses committed during the nearly two-decade-old war in the nation’s north.
“Now that the war is finished, there’s no more relevance to that office,” he said.
The head of the Uganda Human Rights Foundation, Livingstone Sewanyana, disagreed with the government’s justification for closing the office.
“For the last couple of years…the civic space has been shrinking,” he said.
