By
Maria Burnett
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Uganda has made the news in recent months over issues like the
Ebola virus,
Joseph Kony, and the notorious
anti-homosexuality law known as the “kill the gays bill.” Less-well-known has been its
longstanding patterns of torture and mistreatment of detainees by security forces.
President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement
have been in power for more than 25 years, with a 2005 constitutional
amendment lifting presidential term limits and permitting him to run and
win in 2006, and then again, heavily assisted by off-budget spending
from state coffers, in 2011.
Since 2011, Museveni has faced increasing criticism for economic woes, corruption, unemployment,
rising HIV rates and
deteriorating health and education services. In April 2011,
demonstrators “walked to work” to protest raising food and fuel prices.
The military and police took to the streets, using live ammunition and
killing at least nine bystanders and
beating journalists
documenting the events. The government has routinely blocked
demonstrations in the last few years, contending that they threaten
public safety.
The president appears to be preparing to run again in 2016 – which
would be his 30th year in office – and it seems no coincidence that in
the wake of growing public grievances, the ruling party’s officials are
scrutinizing nongovernmental organizations and the impact they have on public perceptions of governance and management of public funds.
Organizations working on human rights, land acquisitions, oil revenue
transparency, and other sensitive issues are the main targets, and
apparently viewed as a threat to the administration’s interests.
Uganda’s laws reflect this analysis. The intelligence agencies are
legally mandated to monitor civil society, and the president’s office
has a role in reviewing requests to do research, via the Uganda Council
on Science and Technology.
Over the last two years, Ugandan officials have reportedly
closed civil society meetings and workshops, reprimanded organizations for their research, demanded retractions or apologies, and
confiscated t-shirts,
calendars and
training materials with messaging about political change and “people’s
power.” The government board mandated to regulate civil society recently
recommended dissolving one group unless it apologized for bringing “the
person of the president into disrepute” and has stated that working in
coalitions is unlawful.
At the same time the government’s hostility to, and harassment of,
Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community
continues unabated. Government officials demonize homosexuality,
deliberately misinform the public, and stir hatred.
One minister uses
“the promotion of homosexuality” – a spurious claim – as justification
for his campaign against any group seeking to protect the rights of LGBT
people. He told me that
the pursuit of LGBT rights is a Western conspiracy aimed at destroying Uganda.
While homosexual sex is illegal in Uganda, it is not illegal to discuss
LGBT issues, despite the deeply misguided anti-gay bill still pending
before parliament. Groups focused on fighting for the rights of LGBT
people therefore have every legal right to register and operate. But in
practice, that remains far from possible. While many interpret the
government’s increasing focus on homosexuality as a populist strategy to
gain support, it is still profoundly dangerous for a community that is
vulnerable to harassment and violence.
Donors need to ask tough questions about where Uganda is heading, given
the deteriorating situation for civil society. Furthermore, in today’s
Uganda, government institutions have little independence to perform
their constitutionally mandated jobs, corruption is rife, and protecting
the ruling party and the president from criticism has become more
important than citizens’ right to information. Fundamental democratic
guarantees such as freedom of expression and association should not take
a back seat to security interests. Ultimately, this is the lesson of
the Arab spring.
Until Ugandan civil society is free to research, publish, speak out,
debate and advocate for change without fear, durable security will
remain out of reach.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/30/uganda-making-life-tough-ngos-lgbt-rights
Maria Burnett is a senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.