Uganda is a constitutional republic led since 1986 by Gen. Yoweri Museveni of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, whom many people in Uganda now believe has turned into a ‘total dictator.’  Sections of Ugandans reelected him president to a fourth five-year term in February 2011.

The 2011 elections were marred by irregularities. State security forces reportedly tortured, kidnapped, beat and locked up people opposed to Museveni’s rule without trial.

The most serious human rights problems in Uganda are lack of respect for the integrity of the people, abuse of suspects and detainees; unwarranted restrictions on civil liberties (including freedom of assembly, association, media, violence, discrimination against marginalized groups such as women including female genital mutilation/cutting, sexual abuse and ritual killings and lack of respect to people with disabilities, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities).

Other human rights violations in Uganda include harsh prison conditions; politically motivated arrests, illegal detention; lengthy pretrial detention; restrictions on the right to a fair trial; restrictions on freedom of press; electoral irregularities; incommunicado, ‘practice of official corruption’; mob violence; trafficking in humans, and child labor.

Many special security forces committee human rights abuses generally with impunity. But President Museveni’s government has been seen by many people as having taken minimal steps to hold perpetrators accountable.

Ends