HRCU WEEKLY UPDATE: ISSUE NO. 38 OF 2022
THE HUMAN RIGHTS
CENTRE UGANDA (HRCU)
WEEKLY UPDATE ON KEY
EMERGING HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES WITHIN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF HRDs IN UGANDA
THE WEEK OF 17TH TO
23RD OCTOBER 2022
Welcome to
this new week! We hope and trust that
you and your loved ones/team are well.
Please
receive and read through some of the key issues that emerged through the course last week (October 17 – 23, 2022). HRCU
remains committed to monitoring, documenting, and sharing with you information
with the aim of not only updating you on what happened in the course of the
week but also requesting you to undertake actions that shall contribute to a
better environment for the promotion, protection, and realization of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in Uganda and world over. Below are some of the
stories:
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
On
Sunday 23rd October 2022, HRCU Executive Director, Ms. Margaret
Sekaggya was among the many people who celebrated their birthdays. We thank God
for her life and the lives of those born on that date and pray that God will
continue to give her and them a long life and strength to do what they are purposed to accomplish.
HEALTH WATCH
EBOLA
LOCKDOWN STRAINS HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS
A section of health workers and teachers in Mubende
and Kassanda districts are struggling to access their respective workplaces
following a 21-day lockdown instituted to contain the Ebola
outbreak. President Museveni suspended private and public transport,
including boda bodas, in the two districts after the disease claimed 19 lives.
Since Monday, October 17, several teachers and health
workers have queued at the office of the Mubende Resident District
Commissioner, seeking movement permits to use their motorcycles and vehicles in
vain.
The only successful people have been head teachers
and examination invigilators, who were issued temporary movement permits.
EBOLA
OUTBREAK VS TOURISM: UGANDA SAFE FOR TOURISM DESPITE EBOLA, SAYS GOVT
Foreign Affairs State Minister Okello Oryem assured foreign tourists that Uganda is a safe
destination despite an Ebola outbreak that has killed 25 amid 64 cases.
Mr Oryem advised tourists against cancellation of
bookings to Uganda emphasizing that “the Ebola outbreak in the two districts of
Mubende and Kasanda is being managed well given experience from handling past
epidemics and pandemics.”
“The border and airport are not closed. We are open
for business and look forward to welcoming our foreign tourists,’’ he remarked
at the Foreign affairs ministry headquarters in Kampala while launching the
program for the Uganda-Kenya Tourism conference, exhibition and Familiarization
trip between tour operators from the two countries scheduled for November.
Mr Oryem blamed the West for over hyping epidemic
outbreaks in Africa but challenged foreign countries to thoroughly investigate
before issuing travel advisories stopping citizens from going to other
countries over health concerns.
FREEDOM
OF EXPRESSION: COMPUTER MISUSE LAW CHALLENGED BEFORE REGIONAL COURT
The
Computer Misuse Amended Act, 2022 has now been challenged before the East
African Court of Justice, barely a week after President Museveni assented to
it.
A
democracy and human rights watchdog, the Legal Brains Trust, filed the petition
before the East African Court of Justice in the First Instance Division on
Monday.
The
Attorney General has been listed as the sole respondent.
“The
applicant (Legal Brains Trust) alleges that all the provisions of Uganda’s
Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act passed by Parliament of Uganda on September 9,
or thereabouts and signed into law by the President, on October 13, are an
infringement of the principles of good governance enshrined in Articles 6 (d)
and 7 (2) of the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community,
including adherence to the principles of democracy, rule of law,
accountability, transparency, social justice, equal opportunities, as well as
the recognition, promotion, protection and maintenance of universally accepted
standards of human rights,” reads the petition in part.
According
to Legal Brains Trust, the enactment of the impugned law was arbitrary
initiated by a Member of Parliament, who was injudiciously and irrationally
allowed to move a Private Member’s Bill that was containing clauses that are
blatantly threatened to violate the principles of good governance enshrined in
Articles of 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the Treaty.
The
human rights watchdog further states that in enacting the said law, Uganda
violated its duties under Articles 9, 13, and 25 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples Rights, Articles 25 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and Articles 29 (1)a, 38 and 43 of the Ugandan
Constitution.
ACCESS TO JUSTICE: EBOLA LOCKDOWN AFFECTS 500 COURT CASES
The 21-day Ebola lockdown in Mubende and Kassanda
districts will on average affect more than 500 cases lined up for expedited
hearing and determination in courts under the Mubende judicial area, the
Judiciary has said.
The affected cases are before the Chief Magistrate’s Court which takes charge
of both districts.
Although the area has high courts and a sub-registry
for Industrial court, an October 19 cause list displayed at the court notice
board yesterday only displayed the cases under the Chief Magistrate’s
Court.
A total of 148 cases were due for expedited hearing
and determination respectively between October 17 and 21 but will now have to
be rescheduled.
Sources at the Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday
told this publication that while the judicial officers are available, a
bigger number of the affected litigants and their lawyers are unable to access
the court due to the travel ban.
“It would be unfair to cause a hearing for a particular case where one of the
concerned parties is unable to come to court because of the travel ban. In such
a circumstance, we have to reschedule the case to a date after the lockdown.
The court cannot issue arrest and production warrants at the moment,” the
source said.
Source;https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/ebola-lockdown-affects-500-court-cases--3992044
THE
RIGHT TO APPLY FOR BAIL: CITY LAWYER CHALLENGES JUDICIARY’S NEW BAIL GUIDELINES
A
lawyer challenged the Judiciary’s new bail guidelines that were recently issued
by Chief Justice (CJ) Alfonse Owiny-Dollo.
In
an October 18 petition now before the Constitutional Court, Mr. Steven Kalali
accuses the CJ of abusing his administrative powers, saying this should have
been Parliament’s role since it is the one with the constitutional mandate to
come up with pieces of legislation in the country.
Mr. Kalali also
claims the new guidelines were processed and issued without the participation
of the general public.
The new guidelines
In the new bail
guidelines launched in July, a judicial officer has to hear and determine a
bail application within one month, unlike before when the time to hear a bail
application was open-ended.
There is now uniformity of bail
terms issued by judicial officers, unlike before when judicial officers could
give different bail terms on similar offences.
In the new
guidelines, a complainant can raise their hand in court during the bail
application session and be given chance to speak out on issues that he or she
thinks can have a bearing on the outcome of the ruling.
The guidelines also
demand that court may now grant bail to a vulnerable person on his or her own
recognizance or on recognizance being entered into by his or her parent,
guardian or other responsible person, with or without sureties.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
1. The right to apply for bail is a
fundamental right guaranteed under Article 23 (6) of the 1995 Constitution of
the Republic of Uganda. The foundation of this right roots in Article 28 of
the same Constitution which states that an accused person shall be presumed
innocent until he/she is proven or pleads guilty. The right to apply for bail
also protects an accused person’s right to a fair and speedy hearing before an
independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law. The right to a
fair hearing is an inviolable right provided for under Article 44 of the
Constitution.
2. The right to apply for bail in
Uganda has over the years remained controversial despite the Constitution
providing that an accused person shall be released on bail at the discretion of the Courts of Judicature. The powers of the court on bail have many times been
challenged by different stakeholders including the President who
also recently questioned the independence of the Judiciary. Therefore, with the above analysis, there is
a need for HRDs and other key stakeholders including State actors to continue
creating awareness through different advocacy initiatives and edify the
contextualization and understanding of this right as a way to ensure that the
rights of pre-trial detainees are not abused or infringed upon.
3. As government agencies especially
security personnel enforce the lockdown measures in the districts of Mubende
and Kassanda to curb the spread of Ebola disease, it is important that
throughout the process, citizens’ rights and freedoms are upheld at all times. The
application of the human right-based approach remains key.
We
thank you for reading. All the best in this new week
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