HRCU WEEKLY ANALYSIS FROM 10TH TO 15TH JUNE 2025
THE WEEK OF 10TH TO 15TH JUNE 2025
Dear Reader,
The Human Rights Centre Uganda welcomes you to this new week and is pleased to share its latest updates, focusing on human rights and key emerging issues from the past week, particularly those impacting human rights defenders (HRDs) in Uganda.
Welcome back from the reading of the national budget 2025/2026. We believe that you have had and still have your take-aways from the same https://www.finance.go.ug/sites/default/files/2025-06/Budget%20Speech%20FY2025%20web_0.pdf
These updates underscore critical areas that warrant the continued attention and advocacy of human rights defenders, with the aim of steadily improving the environment in which they operate.
NATIONAL UPDATES
MUSEVENI VOWS JUSTICE FOR UNPAID HEROES
President Museveni has praised the fighters who helped bring the NRM government to power and promised to monitor the issue of compensation, including for those who served in the military.
Source:
WORLD BANK RESUMES UGANDA LOANS AFTER ANTI-GAY LAW FREEZE
Two years after halting funding to Uganda, the World Bank is reversing its position and lifting a freeze on loans to the East African nation.The freeze was originally imposed in 2023, following Uganda’s enactment of one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws.
Source:
https://www.africanews.com/2025/06/06/world-bank-resumes-uganda-loans-after-anti-gay-law-freeze/
ICC TO COMPENSATE 49,000 VICTIMS ACROSS FOUR LOCATIONS
The International Criminal Court is planning to compensate about 49,000 victims, covering four locations—Abok in Oyam, Lokodi, Odek, and Abok—with 52.4 million euros, or about 216 billion shillings.
Source:
UGANDA MUSLIM MARTYRS DAY COMMEMORATED IN OLD KAMPALA
Muslims gathered at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council in Old Kampala to honour the legacy of Muslim martyrs. The Uganda Muslim Martyrs Day is commemorated annually to honour early Muslims who were persecuted and killed for their faith.
Source:
https://www.ntv.co.ug/ug/news/national/uganda-muslim-martyrs-day-commemorated-in-old-kampala-5076258
OVER 10,000 UGANDA ARTS TEACHERS STRIKE OVER PAY DISPARITIES
More than 10,000 humanities teachers across Uganda have gone on strike, protesting what they call unequal and unfair salary treatment compared to their science counterparts.
Source:
UGANDA DISMISSES FEARS OF COVID-19 RESURGENCE AFTER 10 CASES CONFIRMED IN BULIISA
The National Incident Commander for the Covid-19 response, Dr. Henry Kyobe has dismissed concerns about a potential resurgence following the recent confirmation of 10 cases in Uganda’s oil-rich Buliisa District.
Source:
MPS PROTEST HARSH TRAFFIC FINES AS GOVERNMENT REVIEWS CONTROVERSIAL EPS SYSTEM
Pressure is rising against Uganda’s new Electronic Penalty System as Mps and the public decry fines, inadequate signage, and concerns over a private company profiting from penalties.
GOV’T SUSPENDS EPS AUTO SYSTEM
The Ministry of Works and Transport has temporarily suspended the automated Express Penalty System (EPS Auto), following widespread dissatisfaction from motorists regarding it’s enforcement.
Source:
https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/govt-suspends-eps-auto-system-5078238
BESIGYE’S LAWYER ERON KIIZA APPEALS TO HIGH COURT FOR PASSPORT RELEASE
A Ugandan human rights lawyer representing detained opposition strongman Dr. Kizza Besigye has protested the High Court’s continued refusal to release his passport, warning that the delay is endangering his health.
Source:
REGIONAL UPDATES
CHAD TO SUSPEND VISAS FOR US CITIZENS IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S TRAVEL BAN
Chad has announced it will suspend issuing visas to U.S. citizens, retaliating against the Trump administration's ban on Chadians visiting the United States.Donald Trump (U.S President) announced a visa ban on 12 countries, including chad, due to poor screening processes and refusal to take back citizens who overstay in the U.S.
Source:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/chad-trump-travel-ban-africa-b2765943.html
KENYAN BLOGGER WAS HIT AND ASSAULTED TO DEATH, AUTOPSY REVEALS
A Kenyan blogger who died in police custody was hit on the head and his death was likely to have been caused by assault, a post-mortem has revealed. His death has sparked widespread outrage in Kenya, with rights groups demanding that police be held accountable.
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9jw20nr5ro
WFP: PARTS OF KHARTOUM FACING SEVERE HUNGER
Several areas South of Sudan’s capital Khartoum are at famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) said, with need on the ground outstripping resources amidst a food aid funding shortfall for war- ravaged Sudanese regions.
Source:
MEDIA WATCHDOGS URGE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ETHOPIA EDITOR
International journalism watchdogs have called for the immediate release of Tesfalem Waldyes, founder of the Ethiopian online outlet Ethiopia Insider, who was detained by plainclothes police on June 8 in Addis Ababa. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), he is accused of spreading false information.
Source:
https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/media-watchdogs-urge-immediate-release-of-eth-NV_212468
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON UGANDA'S BOSSA, THREE OTHER ICC JUDGES IN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE
President Donald Trump’s administration-imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court, an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged wars crimes by U.S troops in Afghanistan.
Source:
CHINA OPPOSES POLITICIZATION OF MYANMAR HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES: ENVOY
China opposes politicizing Myanmar’s human rights issues and rejects public pressure, while supporting Myanmar’s sovereignty, stability, development path, and ASEAN’s role in resolving the crisis. It is promoting peace talks, providing humanitarian aid, and encouraging dialogue between Myanmar and Bangladesh on refugee repatriation.
Source:
https://english.news.cn/20250611/02dac25e39a1413d981eb5db08efc587/c.html
ISRAEL DEPORTING GRETA THUNBERG AND OTHER ACTIVISTS ON GAZA AID BOAT
The Israeli Foreign Ministry deported the environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg and another activist who had been detained aboard an aid boat bound for Gaza.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/world/middleeast/israel-greta-thunberg-deport-gaza-flotilla.html
HAITI VIOLENCE DISPLACES A RECORD 1.3 MILLION PEOPLE: UN
A record number of people almost 1.3 million have been internally displaced in Haiti due to violence, the United Nations said.
Source:
https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/world/haiti-violence-displaces-a-record-13-million-NV_212465
WEEK'S ANALYSIS
1. The recent headlines underscore pressing issues of labour rights, human rights, and governance in Uganda and beyond. President Museveni’s commitment to addressing unpaid war heroes’ concerns and the strike by over 10,000 arts teachers engage the Employment Act, 2006 and Articles 21 and 40 of Uganda’s 1995 Constitution, which guarantee equality and workers’ rights, supported by International Labour Organization Conventions 87 and 98 on collective bargaining. The World Bank’s resumption of funding after freezing it over Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, highlights international legal influence, notably Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, prohibiting discrimination. Legal challenges to Uganda’s Electronic Payment System, including its suspension and parliamentary protests, raise administrative justice concerns under Article 42 of the Constitution, reflecting public unease over state enforcement. Other developments involve civil liberties: the Ministry of Health’s dismissal of COVID-19 resurgence fears comply with the Public Health Act (Cap 281) and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in regards to ensuring access to accurate health information. Separately, lawyer Eron Kiiza’s appeal for his passport release invokes the Passports Act, 2020 and Article 29(2)(b) of the Constitution, safeguarding freedom of movement. Collectively, these highlight the essential role of national and international legal frameworks in guiding governance and rights protection.
2. Regionally, there is evident instability, rights violations, and humanitarian crises. Chad’s suspension of visas for United States citizens in response to the Trump-era travel ban asserts sovereignty but raises non-discrimination concerns under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963). The violent death of a Kenyan blogger following assault starkly violates freedom of expression, protected under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the African Court’s ruling in Lohé Issa Konaté v. Burkina Faso (2014) affirms that criminal penalties against journalists for defamation breach this right. The World Food Programme’s alert on severe hunger in Khartoum signals a breach of the right to food under Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In Social and Economic Rights Action Center v. Nigeria (2001), the African Commission emphasized that states must protect socio-economic rights and shield citizens from third-party violations during conflict. These incidents call for stronger regional legal accountability and coordinated protection of human rights and humanitarian needs.
3. Internationally, tensions persist between state sovereignty, international legal mechanisms, and human rights. The Trump administration’s sanctions against Ugandan International Criminal Court judge Joyce Bossa and three others threaten judicial independence under the Rome Statute, raising concerns about interference with judicial processes upheld in Prosecutor v. Lubanga (International Criminal Court, 2012). China’s stance against what it terms the politicization of Myanmar’s human rights reflects the delicate balance between non-intervention and the United Nations’ rresponsibility to protect framework. Israel’s deportation of Greta Thunberg and other activists from the Gaza aid boat challenges freedom of expression and peaceful assembly under Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, paralleling issues in Jersild v. Denmark (1994) at the European Court of Human Rights. The United Nations’ report on Haiti’s record displacement reveals failure to uphold socio-economic rights—especially under Articles 6 and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—in line with obligations in Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment Number 4. These developments reveal the fragility of international legal norms amid political pressures and underscore the urgent need for commitment to the rule of law, judicial independence, and human rights protection globally.
Thank you for reading. Until next week!
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