Civil Society organization, DefendDefenders has urged the government to speed up legislation on the recognition and protection of Human Rights Defenders in the country.
The proposed Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill of 2020 is before parliament. The Policy of the Bill is to provide a framework for the recognition and protection of the work and activities of Human rights defenders in order to guarantee a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders to freely operate.
Speaking at a refugees protection stakeholders meeting last week, DefendDefenders Executive Director, Hassan Shire underscored the need for human rights defenders to be protected against violations and political persecution.
“A specific protection for their (human rights defenders) work, the law had progressed in the previous parliament before it was dissolved, but the process has been restarted. Many countries in West Africa have devised specific laws and policies to protect human rights defenders, therefore we urge Uganda to do the same,” he noted.
During the same meeting, Shire called upon government, refugee-rights civil society organizations and development partners to review and rethink the current refugee protection policies to better protect human rights defenders exiled in the country.
Shire noted that while Uganda must be credited for having some of the most favorable refugee-hosting policies in the world, there remains a lot to be done to ensure that exiled human rights defenders process and obtain requisite documentation in a fast and efficient manner to facilitate their transition to safety.
“For example, two asylum applications for human rights defenders recognized as refugees in Tanzania were rejected by the Office of the Prime Minister’s Directorate of refugees. In such cases, human rights defenders remain in limbo as their status is not clearly defined,” he remarked.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the resultant economic crisis has increased the scope of work for human rights defenders living in exile as refugees and asylum seekers, which has in turn increased their insecurity and vulnerability to rights abuses.
Uganda remains Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country, with an estimated total of more than 1.5 million refugees and asylum seekers.
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