KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), known as the UN Human Rights Office, has ceased all operations in Uganda and exited the country.
OHCHR, a department of the United Nations Secretariat, is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the United Nations and in international human rights laws and treaties.
On February 6, 2023, Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry informed the OHCHR Uganda country office that it would not renew its agreement to host the UN entity beyond its current three-year term ending in February 2023.
In response to this decision, the UN Human Rights Office announced its closure and stated that it had made the necessary arrangements to conclude its presence in Uganda by August 5, 2023.
During a stocktaking meeting with UN human rights partners at Ndere Recreation Centre in Ntinda, Kampala, Ms Ruth Ssekindi, the director for monitoring and inspections at the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) who represented the commission chairperson, Mariam Wangadya expressed gratitude for the longstanding partnership and friendship between UHRC and OHCHR, highlighting the latter’s professionalism, dedication, and collegiality over the years.
Ms Ssekindi noted that OHCHR had been invited to Uganda at a critical time when the country was recovering from the effects of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war, and their collaboration had been invaluable.
She also acknowledged the challenging nature of human rights work, emphasizing that the field has grown increasingly complex, requiring continuous knowledge upgrading.
Ssekindi credited OHCHR for their assistance in enhancing the capacity of UHRC staff in addressing emerging human rights issues.
The UN Human Rights office was initially established in Uganda in 2006, with the initial mandate focused on the human rights situation in the conflict-affected areas of Northern and North-Eastern Uganda. However, it was renewed in 2009 and expanded to cover the entire country and all human rights issues.
In February 2020, the mandate for the Office was further expanded to include the establishment of a Regional Human Rights Training Centre in Uganda; to provide training activities on the international human rights system for Government officials of interested States in the region, as well as national human rights institutions and civil society organizations.
The office was in the spotlight in the aftermath of the 2021 general election when military and police personnel clashed with a team of supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) who were presenting a petition to the office over human rights violations in the country. Several journalists were beaten and injured during the scuffle that ensued.
The office has been in talks with the Government of Uganda about the modalities of a continued presence in the country.
On January 4, 2023, the office sent to the permanent mission of the Republic of Uganda to the United Nations Office in Geneva an application for the renewal of the Host Country Agreement between the Government of Uganda and OHCHR.
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