• After 26 years of President Yoweri Museveni’s rule, ongoing threats to freedom of expression, assembly, and association continue to raise serious concerns. Security forces largely enjoy impunity for torture, extrajudicial killings, and the deaths of at least 49 people during protests in 2009 and 2011.  The government banned a political pressure group calling for peaceful change, obstructed opposition rallies, and harassed and intimidated journalists and civil society activists working on corruption, oil, land, and sexual rights. The notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill, still proposing the death penalty for some consensual same-sex activity, looms in parliament. The law criminalizing torture went into force, though challenges to prosecutions persist.

  • Authorities have failed to investigate meaningfully the deaths three years ago of at least 40 people during two days of rioting in Uganda. Some families of victims told Human Rights Watch recently that they still hope for justice.

Featured Content

Reports

Uganda

  • Apr 25, 2013
    Police and prosecutors in Uganda have turned a blind eye to the killings of at least nine people by security forces during protests in April 2011. Human Rights Watch issued a video in which relatives of the victims explain the impact on their families and their struggle to secure justice and compensation.
  • Apr 17, 2013
  • Jan 31, 2013
    A Somali woman who said she was raped by state security forces, a journalist who interviewed her, her husband, and two others who tried to assist her, have been charged with multiple crimes, including insulting a government body. They face a court hearing on February 2. The journalist is sitting in a Mogadishu prison right now. All of them – including the woman herself – could face years of prison in the war-torn city if they are convicted.
  • Dec 1, 2012
    Over a billion people — 15 percent of the world’s population — live with a disability. These numbers should confer power and authority in decision making about all aspects of their lives, including to HIV and AIDS. Yet people with disabilities have been largely ignored in the global response to HIV.
  • Nov 5, 2012
    The candidates may disagree on some human rights issues, but the next president will face challenges that transcend partisan lines.
  • Sep 25, 2012
  • Sep 11, 2012

    Governments meeting at the United Nations about the needs of women and children with disabilities should develop a clear plan of action to promote and uphold their rights. Among others steps, they should make a commitment to address the needs of women and children with disabilities through international development programs.

  • Sep 11, 2012

    There are an estimated one billion people, or 15 percent of the world’s population, living with a disability, according to the World Health Organization. Despite this, people with disabilities face barriers to inclusion and their needs are often given low priority. Women and children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to discrimination. They experience multiple discrimination—both from their disability and their age or gender. In many parts of the world, it is common practice to isolate, abuse, and deny basic human rights to these particularly vulnerable groups.

  • Sep 10, 2012
    Authorities have failed to investigate meaningfully the deaths three years ago of at least 40 people during two days of rioting in Uganda. Some families of victims told Human Rights Watch recently that they still hope for justice.
  • Sep 4, 2012
    JURIST Guest Columnist Katherine Todrys of the Health and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch recounts her experiences researching disease transmission and living standards in African prisons. She calls for sweeping criminal justice reforms to address the systemic problems of overcrowding, human rights abuses and wrongful imprisonment.