Uganda: Claiming Spaces, Tactical Tools for Human Rights Defenders
7 December 2020
In commemoration of International Human Rights Defenders’ Day and Human Rights Day celebrated
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In commemoration of International Human Rights Defenders’ Day and Human Rights Day celebrated
Karis Moses Oteba is DefendDefenders’ Protection Officer and Well-being Lead, promoting self-care and effective stress management amongst human rights defenders. He started defending human rights at the early age of 11, as a member of the children’s parliament, convened to listen to the views of children concerning Uganda’s 1997 Children’s Act.
In March 2020, Uganda’s Constitutional Court nullified the Public Order Management Act, 2013, a law that made arbitrary restrictions on freedom of assembly possible. One of the people behind the successful petition of POMA is Onyango Owor, a Ugandan lawyer with 15 years of experience in representing human rights defenders.
February was a hectic month for DefendDefenders with many progressive endeavours. As we continued to monitor the situation for human rights defenders (HRDs) in the East and Horn of Africa sub-region, we particularly followed the progressive, yet fragile, developments in South Sudan.
DefendDefenders joins civil society organisations in calling on the UN Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders.
Dear friends and colleagues, 2020 is an auspicious year for
Today, DefendDefenders and Goldsmiths University London launched a policy brief
Brenda Kugonza has fought for women’s rights in Uganda for more than 13 years, and is currently the Executive Director of Women Human Rights Defenders Network-Uganda (WHRDN-U). “As a defender, you lose friends and family members – they don’t want to be associated with someone who brings them shame. We are viewed as women with bad manners and I struggle daily with discrimination,” she affirms.
In its bi-annual report to the African Commission on Human
1. On 12 September 2019, DefendDefenders (the East and
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