Police tops list of human rights offenders as Human rights commissions awards 500M to Victims

Over 500 million Shillings was awarded to individuals who suffered human rights violations in the hands of government entities last year, the 2015 Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) report shows.

The report released last week indicates that a total of 579 million Shillings was awarded to victims of violations such as torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the violation of the right to life during the year. The awards followed investigations conducted by the human rights tribunal across the country.

Of this amount, 520 million Shillings was awarded by order of the tribunal while 59 million Shillings was agreed upon by the parties amicably.

"The amount of awards has gone down from 1.1 trillion Shillings awarded in 2014. However, this is because the tribunal hearings were conducted for only three months in 2015 compared to ten months in 2014," Medi Kaggwa, the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission says.

Kaggwa adds that the highest awards were against Uganda Police, amounting to 219 million Shillings on grounds of 35 cases of rights violations. It was followed by the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) with 179 million Shillings and Rapid Response Unit/Violent Crime Crack Unit with 70 million Shillings.

The highest awards by order of the tribunal were made in respect of violation of the freedom from torture at 245 million Shillings, followed by the violation of the right to life at 153 million Shillings and violation of the right to personal liberty amounting to 107 million Shillings.

The report also points out that the Ministry of Justice is yet to pay out awards totaling five billion Shillings accrued before 2012.

"Although the Ministry of Justice has argued that this is mainly due to limited budgetary allocations, UHRC has realized that the delay is sometimes caused by the bureaucratic processes that require the respective state attorney to form the first opinion on whether to appeal or clear payment of the award. This has caused untold delays," Kaggwa laments.

Responding to the report, Fred Enanga, Police spokesperson told URN on phone that the institution's legal department is still studying the concerns raised and will make a comprehensive report thereafter.

-URN