The year 2024 manifested a mixed card of progresses and digressions in as far as aspects affecting civic space were concerned according a report published by National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Uganda.
The Coalition’s Executive Director, Bob Kirenga said the 2024 civic space index report offers a critical reflection on how Uganda’s civic environment has evolved over the past year and what this means for the future of citizen engagement, democratic governance, and human rights protection.
Kirenga noted that civic space as an environment that enables civil society to play a role in the political, economic and social life of our societies.
“It allows individuals and groups to contribute to policy-making that affects their lives, through: accessing information, engaging in dialogue, expressing dissent or disagreement, and joining together to express their views.” said Kirenga.
Excerpts from the report
The report said a number of laudable steps were taken by the government of Uganda at various levels with positive effects on the guaranteeing of a conducive civic space. It however noted that in the same measure, also noticeable were actions and omissions evident within the country that negatively impacted on civic space.
The report says there was an increased clamp down on citizenry demands for environmentally compliant extractives models.
The report further states that the year 2024 was also characterized by a sharp contestation between the government and citizens over the climate and environmental effects of the extractives industry in Uganda-more specifically, oil in the Albertine (Lake Albert region).
A number of Ugandan mainly young people have been arrested by the police sans state security operatives while demonstrating against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project as well other oil and gas developments in the Albertine. This matter came up at the just concluded third national civil society conference on oil and gas.
“In particular, in August 2024, Uganda saw a substantial intensification in government actions against human rights defenders opposed to the country’s oil development projects. Available data reveals that at least 72 individual activists including mainly students were arrested in August alone as bringing the total detentions since May, 2024 to 81 arrests”
It says on August 26, for instance, 21 activists were arrested during a march aimed at delivering a petition against EACOP, while earlier in August, 47 protesting students were taken into custody.
“These arrests were clad in intimidation tactics, against HRDs and generally civil society in advocating for human rights and environmental protection in light of the substantial risks posed by these oil initiatives”
According to the report, the he protests were predominantly focused against across-the-board oil projects, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Kingfisher and Tilenga sites, which are developed by major corporations such as TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).
It states that despite the primarily nonviolent nature of these demonstrations, the Ugandan government through the police and military responded with violence and repression.
“In 2024, climate change and environmental protection activists faced severe reprisals, including judicial harassment, threats, and even torture. Thus, the quest for the protection of the environment by HRDs remained contentious, and saw the escalation of repression and restricting of civic space for HRDs and civil society organizations especially those operational in environment and oil exploration.”
The rise rise of ‘drone’ arrests and subsequent disappearances of the arrested
From the report, in 2024, political participation of some sections of the public continued to be costly considering the extreme state repression visited on them through the security agencies. “In particular, and more prominently featuring as victims to this scourge were the supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) that alleges that over 100 of their supporters were being held incommunicado in 2024 and before” it states.
The 54-page report produced with funding from the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida) is titled” Citizenry perspectives on the trends, patterns and prospects on civic engagement landscape in Uganda” It says the the state of affairs underscored a climate of fear perpetuated by the government through the systematic arrests and abductions geared towards dissenters.
It notes that allegations of torture of those arrested, use of violence and brute against them while in detention were also prominent features of 2024 painting a grim picture of the state of protection a promotion of legal norms and basic human rights owed to every human and more so those alleged to be in conflict with the law.
“This environment of intimidation, it emerged, is exacerbated by reports of government officials attempting to compromise those in custody, cultivating a narrative of fear intended to deter further opposition. The persistence of these tactics was indicative of the control of civic space and diminishing and discouraging political engagement including halting opposition members of parliament from holding lawful meetings” it says.
