LONDON - Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has come under attack from campaigners and activists for forcing the closure of the UN human rights office in the country, writes the London Guardian.
The head office in the capital, Kampala, closed at the weekend.Two field offices, in Gulu and Moroto, had already ceased operating over the summer, after the government’s decision not to renew a host agreement allowing the agency to operate.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, announced the closures with “regret” and said the agency had worked for 18 years in Uganda for “the promotion and protection of the human rights of all Ugandans."
The move comes amid concerns over human rights violations and the recently signed anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for some homosexual acts. T
ürk expressed particular concern about the human rights situation in Uganda ahead of the 2026 elections in which Museveni is expected to run, given the “increasingly hostile environment” in which activists and journalists are operating.
Most of the 54 non-governmental organisations whose work in Uganda was arbitrarily suspended in August 2021 also remain closed.
On 26 July, a UN report expressed concerns about persistent reports of arbitrary arrest and detention of political opponents, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in Uganda, as well as persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Human rights and advocacy groups in the country have called the government’s decision to shut the offices “shameful”.
