The UN rights office said on Tuesday it was in discussion with Uganda over how to continue its work in the country after the government said it had to leave, a move activists say highlights the country’s deteriorating record on civil liberties.
The office was set up in 2006 and has brought to light widespread rights violations by security personnel including torture, illegal detentions and failure by the state to prosecute offenders.
Uganda told the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) last week that it would not renew the mandate of its office, effeWactively expelling the rights monitors.
“We are in discussions with the government of Uganda at the highest levels to see what can be done to continue our important work in the country,” OHCHR told Reuters in an email.
“A conversation is being scheduled between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and the President of the Republic of Uganda. The High Commissioner’s view is that there should be a UN Human Rights presence everywhere.”
The government said in a letter to OHCHR that the UN presence was no longer necessary because of the progress it had made in developing a domestic capacity to monitor human rights compliance, including the emergence of a strong civil society.
Source: SABC
In other news – Nadia Nakai makes her first public appearance since AKA’s death
Nadia Nakai has been spotted for the first time since the death of her boyfriend AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, in Durban last Friday.
The female muso appeared at a press conference in Johannesburg alongside AKA’s family. Nadia – who has been dating AKA since late 2021 – was pictured in all-black clothing. Learn more
