Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the government of Uganda to immediately reverse its decision to end the mandate of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the country.

Development Diaries reports that Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, on 06 February,  informed the OHCHR Uganda country office that it would not renew its agreement to host the UN entity beyond its current three-year term ending in February 2023.

In a letter to the UN human rights office in Kampala, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said it made the decision because of the government’s own ‘commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights’, and the existence of ‘strong national human rights institutions and a vibrant civil society’.

But the rights organisation, in a statement, urged UN member countries to press the Ugandan government to reverse its decision to close the UN office.

‘Shutting down the UN human rights office is just the latest government action to stifle those working to promote respect for human rights in Uganda’, Researcher at HRW, Oryem Nyeko, said.

‘Instead of removing another critical voice from the human rights ecosystem, Ugandan authorities should create an enabling environment for rights advocates to work’.

The UN human rights office plays a critical role in Uganda by supporting both civil society groups and the government to promote human rights.

‘The Uganda government has not only shown little commitment to addressing the country’s deteriorating human rights situation, but has increased repression of human rights groups,” Nyeko added.

‘Concerned UN member states should press Uganda to constructively engage with all UN human rights mechanisms and put in place measures to allow rights groups to work freely without fear’.

OHCHR has the mandate to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realisation, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the United Nations and in international human rights laws and treaties.

Source: HRW

Photo source: Nina R