Background

The USA removed Uganda from its African Growth and Opportunity Act due to “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”. In April and June respectively, the UK and US governments sanctioned Uganda’s parliamentary speaker, her husband and several other officials over allegations of corruption and serious human rights abuses. On 21 September, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of President Yoweri Museveni and the head of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), announced that he would not run in the 2026 presidential elections.

Excessive and unnecessary use of force

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) continued to use excessive and unnecessary force to prevent the Benet Indigenous People from accessing their ancestral land in the Mount Elgon forest.

UWA officers shot at least three Benet People in the Bukwo district, killing two children. On 28 May, Kibet Silas Rukut was shot in the leg at his home because, according to him, he had refused to remove his cows from his compound when the UWA officer claimed the cattle were in the Mount Elgon National Park (a disputed area). Kibet Silas Rukut reported the incident to Bukwo police station.

According to community leaders, 16-year-old Marko Kipsang was shot dead on 4 June as he harvested grass inside the forest. The community marched to the Resident District Commissioner’s office in protest but were told to await investigations into the incident.

On 6 September an officer shot dead 13-year-old Sukuku Emmanuel Joshua. Community leaders reported that the boy was killed in his village, not inside the forest as UWA officials claimed. A post-mortem at Bukwo General Hospital recovered the bullet from his body, and the UWA paid his family UGX 5 million (about USD 1,350) for burial expenses.

The authorities did not disclose information about investigations into these incidents.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

On 16 November, Ugandan state agents abducted Kizza Besigye, Ugandan opposition politician and former presidential candidate for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), in Nairobi, Kenya. Kizza Besigye was arraigned in a military court in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on 20 November and charged with offences relating to security and the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, despite a 2022 Constitutional Court decision that military courts lack jurisdiction to try civilians. Earlier, on 23 July, 36 members of the FDC had been arrested in Kisumu, Kenya, and forcibly deported to Uganda where they were charged with terrorism offences despite lawfully entering Kenya with the necessary immigration permissions.

Freedom of expression

On 19 February, police arrested and charged Ibrahim Musana, a social media activist also known as “Pressure Pressure”, with defamation, promoting hate speech and incitement to violence. They accused him of spreading malicious information and using his social media platforms to attack the Kabaka (the king of the Kingdom of Buganda, a constitutional kingdom in Uganda) and other officials, including the prime minister, of Buganda. He was released from prison by a court on cash bail of UGX 2 million (about USD 542) on 29 April and barred from mentioning on social media the Kabaka, President Museveni, the parliamentary speaker or the government minister Joyce Sebugwawo while the case was pending.

On 6 April the Special Forces Command, a component of the UPDF tasked with carrying out emergency military responses, arrested eight musicians who were overheard during a public event complaining that a speech by the president was too long. They were taken to Kampala Central Police Station and charged with “insulting” the president and released on bail two days later.

On 10 July a court in Mukono, central Uganda, jailed Edward Awebwa for six years under the Computer Misuse Act, 2011 for spreading “malicious information” and “hate speech” against President Museveni, the First Lady and Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson stated that Edward Awebwa had shared videos between February and March that mocked the president. The language used in his posts did not appear to amount to hate speech.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

On 20 February, environmental activists Bintomkwanga Raymond, Kibuuka Azilu, Katiti Noah, Namara Hosea and Ndyamwesiga Desire protested next to parliament against the planned construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) which is set to pass through Bugoma, a protected forest area, (see below, Right to a healthy environment). They carried a banner saying “Save Bugoma Forest. Parliament must ask cabinet to release the Bugoma Demarcation Report, forests are lungs to the world”. The police arrested them on charges of “common nuisance” and causing “unnecessary chaos and [a] breach of [the] peace by inconveniencing” MPs and other parliamentary staff.

On 23 July, President Museveni warned that anti-government protests would not be tolerated. The next day, police raided the headquarters of the National Unity Platform opposition party ahead of its planned protests, in what they called a “precautionary move”.

Between 22 and 25 July, police arrested and detained 104 young protesters during anti-corruption protests in Kampala and other towns, following mounting allegations of widespread government corruption, especially against MPs, including the parliamentary speaker. They were released on police bond on various dates.

On 2 September, police arrested Norah Kobusingye, Praise Aloikin Opoloje and Kemitoma Kyenzibo as they approached parliament staging a nude protest against corruption. They were arraigned in Buganda Road Court, charged with “common nuisance contrary to section 148(1) of the Penal Code Act” and remanded until 12 September when the court freed them on non-cash bail.

Freedom of association

On 15 July, President Museveni signed the NGO (Amendment) Act, 2024 into law, paving the way for the dissolution of the NGO Bureau, a semi-autonomous body under the Ministry of Internal Affairs that regulated and oversaw NGO operations. The bureau was re-established as a department within the same ministry, signalling a move towards centralized decision making, control and increased government oversight of NGO affairs.

LGBTI people’s rights

On 3 April, the Constitutional Court failed to repeal the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, opting only to revoke parts of the Act that contravened the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. The court nullified: Section 3(2)(c), that had imposed the death penalty on a convicted person where “the person against whom the offence is committed contracts a terminal illness as a result of the sexual act”; Section 9, where a person “knowingly [allows] any premises to be used… for purposes of homosexuality or to commit an offence under this Act… is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years”; Section 11(2)(d) that carried a punishment of up to 20 years’ imprisonment against a person who “knowingly leases or subleases, uses or allows another person to use any house, building or establishment for the purpose of undertaking activities that encourage homosexuality”; and Section 14, which obliged people “to report acts of homosexuality”. The court upheld provisions in the law that discriminate against LGBTI people and carry harsh penalties, including the death penalty, for “aggravated homosexuality” and up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the “promotion of homosexuality”. Twenty-two petitioners had appealed the ruling before the Supreme Court by the end of the year.

Right to housing

On 12 January, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials, with the agreement of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and backed by police, conducted a night-time armed raid on the Katwe slums in Kampala, arresting 773 children and 142 women from the Indigenous Karamojong community. The children were taken to the Masulita Children’s Village, a children’s home run by the Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans in Wakiso district. According to KCCA, the raid was carried out to remove homeless people from Kampala’s streets in preparation for the Group of 77 (G77) summit and another international conference, the Non-Aligned Movement summit. No alternative accommodation was provided for the families.

Children’s rights

Some Karamojong parents reported to a local children’s rights organization that their children suffered physical or mental harm from the raids and arrests in the Katwe slums in January (see above). The organization recorded the names of at least 500 children who were not traceable among the hundreds taken to the Masulita Children’s Village, and who remained missing at the end of the year. It linked the arrests to child trafficking that it said was supported by the state.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, reported that Uganda hosted 1,796,609 refugees and asylum seekers by the end of 2024. New arrivals continued to enter the country during the year, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan. As of 30 September, UNHCR had received only around 42% of its USD 363.4 million funding requirement for Uganda, leaving it with a deficit of more than USD 212 million.

Right to a healthy environment

EACOP Ltd continued the construction of a 1,443km underground fossil fuel pipeline to be used to transport crude oil from Kabale town in the Hoima district of western Uganda to Tanzania’s Tanga Port. The construction led to displacements and risked causing serious environmental degradation. The pipeline project counters global efforts to cut carbon emissions (see Tanzania entry). The pipeline will pass through human settlements and wildlife areas, agricultural land and water sources.