Despite the fact that Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the UN day in support of torture victims, all is not rosy. Reports from the media and several human rights organizations have documented that torture goes on in several places in Uganda particularly in the infamous “safe houses” and other places of detention.  

The recent damning report of Human Rights watch put the Uganda police and the UPDF in the spot light as having perpetrated torture in their places of detention, an allegation that was vehemently denied by the army and defence spokesperson.

These reports are further corroborated by the annual reports of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), which in its role as a judicial tribunal has awarded damages to several individuals who have been subject to torture either at the hands of private individuals or security operatives.

Uganda is a signatory to several human rights instruments including the UN convention against torture, (UNCAT) and our 1995 constitution under article 24 states that no person shall be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Why  does torture go on unabetted in several places yet the country has the legal framework to curb the same.

Most perpetrators of torture especially from the security agencies have either gone scot free or the public has not been informed about their fate.Individuals who carry out acts of torture should be held personally liable. Damages that are payable to aggrieved parties should either accrue from their salaries or their (attached) property even if they belong to security agencies. Torture must not be taken lightly since  it remains  one of the most archaic and barbaric ways of subjecting a fellow human being to the worst form degradation and inhuman treatment.

The law needs to address issues touching on command responsibility, such that it is not only the small fish that is those who carry out the acts  that are  netted but also several other high ranking officers  who issue orders to have people tortured without their direct participation.

This should not however leave out the individuals, who carry out acts of torture in their private capacity especially acts like corporal punishment in homes and schools, practices like female genital mutilation, domestic violence and a whole range of activities that are often carried out in ignorance but constitute torture both physical and psychological. With the law in place, the role of civil society including NGOS and the media would be to disseminate the information about the law and its sanctions  to the public such that no one in the end pleads ignorance.

The now professionalized army and police force then need to make the idea of ending torture part of their training and curriculum and find alternative means of getting information from alleged criminals and suspects, the 21^st century with its technologies and digital age offers great alternatives, the budget allocations can always cater for the same to save many Ugandans the horror of being subjected to barbaric methods.

It is  high time we realized that human life is so sacred and that it should not be compromised. Where there are alternatives, in an era where global trends are pointing towards ending impunity and leaning towards greater human rights protection, Uganda needs to embrace the same by enacting a law specifically criminalizing torture. Parliament needs to take the lead.

By Stephen Tumwesigye

Ugandan based Human Rights Activist.