HRW Warns Ugandan Government to Close Down All Illegal Detention Sites

In a detailed report, the HRW said that the Ugandan government should stop using the illegal detention centers as weapons against the opposition and close the centers.

The report, that featured interviews with 51 people amongst which 34 have been victims of the detention centers and have witnessed abduction has detailed how the victims were abused in the hands of the police in the period between April 2019 and November 2021.

Other people, featured in the interviews include members of parliament, opposition party members, human rights activists, diplomats and journalists.

A man featured in the interview explained how he was tortured and by internal security in a safe house in Kyengera in 2019.

“I saw three military tents and two State House pickups and three other vehicles, [full of] of victims just like me, but I didn’t know that when I was entering there. I thought it was someone’s home.” Said the man.

According to Oryem Nyeko, who is a Uganda and Tanzania researcher in the African division at the HRW, said that the Ugandan government has condoned brazen and illegal detentions by government officials.

“The Ugandan government has condoned the brazen arbitrary arrests, illegal detention, and abuse of detainees by its officials,” Oryem Nyeko said.

“The Ugandan government has condoned the brazen arbitrary arrests, illegal detention, and abuse of detainees by its officials. Urgent steps are needed to help victims, to hold abusive security agents to account, and to end this specter of impunity and injustice.” - @oryembley pic.twitter.com/0p0YgBT8Dp

— Jan Kooy (@KooyJan) March 22, 2022

 Oryem further added that the Ugandan authorities needed to stop the illegal detentions of its citizens and dismantle the detention sites.

“The Ugandan authorities, as a matter of urgency, need to reform the police and other security agencies to dismantle the structures that have enabled these horrific abuses to occur and go unpunished” Oryem added