Law enforcement and human rights abuse in Uganda: a case of Kampala Metropolitan Police Force

Abstract

Human rights are the basic rights of every individual irrespective of nationality, sex, ethnicity, language, religion, status or any other. Human rights embrace the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery, torture, opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Globally the idea of human rights protection emerged stronger after World War II with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN General Assembly in December 1948 (international organization and conferences series III (1949)). The declaration spells out the broad outlines of what constitutes human rights. Subsequently, the document was supplemented by other international and regional human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981) and European Convention on Human and Fundamental Rights (1950); Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (Dde Abranchies et al 1980). According to Loader (2000). The role of the police in human rights protection was highlighted in a 1999 report by the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland in which it was stated thus: "the role of the police is to help achieve the social and international order. They must, for example, uphold the laws that safeguard the lives of the citizens. There should be no conflict between policing and human rights; Policing means protecting human rights” (O’Neil, 2004- 05). Uganda’s post-independence history is characterized by several incidents of human rights violations for example unlawful or arbitrary killings by government forces, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agencies; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. A host of these violations have largely not been addressed and in some instances continue to reoccur without meaningful attempts to redress them, mainly due to lack of political will (Human Rights and Peace Centre, 2019).