I cry for this country, cry for my justice, cry thinking of what the world speaks about humanity, this is too much, is all she whispered in my drum.
Hiding my fears as I enclasped my recorder, the already vapid 32-year-old Kaka torture victim gave away her right to breathe as she narrated her ordeal shuttered with threats for life in her long time search for justice.
With scars tailored to match her tormentors’ preference, giving the 32-year-old sleepless nights, miss courage and a ruptured uterus that could never carry a child again was never enough to seek justice in her country.
Her story, not new, however, reflected also the many lives of Ugandans including the 51 torture victims (34 former detainees and witnesses) interviewed by the Human Rights Watch and whose statements of I will kill you, you will die are still part and partial of their lives even after wanting to or giving up on justice.
A report that was released by the Human Right Watch March 2022, dubbed “I only need justice” reveals how with all law instruments and structures in existence, and a few bold torture victims willing to seek justice, hundreds of Uganda torture victims have continued to suffer and live in fear as their perpetrators have ever been held accountable for their crime.
According to the report, legal structures continue to take the perpetrators of crime with high regard borrowing the not so deterrent instrument like the Police Professional Standards Unit that continue that advocate for punishments such as suspension, demotion, and even transfer instead of the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act 2012 which provides for more strict measures.
The over 93 document includes information related to the torture victims related to enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests, unlawful dentations, torture, and ill-treatment by the Uganda police, army, military intelligence, and ISO officials (Kaka Bagyenda the then director) around the period 2018 and 2021 including the general elections and solutions on what needs to be done.
In an exclusive interview with Daparrot Oryem Nyeko, the researcher and author of the report said how long could they wait, Ugandans couldn’t continue to live in that manner and that it was high time that the government gave human rights and these victims an ear.
For Nyeko, leaders ignoring human rights was not sustainable, especially when advocating for a peaceful country or else risk explosion.
He, therefore, noted that the report aimed at engaging all stakeholders including Ugandans international partners to hold perpetrators of such crimes and atrocities accountable and closing unlawful detention centers through increased pressure and advocacy for human rights.
Executive director African center for torture victims Samuel Nsubugga also noted that there has been an increase in torture victims however with a decrease in the number of those who need to seek justice after treatment and rehabilitation
Nsubugga also owed it to the gaps in law enforcement, limited resources in terms of finance, and humans that leave victims at risk in an attempt to seek justice.
“for the survives to speak out in court and on camera, we need to have the witness bill enacted into a law, agencies be trained in detective work, forensic science, and DPP office increased in human resource since many lawyers have joined judiciary and its only institution that deals with criminality,” he said.
He adds that the state needed also to increase the health sector budget to enable the provision of equitable habitation centers (currently one with few branches), support civil societies in medical record documentation, train doctors and legal practitioners to be able to identify and document torture cases and also allow access to detention centers whose only right remains with the human rights commission though the previous evaluation on the training given to the security personal many revealed how hard it was to practice human rights as they were literally operating from orders, there has been increased awareness about the need to observe human rights, Merita Mugusha from Human Rights Center
She notes that if the notch is taken higher they might be even a change in lack of trust and confidence for the victims to seek justice, corruption, and impunity among other defects that hinder justice for all Ugandans.
