UN human rights office shuts in Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda

After 18 years of operating in Kampala, the UN’s human rights mission will close on Saturday because the Ugandan government has ended its mandate.

Sub-offices in Gulu and Moroto, in northern Uganda, have already closed.

It comes after Uganda passed some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBT laws against the advice of local and international rights groups, including the UN.

In a statement on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said he was urging the government to ensure Uganda’s national human rights body can function effectively and independently, as the main body tasked with human rights oversight in the country.

Mr Türk said the majority of 54 NGOs that were “arbitrarily suspended” in 2021 remain closed, and Uganda’s amended computer misuse law could limit free expression even more.

He also expressed deep concern about the run-up to elections in 2026, saying human rights defenders, civil society actors and journalists in Uganda were operating in an increasingly hostile environment.

Explaining its decision to end the mandate of the UN’s human rights office earlier this year, Uganda’s foreign ministry assured the UN of its “commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights”, and the presence of “strong national human rights institutions and a vibrant civil society”.