GENERAL
Uganda continues to witness unprecedented levels of human rights violations and erosion of rule of law in the country. This is characterised by attacks on civil society, arrest of human rights defenders and journalists, closure of media houses, arbitrary arrest of political opposition, and torture or other ill-treatment of critical and independent voices. There is increasing involvement of the military in functions carried out by civilian institutions. Dissent is criminalised and those who dare to speak up against the violations are silenced. Due to the highly restrictive operating environment, there is a climate of fear throughout the country. According to the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, since the January 2026 elections, at least 50 opposition leaders and supporters, five human rights defenders and five journalists have been subjected to human rights violations including enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention.
Association
On 16th July 2026 during a Parliamentary sitting, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja was tasked to explain why the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) and 10 other civil society organisations remained suspended. Ahead of the January 2026 elections, the National Bureau for Non Governmental Organisations Bureau (NGO Bureau) suspended the operations of 10 civil society organisations and froze their bank accounts. Nabbanja responded, noting that the organisations were closed because they had become partisan during the January 2026 general elections. She advised the legislators to put their concerns in writing for easier follow up. Separately, 31 civil society organisations petitioned the Speaker of Parliament in a petition dated 3rd August, seeking immediate parliamentary intervention on the suspended organisations and the failure to lawfully constitute the NGO Bureau.
Opposition figures, and their lawyers, continue to face the full wrath of the government’s authoritarianism, with Kizza Besigye remaining in detention since his abduction from Nairobi in November 2024. In June 2026, his lawyer, Erias Lukwago, was arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured, and afterwards charged with treason-related offences. Kenya’s former Minister of Justice, Martha Karua, who was travelling to observe Lukwago’s bail ruling on 22nd June, was also arbitrarily arrested and held in incommunicado detention at Entebbe International Airport before being forcefully deported back to Nairobi.
On 28th June 2026, Dr. Sarah Bireete was abducted for approximately three hours and subsequently released without explanation. This abduction was preceded by two separate military raids on her home, first on 28th December 2025, and then again on 25th June 2026. Front Line Defenders believes these acts are directly linked to her legitimate and peaceful human rights work.
Peaceful Assembly
Environmental defenders Ssembalirwa Aniwaly, Mugoya Hassan, Okanya Ivan and Ariong Arone Patrick, members of a youth-led movement Rooted in Resistance, advocating for greater accountability of Uganda’s natural resources and for environmental protection, were arrested and detained on 10th August 2026.
The four human rights defenders were arrested while peacefully marching along King George Way in central Kampala towards Parliament, to submit a petition calling for a new economic model centred on economic freedom and broad-based prosperity for Ugandans from the country’s oil resources. They were reportedly wearing orange T-shirts bearing the words "Rooted in Resistance" and carrying placards. The police intercepted and arrested them and took them to the Central Police Station in Kampala. They were subsequently brought before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kampala, before a Grade One Magistrate, where they pleaded not guilty to charges of public/common nuisance for allegedly disrupting traffic and creating road hazards under the Road Act, Cap. 346 .
On 10th August 2026, they were detained at Luzira Maximum Security Prison pending their hearing.