Association
On 3rd January 2024, two assailants on a motorcycle stabbed LGBTQ activist Steven Kabuye - who leads the advocacy group Colored Voice Truth to LGBTQ - in his right arm and stomach. Kabuye suffered injuries after the assailants left him for dead after the attack. He received treatment at a hospital in the outskirts of Kampala. Prior to this, he had received death threats and relocated to Kenya in March 2023 following an attack on one of the group's members.
On 21st March 2024, a court rejected a petition from Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) - an organisation advocating for the rights of LGBTQ individuals - to register its name. The court asserted that the organisation's name is against the "public interest." This marked a decade-long legal battle since SMUG's initial petition. The organisation first sought registration nearly ten years ago after facing refusal from the government registrar in 2015. This decision means that SMUG, which failed to register with the NGO Bureau, remains unable to operate legally.
Peaceful Assembly
In January 2024, Ugandan police surrounded the residence of opposition leader Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, and placed him under house arrest ahead of planned protests over road conditions, coinciding with global summits. In a similar incident, authorities placed Dr Kizza Besigye, the former presidential candidate from the Forum for Democratic Change opposition party, under house arrest, citing preventive measures in accordance with a police mandate on the same day. The police spokesman confirmed the security deployment at both locations, citing the need to avoid instigating unlawful assemblies and political demonstrations.
Expression
On 5th October 2023, law enforcement officers arrested 14 journalists, including Joseph Balikuddembe, Julius Kitone and Isano Francis, as they covered the return to Uganda of opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) President Bobi Wine, in a march called “One Million March”. The officers physically assaulted the journalists, confiscated their equipment and transported them to Entebbe Police Station. One of the journalists, Joseph Balikuddembe, sustained head and eye injuries during the incident.
On 20th March 2024, in the sidelines of the 'Uganda Parliament Exhibition,' a campaign to expose rampant corruption and abuse of power within Parliament was held online. Jim Spire, one of the initiators of the campaign, received death threats and was under surveillance. Parliament allegedly sought access to his communication records through the Uganda Communication Commission. In the past, Spire has led various social media campaigns, shedding light on critical issues such as infrastructure deficiencies, healthcare shortcomings, civil society concerns, and abuse of office within Parliament.