By Vincent Nuwagaba (email the author)
First Published by Daily Monitor, Tuesday, June 21 2011
The whole of this week, various activities will be held in preparation for the UN Day in Support of Torture Victims. The Coalition against Torture, a network of human rights NGOs and individuals under the stewardship of African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), is working round the clock to have a law against torture passed by the 9th Parliament.
The Coalition against Torture was started in 2004/2005 by Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) before the mantle was passed over to ACTV. A number of human rights activists from various human rights organisations and the government human rights watchdog - the Uganda Human Rights Commission were trained as torture monitors. This means there has been a vigorous campaign against torture in Uganda by the human rights fraternity for close to a decade now.
By the time the 8th Parliament closed, there was a Bill – The Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Bill, 2009. While we were worried that since the 8th Parliament came to a close before the Bill was passed into law, we were likely to go back to square one, the Speaker of the 9th Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga gave us a ray of hope when she was hosted on NTV recently. Hon Kadaga said the Bills which were not concluded by the 8th Parliament such as the Marriage and Divorce Bill, among others, could proceed from where they stopped.
Related Stories
* This Parliament will need a lot of prayers
* Has 9th Parliament put money first and nation last?
* Fellow legislators should reject costly vehicles
* Kadaga can make or break Ninth Parliament
* Kadaga should drive critical gender issues
* It doesn’t make sense to use oil money for power dams
The United Nations Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1984, and was ratified by Uganda on June 26, 1987. Good enough, it was ratified by the National Resistance Movement. The Convention spells out clearly that no circumstances whatsoever warrant the use of torture, be it a state of emergency or war or political instability.
And I guess this is among other reasons why the framers of our Constitution made freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment an absolute right. Therefore, as we move to commemorate the UN Day in support of Torture Victims on June 26, the Ugandan Parliament is enjoined to pass a law on torture. While last year’s theme was No more impunity: Pass the Anti-torture Bill; this year’s theme is “Act Now, Criminalise Torture”.
First, since the Ugandan government ratified the UN Convention against Torture, it is enjoined to take it in good faith. It is a principle in international law that treaties, once ratified, are binding upon the parties to them and must be performed in good faith. Second, nobody is immune from torture –not even MPs or the President.
In fact, a law on torture is good for the opposition politicians, including MPs as it is good for the ruling party politicians. We wouldn’t like a situation where those currently in government are tortured when they are in the opposition tomorrow. Third, we must not mock our Constitution which provides that freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment is a non-derogable right. Thus, it is in the country’s best interest that MPs pass a law criminalising torture.
The Bill that was presented in the 8th Parliament was meticulously crafted to include various forms of torture. I must state that a threat against one person is indirectly a threat against all. Let’s remember Martin Luther King’s words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Mr Nuwagaba is a human rights defender
vnuwagaba@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment