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STORY: OHCHR / UGANDA ELECTIONS
TRT: 02:38
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 3 DECEMBER 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We deplore the intensifying crackdown on the opposition and media in Uganda ahead of next month’s general election.
It is deeply regrettable that election campaigns have once again been marked by widespread arbitrary arrests, detentions and the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force against the opposition, as well as undue restriction of press freedom.
We urge the Ugandan authorities to end the pattern of repression, to cease the use of such repressive tactics, and to enable Ugandans to fully and peacefully exercise their right to participate in their country’s public affairs, on election day, and in its aftermath.
Reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as enforced disappearance, torture and other ill treatment of opposition supporters and activists have been on a steady increase over the past year, with security forces accused of using unmarked minibuses widely known as “drones” to transport people to unofficial places of detention known as “safe houses”, where they are held incommunicado. Under international law, detainees should only be held in facilities officially acknowledged as places of detention, including to prevent torture.
In May, for example, the head of the military posted on X that he was holding the bodyguard of opposition NUP’s leader in his “basement”. Following a public outcry, the bodyguard was later presented in court, visibly shaking and showing other signs of physical torture. It does not appear that the court reacted to such signs of torture or ill-treatment and there is no indication that a thorough investigation has been carried out into this case by the competent authorities.
In another recent case, two Kenyan activists who were arbitrarily detained in Uganda shortly after attending an opposition rally, were handed over to the Kenyan authorities after more than a month of incommunicado detention in what the Ugandan President called “the fridge”.
Heavily armed security forces have been deployed at locations where the opposition NUP party is scheduled to conduct rallies. Last week, they reportedly used live ammunition in the eastern town of Iganga.
We urge the Ugandan authorities to fully and impartially investigate all allegations of enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture or ill treatment, to punish those accountable and to provide full reparation to the victims. All individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty should be released.
The Ugandan authorities must halt all violence against the media and the opposition, and act fully in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law.”
In a recorded statement on 3 December 2025, UN Human rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comment on the intensifying crackdown on the opposition and the media ahead of elections in Uganda. She was speaking from Geneva, Switzerland.
“We deplore the intensifying crackdown on the opposition and media in Uganda ahead of next month’s general election.
It is deeply regrettable that election campaigns have once again been marked by widespread arbitrary arrests, detentions and the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force against the opposition, as well as undue restriction of press freedom.
We urge the Ugandan authorities to end the pattern of repression, to cease the use of such repressive tactics, and to enable Ugandans to fully and peacefully exercise their right to participate in their country’s public affairs on election day, and in its aftermath.
Reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as enforced disappearance, torture and other ill treatment of opposition supporters and activists have been on a steady increase over the past year, with security forces accused of using unmarked minibuses widely known as “drones” to transport people to unofficial places of detention known as “safe houses”, where they are held incommunicado. Under international law, detainees should only be held in facilities officially acknowledged as places of detention, including to prevent torture.
In May, for example, the head of the military posted on X that he was holding the bodyguard of opposition NUP’s leader in his “basement”. Following a public outcry, the bodyguard was later presented in court, visibly shaking and showing other signs of physical torture. It does not appear that the court reacted to such signs of torture or ill-treatment and there is no indication that a thorough investigation has been carried out into this case by the competent authorities.
In another recent case, two Kenyan activists, who were arbitrarily detained in Uganda shortly after attending an opposition rally, were handed over to the Kenyan authorities after more than a month of incommunicado detention in what the Ugandan President called “the fridge”.
Heavily armed security forces have been deployed at locations where the opposition NUP party is scheduled to conduct rallies. Last week, they reportedly used live ammunition in the eastern town of Iganga.
We urge the Ugandan authorities to fully and impartially investigate all allegations of enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture or ill treatment, to punish those accountable and to provide full reparation to the victims. All individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty should be released.
The Ugandan authorities must halt all violence against the media and the opposition, and act fully in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law.”
