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U.N. body urges Uganda to halt widespread torture
20 May 2005 16:20:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
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GENEVA, May 20 (Reuters) - A United Nations body on Friday called on Uganda to halt what human rights groups described as widespread torture by Ugandan security forces and begin prosecuting them.
In a statement, the U.N. Committee Against Torture also urged authorities to protect civilians in northern Uganda from attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army, whose rebels abduct children for use as soldiers, porters and sex slaves.
The body of 10 independent experts issued the conclusions at the end of a three-week meeting to probe compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Albania and Bahrain were also reviewed but not all the conclusions have been released.
Uganda, where violence has increased since government negotiations with rebels stalled in February, is among the 139 countries to have ratified the 1987 pact.
The U.N. body expressed concern at "continued allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in a widespread manner by the state's security forces and agencies together with the apparent impunity enjoyed by its perpetrators."
It called on Uganda to take all steps -- legislative, administrative and judicial -- "to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment in its territory".
Police should remain the primary law enforcement agency, while independent human rights' monitors should be allowed to inspect all places of detention, it added.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch and Kampala-based Foundation for Human Rights Initiative submitted a report to the U.N. body saying it had documented recent torture of "political opponents (of the government), alleged rebels and criminal suspects", often by security agencies other than regular police.
"Torture persists in Uganda because no one is investigated or punished for it," the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative said. "The use of shadowy, unofficial places of detention makes torture much more likely."
The U.N. body noted in the Uganda's delegation statement that unauthorised places of detention or "safe houses" where people have been subjected to torture by military personnel, had been outlawed.
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