Uganda Human Rights Commission (Uganda)

Within the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), I have specifically been assigned to the "Legal and Tribunals Directorate", headed by Christine Birabwa Nsubuga. Under Mrs Nsubuga's supervision, my initial brief was to complete a comparative analysis of the UHRC's legal framework with those of other national human rights commissions. More specifically, the aim was to  determine how provisions of the UHRC Act could be buttressed using provisions relating to human rights commissions in Ghana, India, South Africa, Malawi, and Canada. This was a refinement of research and recommendations made by the Africa Human Rights Working Group (University of Toronto).

I used the initial report by the U of T Working Group as a broad parameter within which to assess the legal challenges faced by the UHRC. I particularly applied perspectives from Mrs Nsubuga and other UHRC staff towards refining many of the initial views and recommendations of the Group, and vice versa. I also benefited immensely from a two day symposium organized by the Legal and Tribunals Directorate, during which the staff of the Directorate (from both the UHRC headquarters and field offices) had some useful exchanges on the challenges they faced in executing their duties.  I have since incorporated these "on the ground" views, as well as those from the U of T Working Group, into a more comprehensive draft report which was submitted to Mrs Nsubuga. I intend to complete the final report upon receiving her opinion on the draft.

In the interim, I have been asked to give well researched legal briefs on a number of complaints (regarding human rights violations) presently before the UHRC. I hope to complete this task in a week's time.