The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) serves to monitor and advance

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. The UHRC is a body established under the 1995 Constitution Article 51 under the Bill of Rights found in Chapter four of the Constitution. It is based on the Paris Principles which are the guidelines for the establishment of a

national human rights institution A national human rights institution (NHRI) is an independent state-based institution with the responsibility to broadly protect and promote human rights in a given country. The growth of such bodies has been encouraged by the Office of the United ...

. Its mandate is spelled out in Article 52 of the Constitution.

Location

The national headquarters of UHRC are located at 4929 Buganda Road, on Nakasero Hill, in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city.

Composition

The Commission is composed of a Chairperson, and not less than three other persons, appointed by the President with the approval of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. As of 2009, there were seven commissioners. The Chairperson at that time was the late Meddie Kaggwa (1955–2019). Members of the Commission have to be persons of high moral character and proven integrity. They serve for a period of six years and are eligible for re-appointment.

Commission chairpersons

The late Meddie Ssozi Kaggwa, replaced Margaret Sekaggya in 2009. As of November 2019, the position of Chairman is vacant, following the death of Kaggwa, on 20 November 2019.

International status

The UHRC is accredited with "A status" by the

International Co-ordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), formerly known (prior to 2016) as the 'International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions' (sometimes shortened to the International Coordinating Committee ...

(ICC), giving it enhanced access to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

human rights system. It is also a member of the

Network of African National Human Rights Institutions The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) is one of four regional groupings within the global network, the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI). NANHRI promotes the establishment of national hum ...

References

External links

Uganda Human Rights Commission Webpage
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The role of the Uganda Human Rights Commission in promoting civic education: A case study of Mbarara and Moroto Districts
Thesis for the partial fulfilment of requirements for

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree at

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

. Author: Okwong, Dorothy. Date:November 2012. {{Authority control Human rights organisations based in Uganda National human rights institutions 1995 establishments in Uganda Organizations established in 1995