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| HRNJ-U NATIONAL COORDINATOR MR ROBERT SEMPALA AND MS MARGARET SEKAGGYA THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE UGANDA AT THE MEDIA SYMPOSIUM. |
The Situation of human rights
defenders in Uganda: Challenges and Opportunities for Journalists
Ms.
Margaret Sekaggya
Executive
Director,
Human
Rights Centre-Uganda
Kampala
Can journalists be human rights
defenders? The answer to that question is yes. So what is a Human Rights
Defender whose profession is in journalism?Human Rights Defenders are
individuals who make it their job to investigate, expose and publicize ongoing
human rights issues, and this is what many journalists in Uganda have been
doing.
Legal framework
It
is important to note that there are legal provisions which protect journalists as
human rights defenders. Under article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, it is stated that everyone
has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Under Article 6 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, everyone has
the right to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human
rights and fundamental freedoms. The right to freedom of expression and the
media is also contained in Article 29(1) (a) of the Constitution of the
Republic of Uganda, 1995.
Under
article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
right to freedom of opinion and expression allows for the right to hold opinions
without interference, the right to seek and receive information and the right to
impart information and ideas of all kinds– either orally, in writing or in
print, in the form of art, or through any other media of one’s choice.
The
right to freedom of opinion and expression imposes legal obligations upon
Governments such as respecting rights and refraining from interfering with those
rights. Governments are also obliged to protect
that right or to exercise due diligence in order to prevent, punish,
investigate and provide redress for harm caused by private persons or entities. And
governments are also supposed to take the necessary measures to ensure the full
realization of these rights.
The role of journalists in human rights
Journalists
can play an important role in promoting and protecting rights, through their
right to freedom of opinion and expression. This has been done by combating
violations such as impunity and corruption, among other violations. In Uganda
journalists have reported on numerous violations such as police brutality,
graft, poor quality of social services, poor welfare of
civil servants, discrimination, environmental degradation, and exploitation
among other things. This has compelled the authorities to take the necessary
steps to address the aforementioned by prosecuting protagonists. Journalists’
role of informing citizens about public officials can enable the latter to
participate in political affairs by allowing them to take decisions; exercise
their political right to elect and be elected; challenge or influence public
policies; monitor the quality of public spending; and promote accountability.
All of this, in turn, makes it possible to establish controls to prevent the
abuse of power.
Journalists’
work is unique because they can take advantage of their work to advocate for empowering people and this empowerment
is a multi-dimensional social and political process which can help people gain
control over their own lives. This can only be achieved through access to
accurate, fair and unbiased information, representing a plurality of opinions,
and the means to actively communicate vertically and horizontally, thereby
participating in the active life of the community.
For journalists’ rights to be realized
it is important that they Therefore journalists must stand together and agitate
for a political environment which tolerates freedom of expression and the right
to work. For this to happen there has to be political will to support and
protect the aforementioned rights. In the same spirit, journalists will have to
adhere to the highest ethical and professional standards if freedom of
expression is to be realized.
Challenges
Despite
the existing legal frameworks which are supposed to promote and protect the
rights of journalists, they
have experienced many challenges in Uganda and other parts of the world, such
as closure of media houses such as the Daily
Monitor and Red Pepper;assaults
for carrying out their work, legislations passed restricting their freedoms.
The
Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights defenders has reported that journalists and media workers have been targeted because of their reports on
human rights violations or because they have been witness to human rights
violations. Many journalists have exposed violations in armed conflicts,
post-conflict situations and situations of unrest in connection with a coup
d’état or contested elections. In many countries, legal frameworks are used to
restrict journalists’ and media workers’ activities. These restrictions have
the potential to promote impunity, intimidation, stigmatization, violence and
self-censorship. In Uganda this has been manifested by police and district
internal security officials among others silencing the media or calling
journalists and warning them about consequences of reporting on a particular story.
According to the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, journalists’
work has been compromised in a number of countries under legislation
relating to national security and under the criminal code; this has also
affected social media and other communications tools, which has affected the
activities of defenders.These legislation criminalize the publication of
articles or photos that could harm national security, public order,public
health or public interest, incite violence, constitute sedition or have
negative consequences for the financial climate of the country all overly broad
and restrictive. Not only do such provisions limit the ability of journalists to
express their opinion about human rights issues, they also make it difficult
for them to know what is acceptable under the law and hence lead to self
censorship.
Another
challenge of defenders, as reported by the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression,
journalists have been charged and convicted because they have
disseminated information deemed to be officially secret or taken positions in
public in response to such information. This has also happened in States in
which legislation permitting access to information is in place—keep in mind
Uganda has the Access to Information Act which allows the public to access
information from the government.
Defamation charges against journalists
have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteurs on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and
on the situation of human rights defenders,because they
have published articles, blog entries or tweets or expressed opinions in public.
It is important to bear in mind that
defamation legislation is to protect an individual’s reputation from false and
malicious attacks, but the problem occurs when the powers that be use the
legislation to halt criticisms or allegations.Journalists have been ordered to
pay fines that are largely disproportionate to the offense committed.
According
to the Special Rapporteurs on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression’s report, journalists or
defenders who provide information have become targets for threats, kidnapping,
assaults and even assassinations. Globally, there has been an increase in the
number of killings, assassinations, assaults and incidents of ill-treatment
against persons associated with journalism and mass communication worldwide.
Many of the victims have been killed, with impunity, because of their
investigations into corruption, organized crime and political crime.
Opportunities
Despite all these challenges, the
future is not that bleak for journalists or human rights defenders. Many have found
other avenues to protect themselves and promote and protect other people’s
rights. It is worth noting that it was Ugandan journalists who went to the
Constitutional Court to fight against the law of sedition from the Penal Code
that allowed the State to charge people with the offense of sedition if a person utters or publishes
statements aimed at bringing hatred, contempt, or disaffection against the
President, Government, or the Judiciary. The Constitutional Court stuck out the
law of sedition declaring it unconstitutional and as it infringes on freedom of
speech and expression. The media
fraternity argued that it was an infringement on the right to freedom of
expression. Many a time, journalists in Uganda have used courts to seek justice
and in enforcement of their rights without which they would not have been able
to check the authorities.
It
is encouraging to see that the members of the media fraternity show solidarity
for each other. There are two examples that come to mind. During media siege of
the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper, the media fraternity collectively protested
against the closures by Government security agencies. Another example was when
the media organizations around the world took part in a day of protest against
the detention of Al-Jazeera staff in Egypt. There were protests in London,
Cairo, Beirut, and Berlin. The detention of the journalists was also
highlighted on social media such as Twitter via the hashtag #FreeAJStaff.
Social
media is an opportunity which journalists or any other defender can take
advantage of. Social media can monitor emerging human rights issues which can
be manifested in filming cases of human rights violation. By filming a
violation, defenders may secure evidence which can be used in court or used as
tool for advocacy. Defenders should bear in mind that social media will not be
a panacea to human rights violations because this can be determined by factors
such as access to technology and the level of state intrusion in people’s
lives.
Conclusion
The right to freedom of opinion and expression
should be viewed as a key instrument for the promotion and protection of other
human rights and an important tool in the effort to combat impunity, corruption
and any other violation.
Governments have an obligation to ensure journalists
or anyone engaged in journalistic activities enjoy this right. Governments
should desist from criminalizing any work in relation to freedom of expression
as means of imposing censorship. Governments should also ensure that they
put in place legislation permitting access to information and is fully
compliant with international standards.
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