Do I have a right to a fair hearing? Do I have the right to freedom from torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment? Do I have the right to live in dignity as a human being? That’s what I demand.

Uganda’s proposed National Oil Company will have the right to acquire a 15 per cent stake in the oil fields that Tullow Oil, TOTAL and CNOOC are developing, according to Eoin Mekie, Tullow’s General Manager in Uganda, speaking exclusively to Oil in Uganda. The arrangement was included in the agreements signed between Tullow and the government in early February, in defiance of a parliamentary moratorium on further oil contracts.

Two human rights groups in Uganda have launched a documentary entitled 'She is My Son - The Pain of being an Intersex person in Uganda.' At the launch the groups urged the Uganda government to protect intersex people by making available information on intersexuality to families. The two organizations, Support Initiative for People with atypical Sex Development (Sipd Uganda) and Uganda Health and Science Press Association noted with concern that many intersex people are denied their full potential in life for simply being who they are.

Independent TV director Amon Thembo Wa’Mupaghasya was shot dead at around 1am on 12 May as he was returning to his home on the outskirts of the western city of Kasese after covering a wedding. Thembo was gunned down by unidentified individuals who took his bag and video camera. The police have arrested several suspects but have not yet said what they think the motive was. Kasese is located near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On 7 May, police authorities in the Ugandan city of Gulu – a city located approximately 320km north of Kampala by road with 150,000 inhabitants – ‘dropped by’ a sex worker drop-in centre. They raided the small office and arrested two staff and three members of the Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA), a duly-registered group that runs the centre. 'We find this to be an attack on WONETHA and sex workers’ freedom of association, assembly, speech and expression, and we strongly protest against this,' says a release by Macklean Kyomya, WONETHA’s Executive director.

The Refugee Law Project, under its video advocacy programme, has produced documentaries to show the work being done at RLP, as well as highlight the plight of forced migrants in Uganda. The latest video on a page featuring their productions involves land evictions in Apaa.

The Refugee Law Project, a project of the School of Law, Makerere University, embarked on a countrywide conflict-mapping exercise dubbed: the National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice Audit (NR&TJ Audit) to document all major current and past conflicts and their legacies in Uganda. One of the main objectives was to document from a community perspective all the post-independence armed conflicts in Uganda. Six briefs are now available for their website.

Sylvia Tamale chooses to raise her voice on issues like the right of sex workers to earn a living, the right for adults to enjoy adult entertainment and leisure like ebimansulo (striptease shows), and the recognition of human rights for marginalised groups such as sexual minorities and refugees, addressing the injustices in the law. Her arguments? That as long as these minorities’ activities do not infringe on the freedoms and rights of others, they should be granted their right to freely do as they please.

SocMed invites students to apply for the fourth annual course Beyond the Biologic Basis of Disease: The Social and Economic Causation of Illness, a social medicine immersion experience conducted on-site at Lacor Hospital in Gulu, Uganda from January 7, 2013 to February 1, 2013. This unique immersion course incorporates innovative teaching methodologies to merge teaching of clinical tropical medicine with understanding the socioeconomic, cultural, political, and historical underpinnings of illness. Visit for more information about the course, its directors and guest lecturers, and SocMed. Questions can be sent to [email][email protected]

The price for Uganda Land Alliance’s (ULA) investigations into cases of land grabbing has been set-so high that once paid, it will become extremely risky for anyone attempting to question the vices of land grabbing and forceful evictions of innocent citizens. Government has given ULA two weeks within which to among other stern conditions; provide evidence of land grabbing or else have her permit revoked; and to make an apology to the President and government ministries. The above conditions were contained in a damning 19-page investigation report on the works of ULA, produced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The army has dismissed allegations that Uganda is propping up rebel groups in Sudan. The allegations, which have lately become a staple in mainstream Sudan media is, according to the Uganda government, a deliberate ploy by Khartoum to 'deflect attention from the daunting challenges it is facing.' According to the Sudan government, Uganda is giving assistance to the Justice and Equality Movement rebels who have been engaged in mortal combat with Khartoum for the last 10 years, together with SPLM-N rebels in Unity and South Kordofan areas.

A consortium of civil society organisations are pushing for government reforms in the health and education sectors. Among others they want the percentage of government allocation to the health sector increased to meet the Abuja Declaration target of 15 per cent.

When President Museveni signed the controversial Land Amendment Bill into law protection from illegal eviction was guaranteed. However, participants debating the issue of land grabbing in a public policy symposium in Kampala last week, cited state house, police, the lands ministry, investors and government officials among the key drivers of land disputes and illegal evictions.

A stand-off between central government and a policy advocacy group, the Uganda Land Alliance (ULA), has alarmed national level civil society organisations but seems not to have affected work by grassroots organisations in oil exploration areas. According to a public statement by the ULA, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Hillary Onek, has demanded that the Alliance withdraw a report on ‘land grabbing’ and apologise to the government for bringing Uganda into international disrepute. Onek, the Alliance says, has threatened the group with closure if they fail to meet these conditions. The controversial report, co-published in September 2011 by the Alliance and the international development and campaigning NGO, Oxfam, alleged that the National Forestry Authority evicted some 20,000 people from farmland in Mubende and Kiboga districts, in order to award a concession to the UK-based New Forest Company.

As Uganda joined the global community in marking World Press Freedom Day, research shows that some media houses in the country have caved in to pressure from the State and no longer report on critical issues affecting the country. Speaking at the release of a report titled: ‘Media Liberalisation in Uganda: Threatening Journalists’ Rights and Freedom’, in Kampala, Mulindwa Mukasa, the executive board chairperson of Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ) said: 'During the Buganda riots, media houses were closed while others were sternly warned to desist from covering the events of the riots. This forced some media houses to lay-off objective journalists and replace them with less critical ones.'

'Everybody knows the solution in Somalia is political not military. Even if there is a military victory in Somalia, it will not be sustainable without a political solution.'

Parliament has passed a law that spells out the punishment for torture - 15 years imprisonment or a fine of Shs 7.2m upon conviction. It is intended to define and criminalize torture, and provide for sanctions and compensation in case of the offence of torture, and regulate the use of information obtained through torture.

Citizen Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), Citizens’ Manifesto Coordination Office, Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP) and Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), said the debate to restore term limits should not be partisan because it affects the whole country. 'It is unfortunate that the NRM party organs are making an attempt to trivialise an issue of national importance to a partisan conversation. All Ugandans who have suffered at the hands of political instability and uncertainty know that the issue of presidential term limits is colourless.'

Gay rights activists in Uganda want the government to declassify homosexuality as a mental health disorder. Activists have expressed concern that most health workers interviewed said homosexuals were mad people deserving psychiatric intervention.

Several women were on Monday morning arrested after stripping down to their bras at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) as they protested the brutal manner in which opposition Forum for Democratic Change Women’s League leader Ingrid Turinawe was arrested last Friday. Ms Turinawe was assaulted on Friday as the police blocked a rally called by the opposition in Nansana, outside Kampala.