Tag Archives: rights

How Western threats of sanctions are bad for the struggle for the rights of homosexuals in Uganda THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last month, Uganda passed the most draconian and barbaric anti-homosexual law in the world. The law has a death sentence for some acts of homosexuality but does not …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In recent years several African countries have decriminalised same-sex relationships. But they’re not representative of the continent. In fact, the rights of people who do not conform to cultural norms around gender and/or sexuality at times appear to be eroding in much of the continent, …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A section of Members of Parliament called for the protection of the rights of journalists as the country joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday. The MPs included the vice chairperson of Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Media Martin …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Over 50 employees from the Multiplex Limited Parking last week  petitioned Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago seeking for his intervention in their claim of unfair treatment and abuse of their rights. The petition which was handed over to the Lukwago at City Hall raised several …

Ugandan activist freed as court quashes charge of ‘harassing’ president Kampala, Uganda | AFP |  Ugandan activist and writer Stella Nyanzi walked free from court amid chaotic scenes Thursday after a judge overturned her conviction for “cyber-harassment” of President Yoweri Museveni. Stella Nyanzi, a university researcher and rights activist known …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  Thousands of supporters of Gambia’s former dictator Yahya Jammeh demonstrated Thursday on the outskirts of the capital Banjul, demanding his return from exile. The protest came days after the former autocrat was heard in a leaked audio recording insisting that the tiny West African state …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP |  South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has pardoned a Harvard-educated economist whose conviction earlier this year on spying charges drew international criticism. Peter Biar Ajak was among 30 prisoners on a pardon list seen by AFP and dated January 1. A spokesman for the main …

Rabat, Morocco | AFP |  Hundreds of people demonstrated Saturday outside Morocco’s parliament demanding the release of a journalist detained for criticising a judge in a tweet. Omar Radi, 33, was detained Thursday in Casablanca and immediately put on trial for the tweet about a judge prosecuting protest leaders, his …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  President John Magufuli has presided over a crackdown on media and civil society in Tanzania that has seriously undermined democratic freedoms as the country approaches elections, global rights groups said Monday. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tanzania was backsliding under Magufuli, whose …

Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP |  Indonesia is set to vote on a plan to outlaw gay and pre-marital sex while beefing up its blasphemy laws in a shakeup fuelled by religious conservatism and slammed by rights groups Thursday. The proposed criminal law overhaul could affect millions in the world’s biggest …