Research and Discussion Paper on a TJ Framework for Zimbabwe
This case is an example why a country when dealing with past atrocities should have institutions and
mechanisms in place that could implement and enforce a commission’s demands, and not depend
on a truth or inquiry commission alone.
Unfortunately, in its 2017/2018 report, Amnesty International confirmed that torture and other illtreatment and unlawful detention by the police and the State Security Service continued in Nigeria.58
6.2.Uganda
Country: Uganda59
Independence: from the United Kingdom 9 October 1962
Truth commission: Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights
Dates of operation: 1986 – 1994 (8 years; due to financial problems ,its work was interrupted in
1987)
Enabling Law: The Commissions of Inquiry Act Legal Notice No. 5
Time to be investigated: October 9, 1962 – January 25, 1986
Mandate: To inquire into all aspects of violations of human rights, breaches of the rule of law and
excessive abuse of power, committed against persons in Uganda by the regime and government
agents and agencies.60It was to pay specific attention to arbitrary arrests, detentions and killings. The
commission’s broad mandate also included forced displacement, disappearances, discrimination,
and it authorized the commission to recommend ways to prevent future abuses. 61
Its mandate was extremely broad and vague62. Additionally, the terms of the appointment of the
commission were such that it was forbidden for the commission to look at issues which had occurred
after January 1986, when Museveni had taken power and a lot of abuses were taking place.63
Public report: The commission’s final report had an extremely limited publication, and even these
copies were poorly, if at all, distributed.64
Recommendations: The report is not available, no recommendations have been implemented and
most of the citizens of Uganda have no knowledge of this report.
Challenges faced: There was a lot of hostility towards the commission; their work was sabotaged as
files, audio and video recordings disappeared; the chairman of the commission had to move around
with a body guard.65 The commission had also had inadequate resources and funds.
58
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/nigeria/report-nigeria/
https://www.usip.org/publications/1986/05/truth-commission-uganda-86
60
The Commissions of Inquiry Act, legal notice No. 5 (May 16, 1986);
https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Uganda86-Charter.pdf
61
Professor Bishnu Pathak1; Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared
http://www.icla.up.ac.za/images/un/commissionsofinquiries/files/Uganda%20Truth%20Commission%2019861994.pdf
62
Joanna R. Quinn: The Politics of Acknowledgement: An Analysis of Uganda’s Truth Commission;
https://www1.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/themes/international_courts_tribunals/analysis2.pdf
63
ibid
64
Ibid
59
28
DRAFT
Select target paragraph3
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