Paris-Geneva, September 3, 2024 – Since May 2024, at least 81 environmental rights defenders and activists protesting against large-scale oil projects in Uganda have been arrested. This marks an escalation of the repression, highlighting a severe attempt to silence civil society, in violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression, as opposition to these projects grows. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT) urges the Ugandan authorities to put an immediate end to this escalating crackdown on civil society.
Just in the month of August 2024, 72 human rights defenders and local community members were arbitrarily arrested and detained, as protests against oil projects grow in Uganda. The repression has been intensifying as large-scale oil projects are
advancing in the region, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Kingfisher and Tilenga projects, owned and operated by the French company TotalEnergies and Chinese state-owned enterprise China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), in cooperation with the governments of Uganda and Tanzania.
On August 26, 2024, 21 activists, were arrested as they were marching towards the Parliament, TotalEnergies head office and CNOOC offices in Kampala to hand in a petition against the EACOP project. According to their lawyer, seven of the activists arrested are members of communities affected by the EACOP project. Twenty of them were held at the Buganda Road police station before appearing in court on August 27, 2024, where they were, charged with “common nuisance” and remanded to Luzira prison until September 3, 2024. On September 3, 2024, the 20 activists, including seven impacted community members, appeared in court. However, the magistrate was absent and consequently they have been further detained until they can appear in court again on September 5, 2024. The remaining arrested activist was detained at Jinja Road Police Station and was released on August 27, 2024, after the police took down his contact details to reach him in case of further proceedings. On the day of their arrests, several simultaneous protests were being held across the country.
On August 9, 2024, 47 students were arrested by police officers in Kampala, as they were engaged in a peaceful protest against the EACOP project. They aimed to march towards the Parliament of Uganda to deliver a petition opposing the project and urging the Ugandan government to sign a fossil-free treaty. However, 45 students were arrested before reaching the Parliament, as they were travelling in taxis, and two other students were arrested in front of the Parliament. Three drivers were also arrested. On August 10, 2024, 45 out of the 47 activists, who had been detained at the Jinja Road Police Station, were released. The two other activists, Kalyango Shafik and Oundo Humphrey, who had been held at the Central Police Station in Kampala, were charged with "inciting violence". They were released on police bond on August 14, 2024, which compels them to report to the police whenever required.
On August 5, 2024, three Ugandan activists and a Belgian activist, were arrested as they were marching towards the Chinese embassy in Kampala to present a petition urging the Chinese government to withdraw its support to CNOOC, a minority stakeholder in the EACOP project, one of the Joint Venture partners in the Tilenga and Kingfisher projects, and the lead operator of the latter. They were released on police bond, the three Ugandan activists on the same day of the arrest and the Belgian activist on August 6, 2024.
These arrests bring the total number of arrests linked to these large-scale oil projects to at least 81 since May 27, 2024. This repression particularly affects individuals who participate in peaceful protests against the EACOP and Kingfisher projects. The Observatory recalls that on June 5, 2024, Adriko Sostein was arrested and subsequently released on police bond on June 6, 2024 and on May 27, 2024, Bob Barigye, Noah Katiiti, Newton Mwesigwa, Julius Byaruhanga, Desire Ndyamwesigwa, Raymond Binntukwanga, and Jealousy Mugisha Mulimbwa were also arrested in Kampala and released on police bond on May 28, 2024. Cases of torture in detention, judicial and moral harassment, threats and intimidation against environmental rights defenders and activists have also been reported. On June 4, 2024 Stephen Kwikiriza was abducted and detained incommunicado for six days, after having received threats from the Uganda People’s Defence Force deployed at Kingfisher project area. He was reportedly tortured in detention, including severe beating requiring hospitalisation, deprivation of food for a day and a half, and humiliation.
The dramatic rise in the number of arrests in the last four months underscores the escalation of the repression. The Observatory recalls that Jealousy Mugisha Mulimbwa had already been arbitrarily arrested on December 14, 2019 and Bob Barigye was also arbitrarily arrested on January 24, 2023 and released on bail on January 27, 2023. In addition to the violations mentioned above, the Observatory reported since 2020 numerous cases of legal and judicial harassment and intimidation against against individuals and organisations defending human and environmental rights in the context of oil project development affecting local populations’ well-being and biodiversity.
The human rights and environmental impacts and risks linked to the mentioned oil projects have been repeatedly denounced by civil society, affected communities and environmental and human rights organisations, including FIDH, particularly for their social and environmental impact in Uganda and Tanzania. Recently, more regular protests have been held in opposition to the oil projects, as construction of oil sites is accelerating and companies scramble to secure project financing, both from states and private actors.
Recommendations :
The Observatory urges the Ugandan authorities to put an end to the repression against human and environmental rights defenders, immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and put an end to any act of harassment, including at the judicial level, and any act of intimidation against human rights defenders.
The Observatory urges the Ugandan authorities to abide by their human rights obligations under the Ugandan Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to respect, protect, promote, and fulfil the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression. Uganda’s authorities need to take urgent action to investigate the recent escalation of the repression and take measures to allow human and environmental rights defenders to work freely.
The Observatory further calls on the companies and investors involved in the oil projects, in line with their human rights responsibilities, to take action to respond to community grievances in an adequate and timely manner, to investigate alleged human rights abuses which seem to be connected to their projects in Uganda, and exercise their leverage on the Ugandan authorities to put an end to this escalating repression.
Additionally, TotalEnergies should abide by its own prior commitments to respect the rights of human rights defenders. The company emphasised publicly in April 2023 the “extensivemeasures which TotalEnergies subsidiaries in Uganda and Tanzania [had taken] to protect the rights of Human Rights Defenders (HRD) and to exercise leverage on relevant authorities in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)”. Observing the escalating crackdown, the Observatory calls on TotalEnergies to urgently reinforce the measures that it has allegedly taken to protect human rights defenders.
The Observatory calls upon international and intergovernmental organisations as well as governments and other diplomatic actors to condemn this repression and increase the scrutiny on the escalating situation facing human and environmental rights defenders in Uganda. The Observatory further call upon them to reinforce the protection mechanisms to allow human and environmental rights defenders to continue their legitimate actions safely.
