A publication by the Human Right Network for Journalists (HRNJ-Uganda) which reviews, measures and monitors the trends of freedom of expression and other media freedoms against the nationally and internationally acceptable standards.

After the “Arab springs” and other protest movements that prompted many rises and falls in last year’s index, the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to a more usual configuration. The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments. This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term.

The African Media Barometer is an in-depth and comprehensive description system for national media environments on the African continent, based on home-grown criteria derived from African Protocols and Declarations like the “Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa” (2002) by the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). The instrument was jointly developed by fesmedia Africa, the Media Project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in 2004.

Every two to three years a panel of 10 to 12 local experts, consisting of at least five media practitioners and and media expert and five representatives from civil society, meet to assess the media situation in their own country.

Testing docs

The Uganda Communications Regulatory Authority (UCRA) Bill, 2012 was read for the First Time on 14th March 2012 and it was referred to the Committee of Information and Communications Technology.

The committee scrutinized the old Communications and Broadcasting Acts in relation to the new proposed bill to ensure suitable harmonization and made recommendations aimed at minimizing the burden of ineffective regulation.

These key observations and recommendations are related to the communications tribunal, protection of infrastructure; signal distribution, separation of broadcasting and telecommunications, content regulation and last but not least offences and penalties.

An Act to provide for the restructuring of the communications industry in Uganda by establishing the Uganda Communications Commission, providing for its functions and administration; providing for the incorporation of  Uganda Telecom Limited, and Uganda Post Limited, to liberalise and introduce competition in the industry and for other purposes connected to the above.

An Act to make provision for the safety and security of electronic transactions and information systems; to prevent unlawful access, abuse or misuse of information systems including computers and to make provision for securing the conduct of electronic transactions in a trustworthy electronic environment and to provide for other related matters.

Heritage Oil arbitration case in London deprives Ugandan citizens of right to information

The Special Rapporteur proposes measures aimed at ensuring greater accountability and identifies underutilized entry points at all levels that can be used by journalists at risk.

The present report focuses on the protection of journalists and media freedom, an issue of central importance for the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

A Joint Declaration on Crimes Against Freedom of Expression: This was adopted in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 25 June 2012 and emphasises the the fundamental importance of freedom of expression both in its own right and as an essential tool for the defence of all other rights, as a core element of democracy and for advancing development goals

Findings of the 2012 Press Freedom Survey

The African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) declaration was adopted at the Pan African Conference on Access to Information (PACAI) on September 19th 2011, held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The document lists a number of principles intended to advance the right to Access to Information in all its dimensions, nationally, regionally, and internationally, and represents the first declaration on access to information on the African continent.

Newfound media freedom is promising to transform societies in ways perhaps unimaginable only a year ago. It has enabled the emergence of new ways to communicate, to share information and knowledge, and for people to widen their sense of participation, identity and belonging.

A legal analysis of the Communications Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012 by Article 19. In this analysis, ARTICLE 19 provides a brief assessment of the Bill, focusing on those parts relevant to the establishment and functioning of the Authority and the regulation of broadcasting.

Download the bill here

An Act to consolidate and harmonise the Uganda Communications Act and the Electronic Media Act; to dissolve the Uganda Communications Commission and the Broadcasting Council and reconstitute them as one body known as the Uganda Communications Regulatory Authority; and to provide for related matters.

This report highlights the suffering, insecurity and difficulties journalists face on a day-to-day basis while doing their journalistic work. It documents the events where journalists’ rights have been violated by state and nonstate actors as well as exposing those who impede on media freedom. It shows consistent and constant attacks on journalists countrywide. It also draws the attention of the executive, judiciary, legislature, development partners, treaty bodies, human rights defenders and the public at large towards the state of press freedom and freedom of expression in Uganda.

Public Order Management Bill 2009

Civil Society’s perspectives on the public order Management bill

Uganda Law Society views on the Public Order Management Bill 2011

The report examines the different types of media codes of ethics and offers recommendations for making them more robust and useful in efforts to raise standards of journalism.

This report highlights Amnesty International’s concerns about official repression of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and the failure to hold perpetrators of human rights violations committed against political activists, journalists and civil society activists to account. The report focuses on the general clampdown on the right to freedom of expression, in particular press freedom, between 2007 and 2011, and official intolerance of peaceful protests in the wake of public protests regarding rising costs of living in April and May 2011.

A Freedom House report that analyses how countries are using regulation to muzzle and control the media.

This report describes the primary types of media regulation that are used to restrict press freedom, including: statutory controls on licensing and registration, the creation of nominally independent regulatory bodies with built-in avenues for political influence and legal imposition of vague or burdensome content requirements.

The report analyses Media in Africa since the Windhoek declaration (1991) which sought to promote an independent and pluralistic African press. The report was published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

The foremost objective of this exploratory study was to establish whether political considerations, in whatever form, have come into play in the award of broadcast licences or allocation of frequencies and in decisions to grant or deny different interested parties time on air.

If this is the case: What is the extent of the alleged practices? What form do they take? Under what circumstances have the claims of discrimination emerged? Who is affected? What are the ramifications? What are the implications for media freedom and democracy in general? This study inquired into the claims of political discrimination in accessing radio time by eliciting concrete evidence and verifying the claims.

The regulations operationalise the Access to Information Act passed by parliament in 2005.

This report produced by the Center for International Media Assistance provides an overview of the different kinds of laws that affect the media and explains how they are used in many countries to influence the operations of news outlets and the information they offer.

It focuses on restrictive laws more than on those of the enabling and empowering variety, for the simple reason that enabling laws are–unfortunately–relatively rare.

The regulations operationalise the Access to Information Act passed by parliament in 2005.

Four journalists working for the Daily Monitor newspaper were dragged to court by then Inspector General of Government Faith Mwondha who accused them of publishing defamatory matter about her. The judges however concluded that defamatory libel goes against the values of freedom of expression, press and other media. The case was dismissed.

International declarations on Human Rights

A charter by member states of the African Union that stipulates the rights, duties and freedoms of people in Africa

A roundtable meeting on Uganda’s media laws was held on Monday, May 31, 2010 in Kampala to discuss the proposed Press and Journalist (Amendment) Bill, 2010. The Bill contains several provisions that threaten to erode press freedom in Uganda.

Opinion on the contentious clauses in the Anti-Terrorism Bill by the Uganda Human Rights Commission

The 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media in Africa

A team of African scholars, under the coordination of the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies, conducted research on media-related laws in a selection of African multi-party democracies. They analyzed national results in a comparative way, and verified them against a set of benchmarks on press freedom, as defined by international standards and best-practices.

The following dummy guide has been developed to enable members of the community to understand how the different provisions within the Press and Journalist (amendment) Bill of 2010 are likely to affect their enjoyment of rights while negatively influencing their day-to-day work.

The Act provides for the establishment of state broadcaster Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. It states its functions and powers.

An Act to establish the New Vision Printing and Publishing Corporation.

This is a code of ethics developed by media practitioners in Uganda to govern their conduct and as a basis for adjudication of disputes between them and the public.

In February 2004, the Ugandan Supreme Court declared that the offence of 'publishing false news' was incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. The case arose from an original prosecution in the magistrate's court of two journalists from The Daily Monitor, charged by the government with the promulgation of 'false news'.

An Act to provide for the lawful interception and monitoring of certain communications in the course of their transmission through a telecommunication, postal or any other related service or system in Uganda; to provide for the establishment of a monitoring centre; and to provide for any other related matters.

An Act to provide for the setting up of a broadcasting council to license and regulate radio and television stations, to provide for the licensing of television sets, to amend and consolidate the law relating to electronic media and to provide for other related matters.

An Act to provide for the right of access to information pursuant to article 41 of the Constitution; to prescribe the classes of information referred to in that article; the procedure for obtaining access to that information, and for related matters .

Freedom of Expression in Uganda: A Fact Sheet

An overview of the State Of Media Freedom in Uganda written by George W. Lugalambi (Ph.D) and Bernard Tabaire

In 2010, Uganda's Constitutional Court declared the sedition offense, which has been used to prosecute journalists, unconstitutional. This is the court ruling.

This is the statement by the former Supreme Court Judge opposing the amendment

An Act to amend the Press and Journalist Act

A statement by Article 29 Coalition, a voluntary network of media organisations objecting to the provisions in The Press and Journalist (Amendment) Bill, 2010.

A statement by Article 29 Coalition, a voluntary network of media organisations objecting to the provisions in The Press and Journalist (Amendment) Bill, 2010.

Minority report on the regulation of interception of communications Bill 2007

The Press and Journalist Act, which the Ugandan government now seeks to amend, was introduced to “ensure the freedom of the press” and to provide for the regulation of the mass media. But critics argue that the thrust of the law is to regulate the journalist as a professional along the models of other professions such as engineering, law and medicine. This, they add, goes against constitutional guarantees of free expression.

Media, Civil society, Government holds a consultative meeting on Uganda's media laws

A 2010 report by Human Rights Watch on Press Freedom and freedom of expression in Uganda.

A 2010 report by Human Rights Watch on Press Freedom and freedom of expression in Uganda.

This Memorandum contains ARTICLE 19‘s analysis of the proposed Press and Journalist (Amendment) Bill, 2010 (the draft Bill), as well as the law which it would amend, the Press and Journalist Act, CAP 105 of 1995 (the Act), against international standards on freedom of expression.

ARTICLE 19 is an international, non-governmental human rights organisation which works with partner organisations around the world to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression.

Freedom of Expression in Uganda: This paper was written by Peter G. Mwesige (Ph.D) and Bernard Tabaire