Human Rights Defenders Across East Africa Under Attack; UN Expert Warns

By Diana Taremwa Karakire

KAMPALA, Uganda — Civic space is shrinking across East Africa, with arrests, intimidation and legal pressure increasingly used against activists.Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders told Indigenous Times that NGO shutdowns and intimidation of activists in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya show a growing regional pattern of repression, with serious risks for human rights defenders. She says governments in the region appear to be adopting similar tactics to curb dissent, while international human rights standards continue to offer defenders a framework and hope despite growing global backsliding.

Below are excerpts from her responses edited for length and clarity.

Q: Across East Africa, we are seeing a pattern of shrinking civic space from the post-election arrests and detention of activists in Uganda to reports of arrests, killing of protesters, and suppression of media freedom by the government of Tanzania in 2025.How do you assess the trajectory of state responses to human rights defenders?

LAWlor: Unfortunately, the situation for human rights defenders in East Africa continues to be of great concern, and defenders are clearly at risk because of their work promoting internationally recognized rights.These rights are contained in conventions and treaties governments in East Africa have willingly signed up to, yet we see individuals and organisations targeted for attempting to claim those rights.

 In the five+ years I’ve held this role, I have written 33 times to the governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda raising concerns over the treatment of human rights defenders in their respective countries. Uganda did not respond to a single letter of the 20 my Mandate sent to its government, while Kenya only responded to two out of 10.

From the allegations these letters raised, it is clear that we are seeing similar trends of repression in the region, and that each government is observing how its neighbours deal with civil society and what pushback they receive as a result. The trends we’ve witnessed across the region include enforced disappearances of human rights defenders, excessive use of force by police to contain protests and widespread criminalisation. We have seen how civil society organisations are targeted with suspensions, office raids, shutdowns, intimidation and excessive auditing to prevent them from doing their work. Also striking is the targeting of environmental defenders in the region, who are often subjected to arbitrary detention, harassment and smear campaigns because of their exposure of human rights violations by business, or their demands to be included in meaningful consultation.

Q:In Uganda, the period surrounding the January 2026 elections was marked by an internet shutdown, suspension of NGOs, and arrests of prominent activists including the detention of governance advocate Sarah Bireete all widely criticized as part of a broader crackdown on dissent. What immediate steps should the government take to reverse this deterioration, and what can the UN realistically do if abuses continue considering the shrinking funding and capacity to monitor these abuses and governments?

 LAWlor: Charges against all those arbitrarily detained in advance of the elections should be dismissed and any human rights defenders still in detention should be immediately released.  The suspensions on the numerous human rights organisations should be lifted. Independent impartial investigations into why these violations occurred and who ordered them should be carried out. Should such abuses continue, Special Procedures mandate-holders will continue to monitor them and report on them in a manner similar to how we have been doing over the past number of years. However, in order for us to maintain this work, we need to receive information from civil society on the ground in the region. I have tried to make the Human Rights Defender Mandate as accessible as possible but without the relevant information and without the consent of the victim of the violation, I can not use the tools at my disposal to challenge repressive governments on violations.

Many countries in East Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan, are relatively young democracies and continue to face weak institutions and limited checks on power. With opposition leaders imprisoned in these countries, and concerns about democratic backsliding  in long established democracies like the United States, how do these globaltrends affect human rights and accountability in East Africa?

LAWlor: The deterioration in respect for international law is unfortunate, but no state has ever been 100% compliant with international human rights law. Their compliance has always depended on their strategic and geopolitical interests. So while of course the backsliding we see is worrying, human rights defenders have never had it easy. They are used to operating in the most difficult contexts, and they will continue to do this, whether they receive international support or not. What continues to give me hope is that human rights defenders still hold firm to the values contained in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). For my final report to the UN Human Rights Council, which I will present next month, I surveyed 300 defenders in 82 countries and territories and found that the vast majority maintain a fundamental belief in, and adherence to, international human rights standards, even if the mechanisms designed to implement them are failing. For example, in the face of discrimination suffered by Dalits in Nepal, the Feminist Dalit Organisation draws on international standards to “give communities like ours a language to frame our struggles and a platform to hold the State accountable in both national and global arenas”

Q: What urgent changes are needed to ensure defenders can work safely in the region?

LAWlor: It’s quite simple really: governments needs to respect and adhere to the rights they have voluntarily agreed to abide by. When it comes to human rights defenders, they can do this by implementing polices, laws and mechanisms to protect defenders when they are at risk. Many governments need to reshape their conception of human rights defenders as ‘trouble-makers’ or ‘threats to national security’ and instead look to them to see how they can help achieve more equal and just societies. I did a report to the UN General Assembly in 2024 examining how human rights defenders are assisting governments in achieving every single one of the sustainable development goals. Governments should look to HRDs as assets rather than enemies. All UN entities should become more active in monitoring abuses against defenders, given how their work intersects with all of the UN’s goals around peace and security.  But ultimately, the strength of UN action depends on the political will of member states.

Q: Some recent cases suggest activists face risks even when they travel to support causes in neighbouring countries in East Africa. How should regional and international bodies respond when repression crosses borders? 

LAWlor: The response should be the same as the response to repression that happens within one’s own country. I have always advocated for a consistent approach based on international human rights standards, regardless of where the violation takes place. This rise in transnational repression must be highlighted, must be criticised and both relevant governments must be held to account. We must also remain very vigilant about the abuse of the Interpol Red Notice system but also the reprisals against human rights defenders for interacting with the UN human rights machinery. We have seen, for example, the disgraceful targeting of individuals and organisations for providing information to the International Criminal Court, which represents another form of transnational repression. 

Q:How can human rights defenders protect themselves during elections or even generally in their course of work?

Human rights defenders working in restrictive environments should all engage in security planning and have procedures in place so that if they are detained, or there is an internet blackout, or if their NGO is shut down, they know what to do. This most frequently involves reaching out to their network of contacts for support and advocacy.I have never been more convinced that a HRD’s first port of call in a crisis is their local network , their community, their colleagues or their family. These are the people who defenders should discuss their security plans with, and who will be prepared to help them in emergencies. The next layer may be a national organisation, then an international organisation or mechanism, such as Special Procedures. However, as I make clear in my new report, international mechanisms should never be relied on to provide rapid practical support or funding in situations of risk. They can help with advocacy and amplifying local voices further down the road, but they are not designed as rapid response mechanisms.

Context:
 Across Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, rights groups report growing restrictions on protests, media, and civil society, especially around election period ,a trend reflecting global pressures on democratic institutions. Human rights abuses marked Uganda’s January 2026 presidential elections and Tanzania’s contested October 2025 polls. In Tanzania, security forces responded to protests over alleged election manipulation with lethal force.Media and civil society reported that security killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders, while opposition officials told Human Rights Watch they had collected reports of up to 1,000 people killed by police and unidentified security forces. Ahead of Uganda’s 2026 elections, authorities intensified crackdowns, suspending over seven civil society organizations. Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition against National Unity Platform rallies, enforced a nationwide internet shutdown two days before Jan. 15, and banned live broadcasts of “unauthorized protests.” Independent media faced harassment, specifically Nation Media Group (NTV Uganda and Daily Monitor), faced restrictions on covering the president, with journalists harassed, assaulted, and their equipment damaged ,while human rights defenders endured severe restrictions and incommunicado detention.

Political repression in the region has also been reinforced by cross-border targeting of opponents. In November 2024, Kizza Besigye was abducted from Kenya and arraigned in a Ugandan military court. Earlier, 36 Besigye supporters were seized in Kenya and transferred to Uganda on terrorism charges. In October 2025, Ugandan authorities detained Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo incommunicado for 38 days.Authorities have also tried to block regional solidarity among civil society and youth movements. When Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu was charged with treason, Ugandan and Kenyan activists ,including Agather Atuhaire and Boniface Mwangi, traveling to observe his trial were abducted and tortured, before they were left at the borders of their respective countries.