Women human rights defenders in Uganda: challenges, legal frameworks, and the path to protection

Abstract

The paper critically examines the lived experiences, legal realities, and systemic challenges facing Women Human Rights Defenders in Uganda, with a focus on the structural, gender, and institutional barriers that hinder their work. Drawing on qualitative field data from focused group discussions with student defenders and grassroot Human Rights Defenders, the research explores the threats Women Human Rights Defenders encounter including judicial harassment, sexual violence, surveillance, and societal exclusion, and places these within the broader context of Uganda’s increasingly restrictive civic space. The study evaluates national legal frameworks, such as the Constitution, Non-Governmental Organisations Act, alongside regional and international instruments like the African Charter and the UN Declaration on HRDs. Despite the constitutional promises of equality and participation, Uganda’s regulatory environment continues to criminalise dissent and silence female-led advocacy, often under the guise of legal compliance and national security. The findings reveal a great gap between rights guaranteed in law and those experienced in practice, particularly for WHRDs advocating on gender, sexuality, governance, and other politically sensitive issues. I argue for urgent, gender- responsive reforms which cover areas such as the legal, institutional, and social areas that centre the unique vulnerabilities of WHRDs and recognise their indispensable role in promoting democracy, justice, and human rights in Uganda. Without intentional protection and inclusion of WHRDs, civic space will continue to shrink, and the foundations of accountability and equality will remain dangerously compromised.