Amnesty to strengthen human rights work in East Africa
July 28, 2013 (NAIROBI) – The global human rights organisation, Amnesty International has announced that it will in October this year open a regional office in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to bolster its human rights work in the East Africa region.
Amnesty International said that the new office in Nairobi will enable it respond faster to human rights situations in the region.
“This stronger presence will allow Amnesty International to increase significantly the impact of its human rights work by responding faster to events, bolstering research and allowing for greater collaboration with local partner organizations”, the human rights group said in a statement on Friday last week.
On the eve of South Sudan’s second independence anniversary celebrations, Amnesty International urged South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir “to refrain from confirming any death sentences, and to instead commute all existing death sentences in South Sudan”.
Recently several human rights and advocacy organisations and the United States government have voiced concern about the human rights situation in Jonglei state that has witnessed a spate of violence leading to the displacement of thousands of people. Many of them have gone without access to basics such as food and access to medication.
But Amnesty International could also be setting its eye on Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In Eastern DRC, violence has displaced 66,000 refugees into Uganda in the past weeks. The M23 rebels, allegedly backed by Rwanda, have been accused by human rights organisation of grave human rights violations including illegal executions.
In Uganda, as the country heads towards Presidential elections in 2016, police have been accused of battering opposition activists on the streets of Kampala and regularly detaining key opposition leaders.
Local and international human rights organisations say that this intolerance of divergent views is a sign of the narrowing of the political space in Uganda.
(ST)