SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Activists pin Government on gagging internet users in Uganda
Published
8 years agoon
Internet activists in Uganda Thursday used the third edition of a monthly third edition of Uganda Parliamentary Press Association’s Press Plenary to pin government on using cybercrime legal framework.
While giving a snapshot of the state of internet freedom in Uganda at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, Geofrey Wokulira Ssebaggala, the Chief Executive Officer of the Unwanted Witness-Uganda, a non-government organisation that advocates for internet freedoms said that government has invested in much in gagging the freedoms of internet users since 2010.
“As we speak now, there are a number of things taking place [against] us as Ugandans using the internet and we must be more worried about the trend Uganda is taking and this has a chilling effect on enjoyment of freedoms of expression and right to privacy,” said Ssebaggala.
On the event which was graced by other panelists; Per Lindgarde, the Swedish ambassador to Uganda, Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Fred Otunnu, the Communications Director at Uganda Communications Commission, Nicolas Opiyo, the Executive Director ChapterFour Uganda, and Caroline Akello Mugisha, an official from NITA-U, Ssebaggala explained that government has inacted a racket of ‘prohibitive’ especially after the Arab spring uprisings.
“We have seen enactment of different pieces of legislations which appeal to the notion of fighting terrorism like the anti-terrorism act which was amended last year which is being used [against internet users] mainly because it doesn’t have judicial oversight.”
He added, “So, it allows surveillance on individuals and groups and it allows the government to order the telecom companies to reveal internet users’ information at any time.”
“When you look at the general cybercrime legal framework of Uganda as we talk now, we have done analysis on over eight cybercrime-related laws and we have established that they are all very weak to uphold and protect freedom of expression online.”
Naming all the eight laws; the anti-pornography act, the computer misuse act, the interception of communications act, the electronic transactions act, the electronic signatures act, Ssebaggala asserted that their intention is to “find crimes against those using the internet.”
In Ssebaggala’s view, some of the laws regarding the cybercrime were hurriedly handled which made them lack the basic minimum standards such as defining key elements of the act, singling out the computer misusing act as an example, thus calling for a review to some laws to the suitability of the internationally recognized framework.
“So, to us, we feel that the legal framework doesn’t promote the internet freedoms, but these pieces of legislation take away what is enshrined in our constitution…and we believe that we shall have an engagement with Parliament to ensure that all these laws are reviewed because we have established that there were limited consultations during their enactment” Ssebaggala said
Ssebbaggala also wondered why government would seek to have all these powers against internet users, through putting in place all these stringent laws.
Ssebaggala, also didn’t have kind words for government agencies like Uganda Communications Commission which he accused of shutting down social media platforms twice in one year, NITA-U which he says obtains a lot of people’s personal data and then distribute it to security agencies like Police and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
In the same vein, Ssebaggala expressed concerns regarding secret surveillance that is being applied by government lately.
Tumwebaze reacts
However, Minister Tumwebaze, down played Ssebaggala’s concerns, saying that there is nothing much Ugandans should worry about because government always acts in good faith of protecting and securing them.
He said that instead of concentrating on worries, Ugandans should focus on “innovations.”
“Internet is no longer a luxury, but a utility.” Tumwebaze noted.
He disagreed with Ssebaggala on the way laws were enacted, asserting that “the way we do laws in Uganda in my view is the best because they start with ministries going to public, taken to cabinet, goes to parliament, committees where members of the public and stake holders are invited for their input and then taken back to parliament.”
“So, I am surprised to hear my friend [Ssebaggala] crying that the laws we have are prohibitive.” Tumwebaze added.
He therefore defended the legal framework Uganda has regarding the cybercrime amid arguing Ugandans to always criticizing government with a view of improving the existing ones because the cybercrime laws are not unique to Uganda.
“If you commit a crime online, you will have to be arrested and prosecuted in court and we have no apologies for that. So, let us take these laws in good faith and don’t necessarily blame us [government] for doing what we should be doing,” said Tumwebaze.
“Cybercrime is real,” Tumwebaze said, “so if it’s real, how do we deal with it and at the same time protecting the rights of the internet users?”
He appealed to the internet activists mainly Unwanted Witness to always guide government on how to balance the two interests, other than criticizing the government.
By Witness Radio Team
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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels
Published
1 year agoon
September 27, 2023The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.
From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.
The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.
In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.
The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to
- fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
- avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
- strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.
Source: iisd.org
Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Will more sovereign wealth funds mean less food sovereignty?
Published
2 years agoon
April 13, 2023- 45% of Louis Dreyfus Company, with its massive land holdings in Latin America, growing sugarcane, citrus, rice and coffee;
- a majority stake in Unifrutti, with 15,000 ha of fruit farms in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Philippines, Spain, Italy and South Africa; and
- Al Dahra, a large agribusiness conglomerate controlling and cultivating 118,315 ha of farmland in Romania, Spain, Serbia, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US.
Sovereign wealth funds invested in farmland/food/agriculture (2023)
|
|||
Country
|
Fund
|
Est.
|
AUM (US$bn)
|
China
|
CIC
|
2007
|
1351
|
Norway
|
NBIM
|
1997
|
1145
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADIA
|
1967
|
993
|
Kuwait
|
KIA
|
1953
|
769
|
Saudi Arabia
|
PIF
|
1971
|
620
|
China
|
NSSF
|
2000
|
474
|
Qatar
|
QIA
|
2005
|
450
|
UAE – Dubai
|
ICD
|
2006
|
300
|
Singapore
|
Temasek
|
1974
|
298
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
Mubadala
|
2002
|
284
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADQ
|
2018
|
157
|
Australia
|
Future Fund
|
2006
|
157
|
Iran
|
NDFI
|
2011
|
139
|
UAE
|
EIA
|
2007
|
91
|
USA – AK
|
Alaska PFC
|
1976
|
73
|
Australia – QLD
|
QIC
|
1991
|
67
|
USA – TX
|
UTIMCO
|
1876
|
64
|
USA – TX
|
Texas PSF
|
1854
|
56
|
Brunei
|
BIA
|
1983
|
55
|
France
|
Bpifrance
|
2008
|
50
|
UAE – Dubai
|
Dubai World
|
2005
|
42
|
Oman
|
OIA
|
2020
|
42
|
USA – NM
|
New Mexico SIC
|
1958
|
37
|
Malaysia
|
Khazanah
|
1993
|
31
|
Russia
|
RDIF
|
2011
|
28
|
Turkey
|
TVF
|
2017
|
22
|
Bahrain
|
Mumtalakat
|
2006
|
19
|
Ireland
|
ISIF
|
2014
|
16
|
Canada – SK
|
SK CIC
|
1947
|
16
|
Italy
|
CDP Equity
|
2011
|
13
|
China
|
CADF
|
2007
|
10
|
Indonesia
|
INA
|
2020
|
6
|
India
|
NIIF
|
2015
|
4
|
Spain
|
COFIDES
|
1988
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
NSIA
|
2011
|
3
|
Angola
|
FSDEA
|
2012
|
3
|
Egypt
|
TSFE
|
2018
|
2
|
Vietnam
|
SCIC
|
2006
|
2
|
Gabon
|
FGIS
|
2012
|
2
|
Morocco
|
Ithmar Capital
|
2011
|
2
|
Palestine
|
PIF
|
2003
|
1
|
Bolivia
|
FINPRO
|
2015
|
0,4
|
AUM (assets under management) figures from Global SWF, January 2023
|
|||
Engagement in food/farmland/agriculture assessed by GRAIN
|
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Farmland values hit record highs, pricing out farmers
Published
2 years agoon
November 21, 2022Women’s Climate Assembly, 2024: African women vow to protect human and environmental rights amidst an influx of destructive land-based investments on the continent.
UN approves carbon market safeguards to protect environment and human rights
Breaking: West and Central African women meet in Senegal over the climate crisis.
Total Energies’ oil exploration activities are displacing dozens of families due to flooding.
Industrial plantations: stop endangering local farmers, Indigenous knowledge, and food system models – land-grab victims
EACOP: Another community of 80 households has lost its land to the government and Total Energies to construct an oil pipeline.
Uganda: Land-grab victim communities will join counterparts in commemorating the 2024 International Day of Struggle Against Industrial Plantations.
Carbon offset projects exacerbate land grabbing and undermine small farmers’ independence – GRAIN report
Innovative Finance from Canada projects positive impact on local communities.
Over 5000 Indigenous Communities evicted in Kiryandongo District
Petition To Land Inquiry Commission Over Human Rights In Kiryandongo District
Invisible victims of Uganda Land Grabs
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- THE SITUATION OF PLANET, ENVIRONMENTAL AND LAND RIGHTS DEFENDERS IS FURTHER DETERIORATING IN UGANDA AS 2023 WITNESSED A RECORD OF OVER 180 ATTACKS.
- A CASE STUDY REPORT ON THE CHALLENGES OF ACCESSING JUSTICE BY VICTIMS OF LAND GRABBING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE IMPACT ON DISPLACED COMMUNITIES IN UGANDA
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