Promoting an Enabling Environment for Civil Society in Uganda
A Handbook for Paralegals
PUBLISHED: JUNE 2022
This handbook aims to strengthen the capacity of paralegals and others working to protect and promote an enabling environment for civil society in Uganda. This resource covers several aspects of the following rights:
- Freedom of association
- Freedom of peaceful assembly
- Freedom of expression including the right to access information
- Public participation.
The handbook summarizes relevant international legal standards, national laws and policies regulating each right listed above, and national case law affecting the realization of the right. It also includes guidance for paralegals to respond to restrictions that may violate international best practices or ensure the full realization of the right within the existing legal framework in Uganda.
Additionally, the handbook includes a chapter that addresses the realization of these rights in the digital context, covering international standards on the protection of rights online and restrictions that Ugandan civil society faces in realizing their rights in the digital realm.
The handbook also includes a chapter describing key state institutions that may impact the realization of fundamental rights in Uganda, and a chapter on existing mechanisms to hold the state or third parties accountable for protecting and promoting these rights. Paralegals can use these chapters as a starting point to understand which stakeholders they may need to contact or interact with and which forums they may use when advocating for the protection of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, expression, and public participation.
