Integrating Human Rights in Regulation of Media Practice in Uganda

Abstract

Despite ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19) and recognition of freedom of opinion and expression by the Constitution of Uganda (1995), state and media practitioners continue to clash in public space over the right of media to access public information and to determine content and presentation of media output. This policy brief discusses integration of universal media freedoms and rights into the media policy framework, and is based on policy research commissioned by the Uganda Policy Development Management Forum based at Uganda Management Institute (UMI), in partnership with Africa Leadership Institute (AFLI). Data was obtained by document review and presented to a public policy dialogue attended by media practitioners, government technocrats in the ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), academia and the general population.