UN Sounds Alarm as Parliament Expands Military Court Jurisdiction Over Civilians

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has voiced strong concern following the Ugandan Parliament’s passage of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (Amendment Bill) 2025, a controversial piece of legislation that significantly broadens the military court’s power to try civilians. The bill, passed on May 20th and now awaiting presidential assent, directly contradicts a landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that declared such trials unconstitutional.

In a press release, Türk urged President Yoweri Museveni to reject the “retrogressive bill,” stating, “I am concerned that rather than encouraging efforts to implement the Supreme Court’s crystal-clear decision of January this year, Uganda’s legislators have voted to reinstate and broaden the military court’s jurisdiction to try civilians, which would contravene international human rights law obligations.”

The Supreme Court’s January decision had unequivocally affirmed the unconstitutionality of trying civilians in military courts and ordered the immediate transfer of all ongoing civilian cases to ordinary civilian courts. Türk emphasised that the trial of civilians by military courts is “in principle incompatible with international human rights law,” citing serious concerns regarding the equitable, impartial, and independent administration of justice. Such trials, he noted, are only permissible in exceptional cases and subject to strict requirements.

Parliament’s approval of the amended bill comes amidst a worrying surge in human rights abuses targeting political opposition figures ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections early next year. Reports of arrests, abductions, harassment, intimidation, torture, and other ill-treatment have intensified, raising fears that the expanded military court jurisdiction could be used to further suppress dissent and undermine democratic processes.

Human rights organisations and legal experts in Uganda are now closely watching President Museveni’s decision on the bill, hoping he will heed the UN’s call and uphold the Supreme Court’s ruling to protect the fundamental rights of Ugandan citizens.