The Human Rights Network for Journalists in Uganda-HRNJ Uganda has today,28th April 2022 launched its 13th edition of the Annual Press Freedom Index Report of the year 2021.
The report reflects the state of media rights in Uganda and provides a documentation of reported cases of human rights abuses and violations committed against individual journalists, media practitioners and media houses.
A total of 131 cases of media violations and abuses were documented in 2021. The Uganda Police Force has for the thirteenth year emerged as the leading violator of press freedoms in Uganda.
In total, eighty-two (82) cases out of 131 violations were recorded against Police.
The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) came 2nd in perpetration of press freedom violations in 2021 with a total of twenty-five (25) violations out of the 131 cases documented.
This comes ahead of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) commemoration slated for Tuesday, May 3,2022 – proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-UNESCO’s General Conference.
This year’s theme: The theme of this year’s WPFD Global Conference (held in Punta Del Este, Uruguay) is “Journalism Under Digital Siege.” The goal is to underline the role of the information in an online media environment by focusing on the following: the digital era’s impact on freedom of expression. the safety or journalists.
