By Ronaldo Kalangi
The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) soldiers have been urged to exhibit respect and discipline in their day to day work in order to avoid abuse of human rights.
Ms. Nicole Bjerler, the representative of United Nations on Human Rights in Uganda said this during the opening of a three day training in Human Rights at Ministry of Defense Headquarters, Mbuya.
She also urged UPDF to act under human rights laws in order to remain relevant both locally and internationally. “UPDF have greatly improved in preserving human rights”, she observed.
Col.Sserunjoji Ddamulira, Assistant Deputy CMI in charge of Counter Intelligence who represented the CMI Chief Brig Gen Abel Kandiho commended the human rights commission for the partnership in training soldiers.
He urged trainees to observe respect and diligence in order to build professionalism based on discipline amongst themselves.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure that human rights are observed because we’re people’s army,” he cautioned.
Ms. Nowe Kakono Monalisa, the head human rights desk at CMI, welcomed the trainees and urged them to observe respect and concentrate on their duties in order to benefit from the training.
She said the main objective of this training was to boost their understanding on what observing human rights is all about and also gain knowledge of how to perform military activities/duties.
During this training, several modules will be covered, mainly reflecting on human rights with main emphasis on practical aspects of human rights in law enforcement operations, distinguishing human rights violations, abuse and crimes in Uganda among others.
This training came after Military decided to carry most of the city operations in a wave of chasing the organized criminal gangs around the country which murdered prominent people like Afande Kaweesi,Kirumira,Abiriga and Muslim sheikhs.
After the departure of Former inspector General of police Gen.Kale Kayihura,there has been the presence of military operations in Kampala which has resulted at times into torture and arrest of several people.
