DR. BIREETE SARAH
Dr. Bireete Sarah is a founding Partner and Executive Director for Center for Constitutional Governance (CCG), a Uganda Constitutional Watchdog (Non Governmental Organization) based at Plot 14, Muwafu Road, Ministers Village - Ntinda, Kampala. Previously, she was the Deputy Executive Director of the same NGO since 2011 to 2019. Prior to 2011, she was working as a pubic defender at the Public Defenders Association of Uganda, Kampala. She is a lawyer by profession, a human rights activist and a partner at Dickens Kamugisha and Co. Advocates in Kampala - Uganda. She is a regular panelist on the National Broadcaster (Uganda Broadcasting Corporation - UBC) political talk show known as UBC Behind The Headlines; a show that runs every Wednesday; as well as Civic Space TV (a Digital TV) on Chat Show UG, every Friday. She is a member of several boards of organizations as well as governing committees of schools and students bodies. She also chairs national coalitions including the national coalition on civic space in Uganda and she is the focal point person for the international human rights defenders group known as Vuka Allies, for Uganda. She has enriched knowledge and understanding of governance issues especially in areas of constitutionalism, human rights, Civic Space, electoral democracy, land rights, research and advocacy, public interest litigation as well as conflict transformation.
The Ugandan government continues to limit freedom of expression and association with human rights defenders being subjected to threats, intimidation and judicial harassment due to their legitimate human rights work. A number of human rights organisations have reported break-ins at their offices. Particularly at risk are human rights defenders advocating for the rights of LGBTI people. Same-sex conduct remains criminalised under Uganda’s colonial-era law, which prohibits “carnal knowledge” among people of the same sex. In August 2017, the Minister of Ethics and Integrity issued a directive shutting down events associated with Pride celebrations in Kampala and Jinja and deployed police officers to the venues.
The government has clamped down on independent media and enacted legislation restricting civil and political rights and constraining the functioning of NGOs. On 14 March 2016, the 'Non-Governmental Organisations Act' (NGO Act) came into force, which includes some provisions containing vague wording which could be used to target legitimate human rights organisations. The NGO Act establishes a National Bureau of Non-Governmental Organisations which has the power to blacklist NGOs and restricts NGOs from engaging in activitie
