APC, CIPESA and WOUGNET publish UPR submission on digital rights in Uganda
APC, CIPESA and WOUGNET have published a joint stakeholder submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Uganda. The submission examines online freedom of expression, internet shutdowns, digital inclusion, data protection, surveillance and technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and sets out 10 recommendations for the Ugandan government.
A new joint submission by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), CIPESA and the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) examines human rights in Uganda’s digital context ahead of the country’s fourth-cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s UPR Working Group covers freedom of expression and access to information, internet shutdowns and digital connectivity, data protection and surveillance, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
It also documents concerns around the January 2026 election-period internet shutdown, restrictions on online media and expression, digital exclusion, the use of biometric systems, and surveillance. The organisations make 10 recommendations to the Ugandan government, including reforms to online content regulation, stronger safeguards for surveillance and personal data, measures to improve affordable and inclusive connectivity, and a framework addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
The submission builds on Uganda’s previous UPR cycle and notes that while the country has made progress in areas such as connectivity, data protection enforcement and digital public services, significant digital rights concerns remain.
Read more: Human rights in the digital context in Uganda – UPR submission
