Kampala — THE Government must enact a law on torture to comply with international human rights conventions, the dean of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University has said.

Dr. Ben Twinomugisha suggested that the proposed Bill on the prevention of torture includes provisions that hold errant government agents or servants accountable for their actions.

Twinomugisha explained that the law would protect both the rights of citizens and non-citizens within its territory.

He was at a workshop presenting a paper on holding the state accountable on Monday.

The workshop was to debate a draft Bill that civil society organisations intend to take to Parliament as a Private Members' Bill.

"Torture is torture. It cannot be justified in any way, even for the purpose of extracting intelligence information. Government agents who commit torture must also be held personally responsible," Twinomugisha said.

Dr. Eugene Kinyanda, a psychiatrist at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said torture in Uganda is in three forms: torture during war times, custodial torture and social-cultural torture.

He said torture was a local and global problem that needed to be fought jointly at different levels.