Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire has been named the winner of the EU Human Rights Defenders' Award 2023.
The award, which was presented during a ceremony on Thursday at the residence of the Netherlands Ambassador in Kampala, is given annually by the European Union and Norway to recognise an outstanding contribution by a human rights defender in Uganda.
Atuhaire was chosen as the winner in recognition of her outstanding recent work to increase transparency in public life, hold public institutions accountable and defend the rights of people who have been affected by corruption and mismanagement in public service.
In the past year, she has effectively used social media platforms to expose mismanagement at the Law Development Centre, to hold to account the National Water and Sewerage Corporation for problems with its billing system and to raise concerns about mismanagement in the Parliament of Uganda.
Receiving the award, Atuhaire said, "It is a great honour to receive this prestigious award. I am grateful to the EU for recognising my work and the work of other human rights defenders in this country. I am grateful to all the human rights defenders out there and to my fellow finalists Richard and Solomon who are also doing incredible work."
Speaking during the award ceremony, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Uganda Her Excellency Dr. Karin Boven said "Agather is a good example of the role an independent journalist can play in the fight against impunity and corruption."
Also shortlisted for this year's award was Richard Lusimbo and investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja.
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Speaking before the award announcement, European Union Ambassador to Uganda Jan Sadek said "these leading human rights defenders demonstrate that universal values are not just words that sound nice in a speech, but that they have a real life meaning and can transform people's lives."
Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are individuals who, individually or with others, act to promote and protect universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms. These include civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights.
The work of HRDs has a positive impact on a country's development and is essential for encouraging the respect for human rights as recognised by international human rights standards and agreements.
Past winners of the EU HRD Award include Gerald Kankya (2012) of Twerwaneho Listeners Club, Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala (2013) former Coordinator of Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ), the three joint winners (2014) Gladys Canogura of Kitgum Women Peace Initiative, Assistant Commissioner of Police Christine Alalo, Head of the Uganda Police Family and Child Protection Unit, and Mohammed Ndifuna, Director of the Human Rights Network Uganda, Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana (2015), Founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and Robert Sempala (2016) of the Human Rights Network of Journalists (HRNJ) and Pamela Angwech (2017) Founder and Executive Director of the Gulu Women's Economic Development and Globalization (GWED-G) among others.
