A total of 96 cases of people being detained or arrested for opposing the controversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) have been reported in the past nine months, with the number of arrests skyrocketing in recent months.
In December, Global Witness released a report 'Climate of Fear' documenting reprisals against land and environmental defenders challenging plans to build the world's longest heated crude oil pipeline through both Uganda and Tanzania. At the time, 47 people had been arrested for challenging the pipeline in Uganda between September 2020 and November 2023. Double the number of incidents have since been reported in less than a year.
Reports of attacks and threats have continued despite the French oil major behind the project TotalEnergies "expressing concern" to the Ugandan government over arrests in May 2024. Since then, the state crackdown has stepped up against a civil society mobilising to protest the pipeline.
Global Witness is calling on TotalEnergies to meet prior public commitments to respect the rights of human rights defenders and to take immediate action to end the violent crackdown on climate campaigners in Uganda.
Hanna Hindstrom, Senior Investigator at Global Witness's Land and Environmental Defenders campaign, said:
"The tsunami of arrests of peaceful demonstrators fighting EACOP has exposed the limits of TotalEnergies' commitment to human rights.
"The company cannot in good conscience press ahead with the pipeline while peaceful protesters are being attacked for exercising their right to free speech. It must adopt a zero-tolerance approach to reprisals."
On 9 August, 47 students and three drivers were intercepted on their way to protest the pipeline and diverted to a police station. Just six weeks earlier, 30 people were arrested outside the Chinese embassy. In early June, environmental campaigner Stephen Kwikiriza was abducted and detained by the army, who reportedly beat him and dumped him on the side of a road a week later.
NGOs working on environmental conservation and oil extraction have also reported that their offices have been raided, and their staff intimidated and harassed, which has deterred many from speaking out about the pipeline.
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Hindstrom added:
"Climate activism is under threat around the world, while fossil fuel companies quietly benefit. European oil companies cannot absolve themselves from responsibility while their investments fuel climate destruction, reprisals and violence overseas."
Evie Calder, Senior Communications Advisor, Forests and Defenders
Hanna Hindstrom, Senior Investigator - Land and Environmental Defenders
