Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken in response to reports that, since November 2020, Ugandan supporters of the National Unity Platform have been abducted by the government of Uganda's security services; and what proportion of UK Official Development Assistance is focused on security sector reform in that country.

The treatment of opposition candidates and their supporters, including reports of abductions and arbitrary detentions, in the run-up to and since the Ugandan elections is concerning and does not provide for an open political landscape for democracy to flourish. We have raised our concerns on this at the highest level with the Government of Uganda. Following the disproportionate response by the Ugandan security services to the protests at the end of November 2020, we took the decision to cut pause funding of three projects, totalling £40,909, which were working directly with the Ugandan security services. There is currently no UK Overseas Development Assistance spend to support security sector reform. In addition to the wider UK ODA review, we are currently reviewing UKAid spend in Uganda, including the permanent status of the above projects. Following the Presidential election results on 16 January 2021, the Minister for Africa set out, in a statement, our significant concerns about the overall political climate surrounding the elections and have urged the Government of Uganda to meet its international human rights commitments. The British High Commission in Kampala has regular meetings with international partners, NGOs, the Government of Uganda, and others, in order to gain an accurate picture of the human rights situation in Uganda. We regularly urge the Government of Uganda to uphold its international human rights commitments and have spoken out both publicly and privately against human rights violations and will continue to do so.