Journalist Agather Atuhaire wins Human Rights Defenders Award

The European Union (EU) in Uganda Thursday evening announced journalist Agather Atuhaire as the winner of the EU Human Rights Defenders Award 2023.

Atuhaire shrugged off friendly competition from fellow journalist Solomon Serwanjja and Richard Lusimbo, the founder of Global Black Gay Men Connect, a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York City, United States.

The EU said Atuhaire was picked because of her courageous efforts to shine a light on corruption and mismanagement in public life in Uganda. Atuhaire, also a lawyer, has used the media, especially social media to highlight glaring abuse of office by government officials and offices.

Among those cases that she has almost singlehandedly taken on include the mismanagement of student examination marks (results) by the Uganda Law Development Center, the extravagance and improper recruitment of workers at the Parliament of Uganda, and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

The Embassy of France in Uganda tweeted saying the world needs more people like Atuhaire while the Embassy of Netherlands in Uganda congratulations also to finalists for making this year’s shortlist.

“We applaud their work to shine a spotlight on abuses and support the rights of vulnerable and marginalised populations in Uganda,” the Dutch said in a congratulatory Tweet.

Speaking at the Award Ceremony in Kampala, the Netherlands Ambassador to Uganda, Karin Boven, said “Agather is a good example of the role an independent journalist can play in the fight against impunity and corruption.”

Maria Håkansson, the Ambassador of Sweden to Uganda described Atuhaire’s victory as well deserved. “As we yesterday (Wednesday) celebrated World Press Freedom Day it’s indeed very timely to recognize critical journalistic work. Congratulations also to the equally very qualified runners up Lusimbo and Serewanjja,”

The Ambassador of the European Union 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,”

Commenting on the win, Atuhaire said: “We all have some power. But we cannot all use it in the same way. Not everyone has the voice, the courage, the platform. So I use mine and stand up for other people.”