LASPs, HRDs TRAINED ON SECURITY MANAGEMENT

29 May 2017 -

Written by Laspnet

LASPNET with support from Action Aid Uganda (AAU) under the Fair Green and Global II (FGG II) project organized a training on risk assessment and security management for human rights defenders who include LASPs, on 18^th May 2017 in Kampala.

The training attended by over 32 HRDs was aimed at providing participants with the capacity to professionally assess their security risks and develop adequate responses and prevention measures for improved security and protection for both individuals and their organizations. They were thus equipped with skills to draw up and implement a comprehensive personal and organizational security plan.

Ms.Sylvia Namubiru Mukasa, the LASPNET Executive Director appreciated the support from Action Aid Uganda and urged participants to embrace the skills to enable them guard against security threats caused by infiltration that leads to office break-ins. This, she noted, would help improve their working conditions.

Mr.Fredrick Kawooya, the Policy and Campaigns Manager of Action Aid Uganda also remarked on the increased narrowing of the space within which people are able to challenge rights abuses globally. He called for the need for a wider political space to ensure management of risks in order to make the world a better place.

Facilitators from Defenders Protection Initiative (DPI) who led the training believed that human rights defenders needed to have the tools to analyze their working environment, assess their risks and develop strategies to increase their capacities to manage these risks with the ultimate aim of protecting their rights and those of others. This is especially in line with the recent office break-ins of different NGOs in Uganda including most recently, LASPNET, the Observer newspaper, Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ), among others, which created a wave of fear in the NGO movement.

As an outcome of the training, participants committed to transfer knowledge to their colleagues in the sector so as to improve security management at individual and organizational level.

Some of the organizations that attended the training included: Equal Opportunities commission, Uganda Local Governments Association, Justice Centers Uganda, Chapter Four Uganda, National Coalition for Human Rights Defenders-Uganda, Human Rights Center –Uganda, among others.