Uganda is de facto abolitionist, as the last execution took place in 2005. However, in 2017, more than 250 people remained on death row.
While Uganda has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1995, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
3 November 2016: Due to PGA’s work in Uganda, PGA was invited to co-author a Joint Stakeholder Report on the Death Penalty in Uganda for the Second Universal Periodic Review of Uganda, taking place on 3 November 2016 as part of the 26th Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
6 April 2016: A bill abolishing the death penalty, introduced in Parliament in 2013 by PGA Members Hon. Alice Alaso and Hon. Fox Odoi, was presented to the Legal Affairs Committee with a supportive submission of PGA Member Hon. Mark Pritchard (UK). The bill put forth the removal of all references to the mandatory death penalty prescribed in Ugandan laws and the restriction of death penalty application. Hon. Fox Odoi made a detailed Statement before the Committee. The bill had still to be discussed in the Legal Affairs Committee under the Chairmanship of PGA Member Hon. Stephen Tashobya before being introduced for a second reading.
7 October 2015: PGA organised a Parliamentary Roundtable and Consultations on the abolition of the death penalty in Uganda during which the Parliamentarians all expressed their support for the abolition of the death penalty in Uganda. Since then and thanks to the leadership of Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of Parliament and PGA Member, a law abolishing the death penalty was adopted in Plenary Session and sent to the relevant Committee for examination.
17 December 2014: The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted its 4th resolution calling for an international moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a record 117 votes in favor, 6 more than in 2012. For the first time, Uganda did not vote against the resolution but rather abstained, following the mobilisation of PGA national group, notably led by Hon. Alice Alaso and Hon. Fox Odoi on that matter.
26 September 2013: Leading PGA members from Uganda, Hon. Alice Alaso and Hon. Fox Odoi deposited a legislative initiative on abolition of the capital punishment.
