THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL REPORT LAUNCHED

At a two days meeting held on 25th-26th April at cornerstone hotel in Fort-portal. Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI)   launched a  report on the right to a fair trial which examines the current level  of compliance with the constitutional requirement that suspects, accused persons, and inimates are entitled  to a fair, speedy and public hearing  before an independent and impartial tribunal. in his overview the Executive Director FHRI, noted that the organisation had existed for more than 20 years  actively engaging in studies and research  on  human rights  issues,  related to Juvinile justice,Right to health care,Prison reform in Uganda, with the objective of improving the standard of living  and causing social change in Uganda.
 with the participants ranging  from Judges, police force, prisons, CSOs, human rights defenders and the media, various presentations were made highlighting the achievements, challenges in ensuring the delivery of a  fair trial.According to a presentation by the principle Judge Hon.Yokoramu Bamwine, The right to a  fair trial is a norm of international  human rights law designed to protect individuals  from the unlawful and deprivation of other basic rights and freedom, the most prominent of which are the  right to life and liberty to the person. however he noted challenges in the  delivery of criminal justice from Acute shortage of staff at all levels of court, heavy case backlog build up at all levels of courts coupled with unexplained  and adjournments of cases, civil  and criminal.



By the end of the two days participants were equiped with the proceedings in the  criminal  justice system  especially from the police force where a proffessional standards unit was established to ensure proffessionalism and adherence to ethics in the police force, the officer in charge noted that in its  four years of establishment, the unit has netted over 20 years who intended to exhort money from people.