The Unwanted Witness Uganda is welcoming efforts by the parliament of Uganda to pass the long awaited Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015.

The bill is meant to operationalize Article 27 (2) of the 1995 Constitution for the Republic of Uganda which states that, “no person shall be subjected to interference with the privacy of that person’s home, correspondence, communication or other property” as well as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of human Rights among others.

Unwanted Witness Uganda whose work is to advocate for open, secure and free internet in Uganda has for the five years advocating for Uganda’s data protection law and made submissions to parliament, seeking to safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms including the Right to privacy, which is essential to autonomy and the protection of human dignity.

“Privacy protects us from arbitrary and unjustified use of power by state authority, companies and other actors, allowing us regulate what can be known about us while protecting us from whoever may wish to exert control,” said Dorothy Mukasa, the Chief Executive Officer, the Unwanted Witness-Uganda.

She commended the parliament for engaging in the process adding that Unwanted Witness will soon conduct a review of the new version to assess whether it meets the minimum privacy standards set by human rights international legal framework.

The Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015 was on Tuesday, December 4th 2018 tabled before parliament by Ministry of Information Communication Technology and National guidance, Frank Tumwebaze for the second reading. This was adopted on the following day and now awaiting to be assented to by the president to become law.

Unwanted Witness has also in the recent past petitioned both the high court and the constitutional court challenging retrogressive laws including, Computer misuse Act, 2011, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2002 and Uganda Communication Act 2013 among others.