Uganda Human Rights Commission Structure
STRUCTURE OF THE COMMISSION
The Commission
The governing body of the Uganda Human Rights Commission is the Commission, which is composed of a Chairperson and six other members appointed by the President, with the approval of Parliament. They serve for a period of six years and are eligible for re-appointment.
The Secretary to the Commission
The Commission also has a Secretary to the Commission who is the Accounting Officer and in charge of overseeing the day-to-day running of the Commission, heads the management team and is the secretary to Commission meetings. The office of the Secretary is also charged with overseeing the public affairs, planning and editorial functions of the Commission.
Directorates
The Commission executes its Constitutional mandate through its five Directorates namely, the Directorate of Complaints, Investigations and Legal Services, the Directorate of Finance and Administration, the Directorate of Research, Education and Documentation, the Directorate of Monitoring and Inspections and the Directorate of Regional Service.
Further more,there are also different units under some of the directorates namely,Human Resource Unit, Public Affairs Unit,Right to Health Unit,Vulnerable Persons’ Unit,Internal Audit,Editing Unit,System Administration Unit,Planning Unit,Library and Documentation Center,Tribunal Registrar’s Unit and the Human Rights Defenders Desk.
Regional offices
In an effort to take services nearer to the people, the Commission has so far established nine regional offices in the country namely; Arua, Kampala Central, Gulu, Soroti, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Jinja , Masaka and Moroto regional offices.
The regional offices carry out the Commission mandate in their areas of jurisdiction, which includes receiving complaints, carrying out investigations, mediation, visiting places of detention, monitoring the state of human rights in their areas, carrying out human rights education programmes such as workshops and training, among others. Human rights violations can be reported and ably handled at any of these regional offices.
Field Offices
Following the closure of Civil-Military Co-operation Centres (CMCCs) that were established to promote harmony between the Security Forces and the civilian populations, as well as receive and resolve complaints arising out of military operations and other security measures in the conflict areas of Northern and North eastern Uganda, the Uganda Human Rights Commission currently maintains 7 (seven) Filed offices to carry out its mandate. The UHRC Field offices are located in Lira, Pader and Kitgum under the UHRC Gulu Regional Office; Nakapiripirit and Kotido under the Morot Regional office and Kapchorwa and Kaberamaido under the Soroti Regional office.