The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) learned with deep sadness of the passing away of former Commissioner Med. S. K. Kaggwa on the morning of 20 November 2019 in Kampala, Uganda.
Commissioner Kaggwa was a Member of the African Commission from 2011 to 2017, and will be particularly remembered for his tremendous contribution as Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa. He was the driving force behind the adoption by the Commission of Guidelines on Conditions of Arrest, Police Custody and Pre-trial Detention in Africa and the Guidelines on Policing and Assemblies for Law Enforcement Officers in Africa. He also initiated the preparation of Principles on Declassification and Decriminalization of Petty Offences in Africa, adopted in 2018. He further served as the Chairperson of the Advisory Committee on Budgetary and Staff Matters of the Commission, and as a Member of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa and the Working Group on Death Penalty, Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa.
At the time of his death Commissioner Kaggwa was the Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission.
The Commission wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Commissioner Kaggwa. Our thoughts and prayers are with them in this time.
May his soul rest in peace.
