The Constitutional Court of Uganda has declared null and void a Penal Code law that punishes begging on the grounds that it is ambiguous and violates freedom of movement and freedom of movement.
The court’s decision was unanimous, with all five judges voting to strike down the law, making any attempt to deprive a person of his or her right to move freely a criminal offense.
The judges upheld the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) of Uganda’s arguments against a rule that anyone found wandering in a public place could be punished and considered by the police as a «vagrant» or «rogue».
HRAPF director Adrian Jjuuko has argued that this British colonial rule was intended to group the poor in confined spaces. Nowadays it was a breeding ground for police abuse and extortion.
Punishments ranged from the payment of a financial penalty to prison sentences of six to 13 months, reports Ugandan radio station Capital FM.
Street vendors and other small traders, prostitutes, drug users and the homeless were often the groups that suffered most from this archaic legislation, Jjuuko said.
«Anyone found walking the streets could be rounded up and accused of being a vagrant,» the director of the human rights organization told the BBC.
Prostitution is illegal in Uganda, while street vending is not allowed in some areas of the capital, Kampala, so it is common for the police and municipal authorities to carry out massive raids against these people, who sometimes demand payment to avoid arrest.
