Last Change:
03/21/2025
The Constitution of The Republic of Uganda
Year: 1995
Type: Domestic law
Rights Category: Education, Health, Housing, land & property, Liberty & security of person, Nationality & facilitated naturalization, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Documentation
Description
The Constitution of Uganda, promulgated in 1995, serves as the supreme law of the country. The Constitution guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms for all individuals, including the right to life, liberty, and security, freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and the right to equality before the law. It prohibits torture and ensures the right to a fair trial. The Constitution also establishes a Parliament responsible for legislation and oversight, as well as a judiciary that operates independently. It emphasizes principles of national unity, decentralization, and affirmative action, aiming to redress historical imbalances and promote the representation of marginalized groups. The Constitution promotes good governance through transparency, accountability, and the establishment of constitutional commissions and offices.
The content of the Constitution of The Republic of Uganda is consistent with the Refugee Convention (1951) in relation to documentation rights.
Selected provisions
In the determination of civil rights and obligations or any criminal charge, a person shall be entitled to a fair, speedy and public hearing before an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law.
(4) Children are entitled to be protected from social or economic exploitation and shall not be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
(5) For the purposes of clause (4) of this article, children shall be persons under the age of sixteen years.
Parliament shall enact laws—
(a) to provide for the right of persons to work under satisfactory, safe and healthy conditions;
(b) to ensure equal payment for equal work without discrimination; and
(c) to ensure that every worker is accorded rest and reasonable working hours and periods of holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays.
(1) Judicial power is derived from the people and shall be exercised by the courts established under this Constitution in the name of the people and in conformity with law and with the values, norms and aspirations of the people.
(2) In adjudicating cases of both a civil and criminal nature, the courts shall, subject to the law, apply the following principles—
(a) justice shall be done to all irrespective of their social or economic status;
(b) justice shall not be delayed;
(c) adequate compensation shall be awarded to victims of wrongs;
(d) reconciliation between parties shall be promoted; and
(e) substantive justice shall be administered without undue regard to technicalities.
Every worker has a right—
(a) to form or join a trade union of his or her choice for the promotion and protection of his or her economic and social interests;
(b) to collective bargaining and representation; and
(c) to withdraw his or her labour according to law.
Parliament shall by law provide for the acquisition and loss of citizenship by naturalisation.
(1) Every person born in Uganda—
(a) at the time of whose birth—
(i) neither of his or her parents and none of his or he
grandparents had diplomatic status in Uganda; and
(ii) neither of his or her parents and none of his or her
grandparents was a refugee in Uganda; and
(b) who has lived continuously in Uganda since the ninth day of October, 1962, shall, on application, be entitled to be registered as a citizen of Uganda.
(2) The following persons shall, upon application, be registered as citizens of Uganda—
(a) every person married to a Uganda citizen upon proof of a legal and subsisting marriage of three years or such other period prescribed by Parliament;
(b) every person who has legally and voluntarily migrated to and has been living in Uganda for at least ten years or such other period prescribed by Parliament;
(c) every person who, on the commencement of this Constitution, has lived in Uganda for at least twenty years.
(3) Clause (2)(a) of this article applies also to a person who was married to a citizen of Uganda who, but for his or her death, would have continued to be a citizen of Uganda under this Constitution.
(4) Where a person has been registered as a citizen of Uganda under clause (2)(a) of this article and the marriage by virtue of which that person was registered is—
(a) annulled or otherwise declared void by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction; or
(b) dissolved, that person shall, unless he or she renounces that citizenship, continue to be a citizen of Uganda.
(1) A child of not more than five years of age found in Uganda, whose parents are not known, shall be presumed to be a citizen of Uganda by birth.
(2) A child under the age of eighteen years neither of whose parents is a citizen of Uganda, who is adopted by a citizen of Uganda shall, on application, be registered as a citizen of Uganda.
(2) Without prejudice to clause (1) of this article, a person shall not be discriminated against on the ground of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.
All persons have a right to education.