Uganda: Staff of construction company & local authorities accused of using violence against community and HRDs who oppose project co-sponsored by AfDB & NDF; incl. co. responses
On August 10, 2021, sixteen members of Paten Clan, a community in Pakwach District in northern Uganda, were shot at and wounded by local police and army officers, as a retaliation for their opposition to the Wadelai irrigation project, constructed by the Ugandan company Coil Construction Company Limited and co-sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). Other community members and local human rights defenders were criminalised following the protests, and the local human rights organisation Buliisa Rural Initiative for Development (BIRUDO) was suspended.
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Coil Ltd, the African Development Bank and the Nordic Development Fund to respond; AfDB & NDF responded, Coil Ltd did not respond.