E/CN.4/1503
Annex I page 6
1972 UGANDA (THE REPUBLIC OF)
19. In August 1972, President Idi Amin Dada of Uganda announ- ced that all Asians residing in Uganda who were not of Ugandan nationality would have to leave the country within 90 days. Eighteen months earlier after proclaiming himself President, Amin had abolished rights enshrined in the country's Constitu- tion regarding freedom from arbitrary arrest,
arrest, of expression, assembly, association and movement (Suspension of Political Activities Decree, March 1971). The Armed Forces (Power of Arrest) Decree placed the armed forces above the law with full powers of search and seizure of property. The Detention (Presumption of Time Limit) Decree No 7 of March 1971 granted to the armed forces wide powers of detention without trial, and the power to "shoot on sight" was given by the Robbery Suspects Decree (1972).
20. The expulsion order was aimed at people who, in the main, had emigrated from the sub-continent of India and had developed local industry, established themselves in commerce and attained important professional business and administrative positions. The first government of an independent Uganda in 1962 had given large numbers of the Asians the opportunity to become Ugandan citizens, an option thousands of them took up. The expulsion order constituted a serious violation of the human rights of
the Asian community.
21. Most of the 27 000 Asians holding British passports went directly to the United Kingdom. Approximately two thousand others who held Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi passports travelled to their countries of origin - some of them for the first time. For the six to seven thousand Asians of undeter- mined status, not recognized as nationals by any country, other emergency arrangements had to be made. Even Ugandan nationals of Asian origin, intimidated by Amin's threats to put those who remained behind into concentration camps (they were in any case ordered to leave the urban areas where they had lived and earned their livelihood) and daunted by the difficulty of satisfactorily proving their Ugandan citizenship to the mili- tary authorities - also elected to leave.
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22. Aware of the dramatic situation of this group, and heeding urgent appeals to the international community made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States of America sent missions to Kampala to interview candidates on the spot, many of whom could leave immediately. The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden also
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