UN closes its human rights office in Uganda as government ends an agreement allowing it to operate

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations’ human rights chief says his office in Uganda will close this weekend after the East African country decided not to renew an agreement allowing it to operate. The closure comes amid concern over human rights violations including extrajudicial killings and over a new law that prescribes the death penalty for some homosexual acts. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement on Friday that he regrets the closure. He expressed concern about the situation in Uganda ahead of elections in 2026, given what he described as an “increasingly hostile environment” for human rights defenders, journalists and others.