Balancing human and state security in policing demonstrations: Lessons learned from the Bobi Wine demonstrations in Uganda

Abstract

Following the end of the 30years‘ war and the roll-out of the modern-day state system, security has often been viewed as protection of the sovereign political entity from external attacks. This ancient thinking has however faced resistance especially in the post-Cold-War period with critics calling for a shift from State to human security. The human rights regime, gaining confidence in the post-World War II period has further deepened the need for human security. This has challenged the traditional security methods especially in demonstrations where the security personnel have a duo-burden of guaranteeing state and human security. The paper relied on secondary sources of literature and used the case of the 2020 Bobi Wine demonstrations, to elaborate how policing demonstrations requires law enforcers to balance between state and human security. The paper specifically argues that the lessons learned from the demonstrations indicate that State and human security are interdependent and should not be treated separately even in violent situations. The paper recommends that demonstrators must practice their rights within the limits of the law and while the security personnel have the right to use force, only as the last resort should it be sanctioned