# Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work Date: 2026 ## The fact On 17 May 2026 President Museveni assented to the Protection of Sovereignty Act. FIDH recorded the assent date; OHCHR’s 30 July 2026 statement recorded that the May 2026 enactment imposed extensive restrictions on international funding and foreign engagement with civil society, with prison terms of up to ten years. ## Context He assented after the January 2026 poll. He does not write an OHCHR press release. 17 January EC return; 17 May sovereignty assent; 30 July OHCHR statement. Keep dates. Keep Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work on 2026-05-17 separate from neighbouring [Museveni](/people/yoweri-museveni) instruments. The president of Uganda is head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the UPDF under Article 98. He assents to bills Parliament has passed and appoints the Chief of Defence Forces. He does not write OHCHR briefing notes, Electoral Commission gazette tallies, ULII consolidations, or US visa-restriction lists. ## Evidence and sources OHCHR carries the official instrument or communique. FIDH records the same dated act independently. ## Significance The path is [civic space](/drivers/civic-space): a completed foreign-funding criminal statute after a seventh-term certification. ## What is established and what is not Established: FIDH recorded assent on 17 May 2026; OHCHR recorded the May 2026 enactment and its prison terms. What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions. The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit. Parliament passed. OHCHR and FIDH recorded the statute. Sharing recording is not a reason to drop the assent.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work, not a later speech about Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work. Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work on 2026-05-17 is not a licence to treat every later OHCHR communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Museveni assents to Protection of Sovereignty Act restricting foreign-funded civic work into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He assented. Parliament passed. OHCHR and FIDH recorded the statute. Sharing recording is not a reason to drop the assent. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. ## People - Yoweri Museveni: https://factrail.ai/people/yoweri-museveni ## Drivers - Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space - Museveni incumbency and civic squeeze: https://factrail.ai/drivers/museveni-incumbency-and-civic-squeeze ## Sources - https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/uganda/uganda-protection-of-sovereignty-act-threatens-activities-of-human - https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/07/uganda-crackdown-fundamental-freedoms ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ug-protection-of-sovereignty-2026