Executive Director of UNAIDS Ms Winnie Karagwa Byanyima has said she has had enough of racist harassment in Switzerland, with the discriminative vice visiting her doorstep in Geneva often enough to cause her untold distress.
The Ugandan aeronautical engineer, human rights activist and diplomat said in a post on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that she has had to endure racial profiling since taking residence in Geneva three years ago.
“I’ve had enough of racist harassment,” Ms Byanyima said in a post that was accompanied by a photo in which three white police officers are seen at what appears to be the private park she said she was allegedly harassed from.
I’ve had enough of racist harassment. For 3 yrs I’ve lived in a blg with this private park. Security constantly target me just for exercising in our park. Today he called the cops on me who rudely stopped my workout. The cops treated me like an intruder in my own space. 😡 pic.twitter.com/pb3FlPmsHz
“Security constantly targets me just for exercising in our park. Today, he called the cops on me who rudely stopped my workout. The cops treated me like an intruder in my own space,” she said.
Ms Byanyima said for three years she has lived in a building that shares a fence with a private park. Residents in the area take their workouts in the park.
But not all are equal it appears, and this is not the first time Ms Byanyima has complained about being racially profiled in the European country.
In June last year, Ms Byanyima took to Twitter to complain about the treatment she received when boarding a plane in Geneva, in the western part of the Swiss Confederation.
“I’m almost refused to board. All documents scrutinised over and over again; calls made…. I board last,” she posted on X.
At the time, she was heading to Canada for the 24th international Aids conference. She said at the time that hundreds of “people in the South have been denied visas and won’t attend”.
The alleged racist harassment of Byanyima, also the wife of Opposition stalwart Dr Kizza Besigye, almost received no attention from the government and the global community.
More than 24 hours after the post, the Permanent Mission to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva was not aware of it.
Furthermore, Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not release a statement by press time.
Ambassador Arthur Sewankambo Kafeero, whose docket directly covers the UN agencies, said he was away on leave and referred this newspaper to the office in Geneva.
Ambassador Marcel Robert Tibaleka, who heads the Uganda Geneva Office, did not respond to our queries on the matter.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem said he was away in Jordan and his office had not been notified of the matter.
“She has not brought this matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as something she wishes to handle through diplomatic channels. Maybe she is handling it personally or through the organisation she works for. So, I cannot comment,” Oryem told The Monitor.
Former ambassador Harold Acemah described Byanyima’s alleged treatment as “disgusting, indefensible, outrageous, scandalous and totally unacceptable”.
“I am disappointed and surprised to note that MOFA has not taken appropriate action through normal diplomatic channels,” said Acemah.
He also said Byanyima “deserves and is entitled to support from Foreign Affairs Ministry to stop this indefensible and unacceptable harassment”.
“Winnie Byanyima is a senior UN official, but she remains a citizen of Uganda who is entitled to consular protection and services accorded by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Uganda’s Diplomatic Missions abroad,” he added.
Byanyima’s claims of repeated racist treatment with no decisive diplomatic response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs has drawn criticism from Ugandans.
“If an international human rights crusader gets treated this way for their skin colour, imagine what happens to the ordinary folks,” said Moses Amone, an X user on Byanyima’s post.
A passionate and longstanding champion of social justice and gender equality, Ms Byanyima leads the UN’s efforts to end HIV/Aids by 2030.
Before joining UNAIDS, she served as the executive director of Oxfam International, a confederation of more than a dozen civil society organisations working to empower people to create a future that is secure, just and free from poverty.
