Mirjam Blaak

Mirjam Blaak (born 1956) is the Netherlands-born Ugandan Ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the EU.[1][2][3] She is a member of the National Resistance Movement, the party led by Yoweri Museveni that has been in power since 1986.[4] She married NRM fighter Ronald Batta (1950-2004), and they had two sons.[5][1] Before Museveni came to power, she helped Janet Museveni and her children get asylum in Sweden. She has defended Ugandan human rights violations and the presence of safe houses in Uganda.[6]

Blaak in 2013

Blaak earned a Master of Laws Degree at Utrecht University before working as a Protection Officer with UNHCR in Nairobi.[7] When she became Deputy Ambassador to Brussels in 2003, she voluntarily relinquished her Dutch citizenship to become a Ugandan citizen.[1]

Controversy

Mirjam Blaak has downplayed the use of safe houses for human rights violation in Uganda: "I know there are safe houses, but I don't know if people are tortured there. I think safe houses exist everywhere, not just in Uganda."[6]

At the International Court of Justice, where she represented Uganda, she denied that human rights violations were a daily occurrence in Uganda. The Ugandan house and office of the whistleblower were raided shortly after.[8]

When Muhammad Ssegirinya was admitted to the Dutch hospital AMC for treatment of his torture wounds, she told a journalist "What he is being treated for does not indicate torture".[9]

References
  1. "The Ambassador of Uganda, H.E. Ms. Mirjam Blaak". Diplomat Magazine. July 10, 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  2. "Embassy of the Republic of Uganda to the Kingdoms of Belgium & The Netherlands, The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and The European Union". Embassy of the Republic of Uganda. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  3. Ntale, Samson; Doornebal, Arne (July 22, 2014). "Uganda's only Mzungu ambassador who saved Mbabazi, Rugunda's lives". The Observer. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  4. "Curriculum" (PDF).
  5. Matsiko, Grace; Kadama, Diana (April 13, 2004). "Dr. Batta Healed Museveni's Liver". New Vision. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  6. Doornebal, Arne (2020). Oeganda onder president Museveni : hij verdreef een dictator. wordt hij er nu zelf één?. Koert Lindijer (Eerste druk ed.). Leeuwarden: Elikser Uitgeverij. p. 198. ISBN 978-94-6365-290-2. OCLC 1232238230.
  7. "Blaak markets Uganda in Europe". New Vision. July 3, 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  8. Pijnappels, Kees (2020-03-28). "'ICC geeft ons valse hoop'". Het Advocatenblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  9. "DPG Media Privacy Gate". myprivacy.dpgmedia.nl. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
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