By Margaret Sekaggya
Uganda Human Rights Commission er en kompetent institution med et bredt mandat, og alligevel er det stort set straffrit at krænke menneskerettighederne. Det er derfor nødvendigt at opbygge en bæredygtig menneskeretsbevægelse med alle aktører.
As a citizen of Uganda that has worked in the field of Human Rights for almost 20 years, I believe that when it comes to Uganda, the heart of the State is in the right place as regards human rights.
The attitude of the state and its agencies, however, needs to foster the respect for human rights by doing away with the promotion of impunity, a lack of accountability by those who violate rights
And in order to achieve stability, justice, good governance and a general respect for Human Rights in Uganda, it is important that a sustainable human rights movement is built through a concerted effort from all key players in this area.
As a member of the UN, Uganda subscribes to International Human Rights standards as laid out in the International Bill of Rights whose premise is that everyone is entitled to the rights mentioned within by virtue of the fact that they are human beings.
These are mostly categorized as Civil and Political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights. With these rights come duties, the major duty being prescribed to the state as the primary enforcer of these rights.
The state has the duty to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of their citizens, and a duty to the citizens to respect the rights of others in exercising their own.
Uganda Human Rights Commission
Steps were taken by the state to ensure that they were outfitted to fulfill this responsibility. It was important that the ratification of International human rights treaties was complemented with a comprehensive national bill of rights contained in the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
This constitution went ahead to establish a National Human Rights Institution whose mandate included among many, the monitoring of the Human Rights situation in the country and making recommendations to Parliament on how to improve the situation.
The establishment of an independent body to monitor the situation of Human Rights in the country was an extremely positive statement by Government.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission became functional in 1997 and unlike many national human rights institutions had the mandate to operate as a quasi judicial body with the ability to listen to complaints of violations and award compensation.
The Commission has gone ahead to achieve a status as a functional and competent national institution with a very broad mandate and competent Commissioners and staff.
Ground breaking decisions by the Judiciary
The Uganda Human Rights Commission has also embarked on training the state agencies on a Human Rights Based Approach in all their workings, therefore measuring their work against the international human rights standards to ensure that their laws, policies, operations do not contravene these standards.
A forward looking and innovative judiciary that ensures that human rights standards are respected in their judgments and that the respect for the constitution and all its provisions is upheld.
The judiciary has made ground breaking decisions on controversial human rights issues such as the death penalty in Uganda, the freedom of expression and information among many.
Anti torture law
Parliament has taken its oversight role seriously and enacted bills that promote the respect of rights such as the anti torture law, the law against female genital mutilation.
The creation of the recently established human rights committee means that there will be an even more concerted effort towards ensuring that human rights are given adequate attention in the functions of Parliament and the all the other arms of Government.
Vibrant civil society
A vibrant civil society continues to advocate for the respect of human rights in the country, and that holds Government accountable to all its responsibilities under national, regional and international instruments and mechanisms to which it has subscribed.
The even stronger coalitions that have been formed with in civil society have managed to provide sufficient support to the state and its citizens in terms of research ,information, advocacy, dialogue ,education, capacity building to enable them to make informed decisions.
Other contributions that have been made include public interest litigations, national enquiries, and production of shadow reports on the situation of human rights in the country that are submitted along Government reports to regional and International mechanisms.
The contribution of international NGO’s goes without saying, as development partners and also in supplementing the work of the local NGO’s through training, research, capacity building etc.
Human Rights Centre
The work of human rights defenders has been paramount to the strides that have been made in the field of human rights thus far, and it was important to promote the rights of these defenders as they handled the very vital though delicate area of human rights.
In 1998 three human rights experts formed the Human Rights Centre whose aim was to promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders, through capacity building, training on the use of protective mechanisms, translation, simplification and dissemination of human rights instruments and relevant laws among many other activities.
The Centre simplified and translated the bill of rights of the Uganda Constitution into seven local languages so that it is made accessible to Ugandans even in the rural areas. They also translated and simplified the UN declaration on Human Rights Defenders, so that they are aware of the rights and duties contained therein.
The Centre works together with other partners to raise the profile of human rights defenders.
Preference for civil political rights
Like most developing countries however, there is a tendency for civil political rights that by their nature do not necessarily require a serious financial or resource commitment on the part of the state, to be preferred over the Social Economic and cultural rights that require a significant amount of investment.
This means that rights such as health, education, housing, food and many others have taken a back seat, therefore defeating the principle of indivisibility and interdependence of all rights, civil, political and economic, social and cultural rights.
A very common example that is given to depict this is “the right to food has a direct impact on the right to life”, the two are not exclusive of each other.
Rights such as that of health require a massive input of resource from the Government and yet the budget continues to be seen as a non priority.
The underlying determinants of health include food and nutrition, Uganda unlike some of its African counterparts has not yet achieved food security.
Government introduced Universal Primary Education, however for the recipients of this education to have a quality education, it would require a fundamental investment from Government and therefore these rights are put on the back burner.
The state needs to understand that these rights are dependent on each other.
Grave ignorance of Human Rights
The Uganda Human Rights Commission and other civil societies view Human Rights and civic education as a critical strategy in empowering individuals and groups to understand and appreciate human rights, however there is still a grave ignorance on the notion of human rights especially in the rural areas as the hindrances such as low literacy levels, limiting social and cultural norms tend to be enhanced in these areas.
The attitude of the state and its agencies needs to foster the respect for human rights by doing away with the promotion of impunity, a lack of accountability by those who violate rights.
There needs to be a clear separation of powers with in Government, each playing its role towards the promotion and protection of human rights, without interference from another.
Rights systematically abused
Albeit the strides that have been made towards the protection and promotion of human rights, there is a lack of consistency on the part of the state, depending especially on the political atmosphere at the time.
The electoral process of 2011 brought about questions on the nature of democracy exercised by the Government, and several violations arose out of this exercise including those to the freedom of association, assembly, freedom of expression and information among many.
There arose a particularly vulnerable group of activists such as opposition party members and the media that till today are under scrutiny by the Government.
The space for civil society also continues to shrink, especially for those whose mandate is on governance, democracy and accountability issues, and issues that are seen to contravene social and cultural norms.
The recent discovery of oil in the Albertine region has also brought about fresh violations against the right to freedom of expression and access to information, movement, and property among others.
Vulnerable members of society continue to face the brunt of violations of rights, despite the promulgation of equality with in international human rights instruments and the constitution of the republic of Uganda
Women, minorities, children, persons with disabilities, persons living with HIV AIDS and others continue to have their rights systematically abused .These groups with the support of civil society are now able to advocate for their rights.
Concerted effort needed
In order to achieve stability, justice, good governance and a general respect for Human Rights in Uganda, it is important that a sustainable human rights movement is built through a concerted effort from all key players in this area.
It is therefore important that the state consider best practices from countries that have to a greater degree managed to maintain a standard of human rights as set in the International instruments.
These are just a few interventions that will be necessary to build a nation that is aware of its rights and duties.
• To ensure that the constitution is upheld in its entirety by the state and its citizens.
• Adequate support should be given to the Uganda Human Rights Commission in the fulfillment of its mandate, through the respect for its independence and the deliberation and implementation of its recommendations.
• The civil society must form and maintain coalitions to ensure that their impact is felt country wide.
• Government must be accountable to its citizens, by ensuring transparency in its dealings, and by acting against impunity.
• There should be equitable distribution of rights meaning that the rights of the vulnerable should be given priority.
• Lastly the state and its citizens should look to enhance their knowledge on human rights with Government knowing and fulfilling its duties, and with the citizens holding Government accountable.
Margaret Sekaggya is Executive Director of the Human Rights Centre Uganda and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders.
