https://www.informerug.com/2023/08/insufficient-ambulance-ultrasound-scan-services-hamper-antenatal-care-in-ru

 

KNOW YOUR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS – ROTARACTORS EMPOWERED

WHO IS A YOUTH?

A young person especially: a young Male/ Female between adolescence and maturity

Uganda's National Youth Policy defines youth as those aged between 18 and 30. In contrast, the East African Community (EAC) defines youth as those between 15 and 35 years while the United Nation's definition is 15-24 years.

Participation in the protection & promotion activities can help youths become better informed about current events.

Human Rights are natural entitlements that accrue to everyone by virtue of being Human.

A human Being is a Man, Woman, Child with a sense of Reason.

30 Articles in UDHR and the Constitution of ROU 1995 (as Amended)

Human Rights go Hand in Hand with Human Responsibilities but ignorance of one affects the role of the other.

It stresses that developing capacities for participation is an important result in itself.

The youth can preserve human rights for generations and implant the importance and value of fundamental rights and freedoms in people's hearts.

As youth, we should convey the message of human rights to society.

The UDHR is adopted in 1948 December 10th a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world. In Uganda, it was 9th December 1998 that Declared HRD Day

It is absolutely clear that we need to regain the universality of human rights, the indivisibility of human rights, and we need to find a new energy that motivates young people around the world." Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, human rights have become more recognised and more guaranteed across the globe. It has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and migrants.

CATEGORIES of RIGHTS

First Generation Rights – Civic - Political – Liberties (Checking Excesses of the State) -Vote– Financial Implications

Second Generation Rights – Social Economic and Cultural Rights - Welfare (Progressive in Nature) Financial Implications

Group Rights – Groups for different categories (Clean Environment, Clean Water)

Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 35/14, The documented discrimination and some of the challenges for young people in accessing civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.

In its resolution 1983/46, adopted at its 39th session, the Commission called upon states to take appropriate action for the exercise by youth of all their human rights-

·         the right to life and liberty,

·         freedom from slavery and torture,

·         freedom of opinion and expression,

·         the right to work and

·         the right to education,

Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

ARTICLE 38 CIVIC RIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

 

(1) Every Uganda citizen has the right to participate in the affairs of government, individually or through his or her representatives in accordance with law.

RIGHTS – Chapter 4 (Articles 20-50)

·         Rights to Life – Article 22

·         Torture (Inflicting severe pain) -Article 24

·         Own property – Article – 26

·         Privacy – Article 27

·         Freedom of Expression – Article 29

·         Education – Article 30

·         Marriage – Article 51

Characteristics of human rights

·         Human rights are inalienable. This means that you cannot lose them, because they are linked to the very fact of human existence.

·         They are inherent to all human beings.

·         Human rights are indivisible

·         Interdependent and interrelated

·         Human rights are universal,

Article 44 – Never limited Rights

1. Torture (Inflicting severe pain) (Article 24)

2. Fair hearing

3. Right to an Order of Habeas corpus

4. Right to freedom from Slavery and Servitude

However, the promise of the UDHR, of dignity and equality in rights, has been under a sustained assault in recent years. As the world faces challenges new and ongoing – pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, morally bankrupt global financial system, racism, climate change – the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.

 

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE A SILENT DRIVER OF GLOBAL MALNUTRITION & POVERTY

 

’Violence’ means any form of physical, emotional or mental injury or abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation, including sexual abuse, intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against an individual which may result in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation.”

In Uganda, VAWG remains particularly widespread. According to the 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS), 51 per cent of women aged 15-19 years have ever experienced physical violence. More than one in five (22 per cent) women have ever experienced sexual violence in their lifetimes (UBOS & ICF, 2018)

Hon. Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) presented a statement on the l6 Days of Activism Campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). This global campaign was inaugurated in 1991 and spearheaded by the Women's Global Leadership Institute (WGLI), a program at Rutgers University in New Jersey USA which trains women in leadership based on global good and practice.  The campaign has since grown globally and is marked by a wide range of activities organized by various stakeholders. This year 2022, marks the 31st Anniversary of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign.

 

The Gender Minister said, "Since Uganda engaged in the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, there has been increased public awareness of gender-based violence as a human right, public health, economic and social issue at the family, community, and national levels".  She said Bukedi region was leading with the highest intimate partner violence at 48%, followed by Acholi at 47% and Elgon at 33%, while South Buganda registered the lowest rate at 8%. The National Survey on Violence Against Women (2021) conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) indicated that 95% of respondents had experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, by partners, or non-partners, since the age of 15 years. The lifetime prevalence of intimate partner sexual violence was at 36%, whereas physical violence among ever-partnered women was at 45%. There are regional disparities with Bukedi registering the highest intimate partner violence at 48%, followed by Acholi region at 47% and Elgon Region at 33%. South Buganda registered the lowest rate at 8%.

The 16 Days of Activism Campaign commenced on 25^th November, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, with a National Launch which flags off various activities at national and district levels in line with the national theme and ends on 10^th December, which is the Human Rights Day. This year's Global Theme is; UNiTE! Activism to End Violence against Women and Girls". Uganda has adopted this global theme as the National theme

Violence against women and children in most communities, include poverty, substance abuse, discriminatory gender roles, and widespread acceptance of violence, which are reinforced by social norms.

·         Violence in all its forms remains a public health concern across the world. Intimate partner violence (IPV) can be physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological, among other forms.

·         Previous research has shown that women are susceptible to poor health outcomes due to violence. Violence against women can have direct health consequences related to injury or psychosocial distress, such as anxiety, depression, and trauma, stress—which may last longer even after violence is no more.

·         Such findings indicate that experience of psychosocial distress is higher among people who experience violence than people who do not experience violence.

·         Previous research shows that women who are exposed to intimate partner violence are more likely to acquire HIV than women who have not experienced intimate partner violence. Other negative health effects associated with violence include induced abortion, low birth weight, suicide, homicides, and alcohol disorders. Due to this, there is a need to start recognizing violence against women as a societal or community problem rather than an individual problem.

·         Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious violation of human rights and a life-threatening health and protection issue. It refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender, and is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms. This can take several forms such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation.

·         GBV hinders women’s and girls’ full enjoyment of reproductive health rights. Victims of sexual violence may need emergency contraceptive pills for any unintended pregnancies; treatment for sexually transmitted infections including HIV; medical attention for other injuries including mental and psychological trauma.

 

GBV - CHILDREN impact & Nutrition Factors

An adult in the neighborhood ever: • punched, kicked, whipped, or beat a child, choked, suffocated, tried to drown a child, or burned them intentionally!

 

Emotional Violence – Drains Emotional Stability and that has a high probability of damaging a child’s mental health or his/her physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. This is more on emotional acts of violence perpetrated by parents, adult caregivers, or other adult relatives.

According to the United Nations (UN), food insecurity is increasing in Uganda, rising from 24.1% in 2006 to 41% in 2018. The ongoing COVID-19 and Global Economic crisis have contributed to this considerable increase in Ugandan food insecurity and is likely to continue to do so. Likewise, there is great concern that GPV is increasing across the world because of social isolation, poverty and despair due to COVID-19-related lockdowns, social and financial hardships.

 

Due to GBV, the productivity rates are so low due to low energy levels that are always responsible for physical attributes to work hence low food production. Uganda. This is coupled with Land and Property Ownership Issues.

 

Mental health issues (depression or anxiety), which occur when concerns about food availability are accompanied by poor coping mechanisms such as alcohol consumption, can further lead to GBV and the concept of ‘patriarchal risk’ can help to theoretically explain the cultural and societal dependence of women on male family members for food and protection, and traditional gender roles are closely linked to all dimensions of food insecurity: access, availability, stability and utilisation. Although women tend to have less control over the household budget, they are often held responsible for feeding the family and blamed if they fail to provide food on the table, leading to different harmful coping strategies such as transactional sex, which in turn increases their risk of HIV.

There is a lot of GBV among the Teenage parents (Mothers) and Poverty is the leading cause leading to limited capacity to provide for.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

·         Address the younger generation to create sustainable change related to gender-based violence

·         Implement more community meetings on empowerment

·         Provide a moving gender transformation center for the more remote areas of Kabale

·         Help girls understand their basic rights.

·         Intentional and consistent mass awareness among the communities and leaders.

 

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

LOSCO a vibrant and Human Rights Focused NGO based in Kigezi Sub region of Uganda on the Western part is a one stop Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and does work around HRDs, Land Rights, Climate Justice, Social Justice, Governance in Health, Transparency and Accountability with the final beneficiary in mind. Its started this work in 2019 and the effects of COVID-19 came through so hard on programs and implementation plans but still managed to sail through.

Now LOSCO stands as the Most Vibrant CSO in Kigezi Sub region coordinating all HRDs in the region with focus on Human Rights Education and Capacity Building to the Human Rights CSOs and Government Agencies.

In a country blessed with peace and stability, civil society fills the space untouched by government and the private sector. In a fragile and conflict-ridden country, it plays an even more important role of providing services normally the responsibility of the state and business and can lay the foundation for reconciliation.

 ‘If anyone needs a crash course in the critical role played by civil society organizations, COVID-19 is providing it—from increased need for the services they provide to those less fortunate, to the strain they are experiencing from lack of supplies and the need to “social distance,” to government having to act too quickly without civil society input. Nevertheless, beyond the current crisis, civil society is an essential building block of development and national cohesion.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are a large and strategic sector of working across a wide range of thematic areas including the promotion of accountability and transparency, citizens’ participation, democracy, human rights, gender, youth, jobs and livelihoods, health, education, agriculture, migration and forced displacement, water and sanitation, and environmental protection among others. In addition, the CSOs in Uganda belong to a range of groups and organisations including trade unions, professional associations, faith-based organisations (FBOs) and cooperatives. The NGOs as a sub-group of CSOs have been more visible and more or less become synonymous with the term CSOs due to the nature of their work in Uganda.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are recognized globally for their enormous contributions towards addressing economic, social, and political challenges including raising human right violations within communities. CSOs have evolved overtime and assumed different forms including organized and organic groups of different sizes and functions such as community-based organizations, workers’ or labour unions, professional associations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).3 In some jurisdictions, the role of CSOs is embedded in legal and policy frameworks.

While civil society in Uganda has been influential in contributing to the socio-economic and political development of the country as documented in multiple studies, the sector is plagued by several restrictions, which include inter alia: the shrinking civic space for their operations caused by negative narratives, which are tattled around. the multiplicity of administrative and legislative requirements for compliance. This is all on the backdrop of decreasing funding.

In Uganda, the Constitution grants CSOs mandate to protect and promote Human Rights of Ugandans. However, many governments especially those in the Global South have limited the civic space for CSOs, especially democracy and human rights organizations. Additionally, CSOs also continue to struggle with dwindling donor funding and shifting priorities driven by foreign policy considerations that pose a threat to their sustainability. In realizing sustainability amidst the changing trends, it is increasingly important for CSOs to prioritize developing diversified sources of institutional and financial support; and strengthening governance and leadership capacities.

With increased reports of corruption; maladministration in the public sector, increasing poverty levels, apathy among citizens, increase in criminality, human rights violations, poor service delivery, poor environmental governance and the resulting degradation of the environment; limited action on accountability concerns; the CSOs still have some work to do.

 

 

 

HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION – ROLE OF THE YOUTH IN PROTECTING AND PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS

WHO IS A YOUTH?

The time of life when one is young especially :  the period between childhood and maturity. The early period of existence, growth, or development

A young person especially : a young Male/ Female between adolescence and maturity

Uganda's National Youth Policy defines youth as those aged between 18 and 30. In contrast, the East African Community (EAC) defines youth as those between 15 and 35 years while the United Nation's definition is 15-24 years.

Youth have the creativity, the potential and the capacity to make change happen – for themselves, for their communities, and for the rest of the world. LOSCO works with young people and is committed to accompany them to work together to drive social innovation and change, participate fully in the development of their societies, eradicate poverty and inequality, and foster a culture of peace and Human Rights.

Participation in the protection & promotion activities can help youths become better informed about current events.

Human Rights go Hand in Hand with Human Responsibilities but ignorance of one affects the role of the other.

It stresses that developing capacities for participation is an important result in itself.

The youth can preserve human rights for generations and implant the importance and value of human rights in people's hearts.

Youth is the link between children and adults. The message of human rights will be conveyed to these two groups by the youth.

As youth, we should convey the message of human rights to society.

Young people face discrimination and obstacles to the enjoyment of their rights by virtue of their age, limiting their potential.

The human rights of youth therefore refers to the full enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms by young people.

Promoting these rights entails addressing the specific challenges and barriers faced.

WHAT CHALLENGES AND DISCRIMINATION DO YOUNG PEOPLE FACE?

Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 35/14, The documented discrimination and some of the challenges for young people in accessing civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights are here with Highlighted.

Participation: Youth are under-represented in political institutions, with less than 2% of parliamentarians worldwide aged under 30. Moreover, the age of candidacy for national parliaments, and especially for higher office, is not always aligned with the minimum voting age.

School to work transition: Young people worldwide are three times more likely than adults to be unemployed.

Access to health, including Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: In some countries, parental notification is required for young people to access sexual and reproductive health services, such as menstrual goods and services.

Youth in vulnerable situations: Young migrants including asylum seekers and refugees, young people in conflict with the law and youth with disabilities face additional challenges due to their specific situation.

Age is one characteristic that often intersects with, adds to and multiplies discrimination based on other grounds, thus preventing many young people from enjoying equal opportunities and substantive equality.

"As people face more and more Human Rights challenges, in terms of economic, social & environmental factors as well as mental health issues, the potential for simple programmes like community empowerment to improve resilience is really necessary.”

Our communities are stronger when everyone has the opportunity to contribute. Your involvement as Youths can help a community establish relationships through coordination, gain knowledge, and be better prepared to face dynamic Human Rights challenges.              

WHAT THEN CAN THE YOUTHS DO TO PROTECT AND PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS

In its resolution 1983/46, adopted at its 39th session, the Commission called upon states to take appropriate action for the exercise by youth of all their human rights, including the right to education and the right to work, "with a view to creating conditions for the active participation of young people in the formulation and implementation of programmes or the economic and social development of their countries”. “the need to educate young people in the ideals of peace and mutual understanding, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and dedication to the aims of social progress and development.

ARTICLE 38 CIVIC RIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

(1) Every Uganda citizen has the right to participate in the affairs of government, individually or through his or her representatives in accordance with law.

Article 53 Mandates UHRC

CHAPTER 4 – HUMAN RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

First, the right of youth to appropriate education, training and work. The education youth should receive must not only involve training in the skills necessary for gainful employment through the practice of a trade or profession, but also provide moral and spiritual enlightenment. youth will be able to offer their fullest contribution to society only when they receive proper moral and spiritual education.

Secondly, should be able to participate actively in implementing projects dedicated to improving living conditions, upraising the quality of human life, and developing the self-reliance of their communities. youth could be encouraged to promote the spread of literacy; to participate in projects aimed at improving health care and medical treatment; to contribute to community service programmes of a humanitarian nature.

Thirdly; Youth need to contribute to the enjoyment of human rights and the establishment of world peace, At the same time, to achieve this full enjoyment of human rights youth must also be at the forefront of efforts to promote social and economic progress and justice. 

Fourthly; Speak up for what you care about. We all have something that we care deeply about, whether because of an experience we underwent, an encounter we've witnessed, or a story spoken by someone close to us. Advocacy has a huge impact in communities everywhere.

One brave voice is enough to open up a channel for others to share their experiences and support human rights.

LASTLY; Stand up against discrimination.

Discrimination has a way of creeping up in places we never imagined encountering it. When we have each other as support, we are more empowered against injustices in the workplace or in a classroom.

Acting together, we're powerful enough to pave a new path to equality and fairness.