| dc.description | Uganda is largely considered a trailblazer in the debate about poverty eradication. Indeed, one of the most striking features of contemporary Ugandan society is the considerable rhetoric devoted to social and economic issues. However, the rhetoric is not matched by a deep-rooted and engaged policy framework within which questions such as the persistence of poverty, the consequences of socioeconomic marginalization and the improvement of equality of opportunity can be comprehensively tackled. That absence is clear in the lack of sensitivity to the human rights dimensions of the phenomenon—whether in the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) or in the approach to the realization of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The implications of this mismatch between rhetoric and practice are obvious. Among them, one could cite the absence of a culture of accountability, coupled with the perception that government actions in terms of providing safe water, education for all, or appropriate health facilities are gifts or privileges and not rights. This study—the first of nine in the HURIPEC Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ESCRs) Project—provides a broad overview to the current situation of these rights in Uganda. It argues that the problem is not merely the fact that this category of rights is largely neglected in comparison to the attention that has been given to civil and political rights (CPRs), but also that when economic, social and cultural rights issues are addressed, there is an absence of a critical focus on questions such as access, accountability or appropriate mechanisms of redress. The study takes the issue of gender equality as the ‘mother of all rights’ in order to demonstrate that despite the considerable legislative and other reforms that have been pursued over the last two decades, there is an acute policy and implementation vacuum in this particular area of social concern. An assessment is also made of the key institutional mechanism involved in the formulation of policy on ESCRs, namely the legislature. Further assessments are made of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) as well as of the Inspectorate of Government. The paper concludes that attention to ESCRs in Uganda is still rudimentary and in need of radical reformulation. In particular it argues that: (i) There is a need to revisit present approaches to the attainment of the MDGs and to the eradication of poverty which are lacking in sensitivity to core human rights principles and to transform them into mechanisms that will effectively address issues such as discrimination, inequality and social vulnerability; (ii) An opportunity has been opened through the amendment to the 1995 Constitution which stipulates that the National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy shall bind the state. The amendment has effectively transformed guiding principles on medical services, access to water, the provision of adequate shelter and housing and the right to food, among others, into binding obligations on the part of the state; (iii) Despite the positive achievements enshrined in the 1995 Constitution on Gender Equality, there remain several impediments at the national and local levels to its effective implementation, and with specific regard to the economic, social and cultural rights of women. New strategies addressed to the achievement of gender equality need to adopted at all levels of state action; (iv) All government ministries and related state agencies involved in the provision of basic social and economic services need to study the Human Rights Based Approach to Development (HRBAD) and to begin a process of consciously applying it to their various activities, at both the policy level and at the stage of implementation; (v) Parliament and its various committees must conduct human rights audits of the bills, resolutions and other measures introduced by the state in order to ensure that they do not violate economic, social and cultural rights; (vi) The arena of decentralization is particularly crucial to the implementation of ESCRs, and as such, there is a need for the design of appropriate mechanisms to ensure that this category of rights is given serious attention; (vii) Public Interest Litigation (PIL) needs to be pursued in earnest in order to address the many negative consequences of unchecked economic reform, and to ensure that ESCRs are transformed from the status of ‘gifts’ of the state to basic entitlements for the population; (viii) Steps should be taken to compel the government to meet its international reporting obligations, and specifically to submit its first report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is long overdue, particularly in light of the fact that the government ratified the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1987; (ix) Human Rights and development groups need to become more intimately involved in pursuing rights-based approaches to the realization of ESCRs, and in the design of activist and empowering strategies for civil society at large; (x) Different strategies need to be adopted with respect to different categories of rights, i.e. strategies taken for the implementation of the right to adequate shelter and housing need not be the same as those employed with respect to the realization of the right to water, and, (xi) Public institutions such as the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and the Inspectorate of Government (IG) need to boost and improve their strategies in relation to the realization of ESCRs and particularly to ensure that they engage with districts and local councils in promoting their effective realization. | |
