Govt rejects half of CSOs recommendations on rights
Government has said it rejected about half of the human rights recommendations made by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) last year because some of them were untenable.
In an interview with Monitor during a workshop on the review of the recommendations in Kampala last Friday, Mr Bernard Mujuni, the commissioner of Equity and Rights at the Gender ministry, said of the 270 recommendations that they received from CSOs, only 132 were accepted.
“…they were demanding for acceptance of all kinds of sexual orientation which are a window of gayism. Some of the proposed rights are not necessarily tenable within our Constitution and our other laws,” Mr Mujuni said.
He added: “The other recommendations around the right to employment were rejected because you can’t have insurance against unemployment since there is no guarantee for employment.”
The meeting reviewed the women’s rights recommendations. Some of the issues affecting women’s rights include gender-based violence. Another issue is the lack of investment in shelters for women who have been battered by their spouses. It is only the CSOs that have erected shelters.
Free legal representation
There is also a need for the government to provide free legal representation to survivors of gender based violence.
Ms Fatia Kiyange, the executive director of Center for Health, Human Rights and Development, applauded the government for accepting the recommendations aimed at advancing women’s rights to health.
These include promoting and protecting women’s rights, strengthening or implementing existent legal and policy framework, improving access to health and combating all forms of gender based violence.
“These recommendations are noble and we call upon government and development partners to invest in their realisation,” Ms Kiyange said.
Political issues
The Electoral Commission, together with representatives from all political parties and the Parliament, agreed to a set of election guidelines to regulate the conduct of elections under minimum restrictive measures.
During the campaigns, some of the political leaders had declared that they would defy the measures and violated the regulations. In a display of impunity, they repeatedly created fear and incited violence, which risked the security and stability of the country and its citizens.
The arrest of National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, in November 2020 triggered countrywide riots, which led to loss of life, according to the recommendations.
The recommendations added that government promised to carry out investigations with a view of conclusively determining what had happened.
Human rights review
The review of Uganda’s human rights stand was held at on January 27, 2022. Uganda’s delegation was led by Foreign Affairs minister, Gen Jeje Odongo.
The recommendations are usually sent to the Human Rights Council based in Geneva, Switzerland. There are three reports that are sent to Geneva for consideration about the state of human rights in a given country. For Uganda, the reports include government’s report, shadow government report by CSOs and a report by the Uganda Human Rights Commission.
It is from here that the Geneva-based Human Rights Council studies them and in turn makes recommendations to the country which decides whether adopt, reject or take note of them.
