Popular Posts
-
A few days ago, we visited our first school in Uganda! As an education major, this greatly excited me. It was raining in the morning and a b...
-
We visited The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Kampala, Uganda, on May 27, 2019. During our meeting the NGO expressed their self-s...
-
The Drake University faculty and student participants in the 7 th annual Sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa study abroad program depart... -
The health care system in Uganda, as we saw, is not up to par with that of many other countries. Overall the system as a whole is lacking....
-
Hello fellow classmates, this is Michaela under Payton's account and I have some thoughts about our time in the Parliment building speak...
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative
Today we visited the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) which is an independent NGO founded in 1991 to protect and promote human rights. It is an advocacy organization that helps to link the government with the citizens of Uganda by ensuring that the concerns of the people are heard and that the government upholds what is stated in the Constitution. The director Livingstone Sewanyana talked to us about the challenges facing human rights in regards to areas such as elections, the judicial system, poverty, laws, the health and education system, unemployment, and the media. He went on to discuss what FHRI is doing to fight for human rights such as influencing legislation, issuing reports on the current state of the country, training Parliament members, and providing free legal services. What basic rights do you think all people deserve? How are these basic rights important to sustainable development? What shocked you most about the what the Director said? What do you think can be done to improve the state of human rights in the country?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Foundation for Human Rights was a very interesting place to visit. I learned a lot about the issues Uganda faces. I think all people deserve the right to safety and the right to having a transparent government. If people don't feel safe and are uniformed citizens it will be hard for them to make informed decisions and attempt to improve their life style. I was most shocked about what he had to say about how they treat homosexuals in Uganda. If you know a homosexual and don't turn them in, you can be arrested. I think to improve human rights, the people should fight more for what they think their rights should be and the government should work more for the people than for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with what Emily said. The homosexuality stood out to me as well, mainly because it is still a big conflict in America today. Like Emily said, I thought it was ridiculous too that the rule could be if you know someone that is homosexual and don't tell the government you can get prosecuted. The threat of being thrown in prison for being who you are or talking about what you beleive causes your community to always be living in fear so cultures stay the same and nothing develops. With fear of change, nothing can get better. There is just to much corruption in government and even if good laws are added, most are not enforced. The FHRI has many great ideas and knows the main problems that need to be addressed, but it is just hard to get things enforced so change is very slow.
ReplyDeleteI found the Foundation for Human Rights to be very interesting. Uganda struggles with basic human rights everyday. Actions of the Foundation for Human Rights are slowly increasing the conditions for Ugandans but they have a long way to go. Several things stood out to me such as homosexuality, domestic violence, being charged as a man at the age of 12, and so on. I think the most important basic right is freedom of speech. I feel as if Ugandans do not fully have this right because they are scared of the government. I hope to see the rights of Ugandans improve in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Emily... and Emily.. the homosexuality was a big issue for me. You can tell how strong a nation is by how it treats its weak, and it that evaltuation Uganda is WEAK. To me it seemed like a lot of the "traditional" values (homophobia and stiff gender roles) stem from bad interpretations of the bible. Another thing I thought was very interesting was that when we heard the lecture on womens rights from David Batema, David said that the FRHI's statements about a man being charged at 12 was wrong. This made me wonder who was right or if there was some kind of misscommunication. I think that Uganda is making strides in human rights, but this is hindered by the lackluster of their political system. It is amazing how all of the sessions we attended relate to one another.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the homosexuality comment as well. I know the United States isn't perfect with accepting homosexuality yet, but we are not near as bad as Uganda. I don't think government has the right to say what sexual preference is ok. I also found the laws for children to be quite interesting. I can't believe that a male can be put into jail with adults at such a young age. I think the FHRI is contributing to sustainable development by informing the people of their rights and trying to give them more. If people are better informed on their rights they may be more willing to stand up for the things that are wrong. I think for the FHRI to improve, the government needs to stop giving them negative attention. The people are afraid of the government so they won't go against what the President says. For the FHRI to improve, Uganda needs a new President.
ReplyDeleteToday one of the country newspapers was interviewing the director of FHRI that the NGOs are the ones promoting homosexuality. " said the government" is it true? He siad for them they are there to promote the rights of the minority if the obey the law. He says they are not recruiting homosexuals.
ReplyDelete