Yesterday, we visited the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative. The FHRI mission is to insure that the human rights guaranteed by the Ugandan Constitution are upheld through legislative advocacy, legal services, and right monitoring. Often confused for the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, the FHRI is a NGO that has created a lasting impact on Uganda by holding parliamentarians accountable for legislation such as the Public Order Management Act, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, and the Access to Information Act. They also work closely on cases that represent a larger human rights violation such as the mistreatment of prisoners, the death penalty, and the rights of prisoners on remand. Uganda is unique because human rights are guaranteed by their constitution unlike in the United States. (In the U.S., it was just mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.) Uganda has an advantage when it comes to topics of injustice because their government has purposefully declared their opposition to inequality in their founding documents. As an intern at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, MN, I have experienced this disadvantage first hand because our efforts are restricted to case work instead of legislation and constitutional amendments.FHRI is inspiring in its purpose to advocate for residents whose "greatest challenge is speaking out" (Sheila Muwanga, Executive Director of FHRI).
Our class talked about the importance of human rights as the basis of all of the sustainable development goals that the UNDP has decided are essential to development. Do you agree? If yes, why do you think so? If not, which one involves more human rights?
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Ayana, this is a great summarization and I appreciate that you compare the efforts of human rights advocates in Uganda and the United States.
ReplyDeleteI believe the United Nations (UN) is correct to expect human rights to be upheld in every Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Acknowledging and upholding the dignity and rights of every individual serves two major functions in society. First, the written Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by the UN, serves as an objective organization mechanism for governments and leaders. Without the adherence of these universal human rights, different governments would lack an agreed upon underlying basis of law and purpose. Second, upholding human rights ensures, (or in reality, supports), that development is for the human and that all humans have something in common. Humans are social beings, and human rights acknowledge that we are both indivduals and inherent parts to a larger entity that is social society.
I enjoyed reading your response Julie, I would love to speak with you about your stance on the effectiveness of outside organization such as the UN on implementing Human Rights in countries. The Uganda government recently refused to sign a transparency agreement from the UN which dictates that all government decisions and policies need to be present to the people. The Ugandan government has been hushed about oil contracts which they have agreed upon for the production of oil in 2020. What do you think about the effectiveness of UN implementing human rights?
DeleteThanks for the post Yani! Just like Julie, I loved your perspective as an intern for at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis. Personally, it almost seems inherent in the sustainable development goals. How can a country with oppressed people, such as a society without basic humans rights to speak their mind (among other things), sustainably develop? It really can't because suppressed people have no power or motivation to get educated or to get into the workforce and worst of all no hope. Human Rights are vital to to sustainable development.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the insightful post! This was a very informative day and it was really cool to be able to talk to some of the leaders of the Human Rights Initiative. I agree with Julie and Ben, and think that without human rights being upheld, it is impossible to have sustainable development. The most important aspect of a country is its people. So, if a country's people do not have their basic human rights then their is really no possibility of anything else being achieved in the way of the sustainable development goals.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reply Sarah-Rose, I would like to ask you opinion on how you think the U.S. is doing without a formal human rights written in our governing documents? (just civil right and civil liberties) and how we would implement it?
DeleteAgreeing with Julie and Ben, great post! Connecting the Foundation of Human Rights to what you've participated in back home adds a great new perspective and comparison. I do agree that human rights is the basis of all sustainable development. In order to be sustainable, the SDGs need to all be achieved including equality, health, education, etc. By achieving the SDGs, all human rights are being addressed which will lead to people knowing about human rights.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post, thank you! I agree with the others that human rights are essential to sustainability. They is related, either directly or indirectly, to all of the UN sustainable development goals and clearly play a huge role with the social inclusion pillar of sustainability. If a society comprises of people whose human rights are not being fulfilled, then it is a road block to full economic growth. Every society deals with their own human rights issues, but the extent as to which they try to tackle these issues determines how much closer to sustainable development the society is.
ReplyDeleteI Like the way you worded this reply, ("the extent to which they try to tackle...") how well do you think the U.S. is tackling human rights? How well is Uganda adhering to human rights?
DeleteThis was a good read, thanks Ayana! I thought it was important that you pointed out a few of the major legislative items that posed challenges to human rights in Uganda. You also pose an interesting question. While I definitely agree that all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) involve human rights to some extent, I think there are a few goals that influence human rights more directly. The first of these goals is Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (number 16). You noted in your post that you have experienced challenges similar to FHRI in the sense that human rights organizations are often restricted to case work. In order for these organizations to effectively catalyze change, you must first have strong institutions. Further, there must be a judicial system that is unbiased and able to consider proposed changes in a timely manner through the case work that human rights organizations often work through. Two other goals that I identified as being more heavily influenced by human rights were Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities. Inequalities are often rooted in institutions, most namely the government and its legislation. We could see during Sister Batema's presentation (on the slides) that there are many laws biased against women in Uganda. These laws only serve to perpetuate discrimination against women. Due to the fact that government institutions are the ones that must make changes to these laws and framework, and inequalities are often rooted in that framework, I have identified these three goals as being most influenced by human rights.
ReplyDelete