Disability Rights Groups in Uganda

The Persons With Disabilities Act 2006 (PWDA) is the overarching law that protects the rights of Persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Uganda (see Ugandan Law: Persons With Disabilities Act and Education). The PWDA ensures the rights of PWDs through legislated organizations like the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC). The PWDA also provides for grassroots organisations run by PWDs. This blog post will give an overview of disability rights groups (DRGs) and their relationship to the National Union of Disabled Persons Uganda (NUDIPU).

Paul Emong in his 2014 thesis, The Realisation of Human Rights for Disabled People in Higher Education in Uganda: A Critical Analysis Drawing on the UNConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, summarizes the work of DRGs in relation to education:

The Uganda DRGs are arguably 'perhaps the most politically integrated disability sector in the world'. They are organised under one national umbrella organisation - NUDIPU, which brings together the separate national impairment organisations of the blind, the deaf, people with physical disabilities and national disabled women‘s group. NUDIPU structures itself alongside the local government structures (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1: A Simple Illustration of the Structure of the Disability Rights Group in Uganda

From the illustration above, NUDIPU has roots at every level of local government administration. That is to say at the district, municipal, sub-county and village or grass-root levels. In addition, disabled people are represented in the legislative organs of government - in Parliament with 5 MPs, at district, local government or city council level by 2 councillors (man and woman), at lower local government levels, namely, municipal council,  municipal division council, town council and sub-county council by 2 representatives (man and woman), and lastly, at village council level by 1 representative who assumes the position of secretary for disability affairs in the village.

Therefore, the DRG has two wings i.e. civil society represented by the disability organisations and the political wing represented by MPs and Local Government Councillors representing disabled people. In addition to the two wings, its advocacy is also done by National Council for Disability (NCD) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), the role of the NCD and EOC will be discussed in a later post. It can therefore be said that, the DRG provides a robust framework for promoting the ideals of the legislation through advocacy for policy change and raising public awareness of disability rights... it is sufficient to say, notwithstanding the existing exclusion of disabled people, inclusive disability policies in government programmes, private sector and civil society exist. They are part of the evidence of the extent to which the disability legislation has been complied with through the promotional approach. To complement campaigns for policy reform, the DRGs have recently started providing free legal aid clinics to disabled people, organised by Legal Action for Persons with Disabilities (LAPD), a recently formed DRG of disabled lawyers and NUDIPU has also started employing lawyers to provide legal advice and represent disabled people in courts.

In higher education, DRGs have not created disability awareness at the same level as they have done for primary level of education. Although, DRGs advocacy in higher education appears to be patchy awareness-raising activities, these campaigns appear to be particularly targeted actions. For example, they focus on issues of admission for disabled students, accessibility, challenges disabled students face in lectures, strengthening associations of disabled people as voices of disabled people in the universities and advocating for universities come up with disability policies.

Before the formation of NUDIPU in 1987, PWDs had little representation in Uganda. The founders wanted to create a unified voice to challenge the situation of PWDs, to free them from bondage that reduced them to sub-humans (see Our History). NUDIPU was then a union of 17 small organizations which represented different groups of PWDs. The biggest asset to NUDIPU at that time was the enthusiasm of its members. The ambition of the Union was to improve the lives of PWDs:

changing the traditional stereotyped system that marginalized them, despised them, only looked at the negative aspects of their disabilities, undervalued them and confined them to the lowest positions in society.

NUDIPU lies at the heart of DRGs that are working for PWDs. The page About NUDIPU: Vision, Mission, and Values gives an overview of their current aims:

Our Vision: A dignified society for all Our Mission: A unified voice for PWDs for the full realisation of their rights and inclusive development through support and advocacy.

NUDIPU PROGRAMS

• Economic Empowerment

• Disability and Human Rights

• Disability and HIV/AIDS

• Capacity building

In order to efficiently implement activities under the four programme areas, NUDIPU will use the following approaches

• Networking and coordination

• Advocacy

• Rights based approach

• Capacity building

• Research and documentation

• Gender and Youth Mainstreaming

NUDIPU Values

• Accountable and transparency (Honesty and integrity)

• Respect

• Love and compassion

• Team spirit

• Equity

• Unity in diversity for PWDs

NUDIPU Objectives
To facilitate the achievement of its mission and provide meaningful services to the membership, NUDIPU pursues the following strategic objectives:

• Mobilize PWDs to form groups and organisations for collective social action.

• Influence the formulation of disability-friendly legislation, focusing on relevant Acts of Parliament, national policies, policy implementation guidelines and by-laws.

• Improve on the social and economic situation of PWDs through support for employment opportunities.

• Promote the delivery of services to PWDs through networking and collaboration with Government and other service providers.

• Enhance awareness on the needs, limitations, potentials and rights of PWDs so as to improve and/or change society's attitude towards them.

• Promote the inclusion of PWDs and their interests in mainstream development through removal of social, information and physical barriers in the political, economic, social and technological environment.

Youth worker Betty Cheptovek speaks to community members during the identification of marginalized youth with disabilities in Lira district

This article from NUDIPU, UN challenges Uganda government on disability rights, shows the scope of NUDIPU's work.

UN CRPD committee of experts faults ugandan government due to continued.
Discrimination, Exclusion, and grave human rights abuse.

Persons with disabilities in Uganda continue to suffer grave human rights abuse despite existence of exquisite legal and policy framework, Dr Uchenma Emelonye, a Country Representative of the United Nations office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uganda, says.

Dr Emelonye made this observation on June 15, 2016 at a meeting held at Imperial Royale Hotel, in Kampala. The event was jointly organised by National Union of disabled persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) in partnership with Uganda Human Rights Commission to disseminate the UN Committee of experts concluding observations on the rights of PWDs.

The UN is concerned that although Uganda has very sound legal frameworks, their implementation remains a huge challenge. This is however not peculiar to Uganda, but nearly all African countries experience the same scenario.

“There are still challenges in the enjoyment of rights of PWDs in Uganda. The laws exist but implementation is still challenging,” Dr Emelonye said, adding that majority of PWDs in Uganda continue to suffer discrimination, exclusion, sexual violence against women and children, and experience serious challenges while accessing justice.

The UN CRPD committee of experts in April 2016 reviewed Uganda’s progress report on the implementation of the CRPD, eight years after ratifying it in 2008. However, the committee faults government on a number of areas.

For instance, the committee noted varying definitions of disability as contained in the current laws and policies, delayed enactment of the PWDs Act 2014, non-consultation of PWDs and their organisations while enacting laws, failure to protect children with disabilities, limited access to information, inaccessible transport system, violation of right to life, and access to justice among others as issues that need immediate government action.

The CRPD committee therefore, recommends that Ugandan government reviews of the laws related to disability, establishes mechanisms of consulting PWDs and their organisations on budget allocations, incorporates the concept of reasonable accommodation in the legal systems, establishes measures to tackle discrimination against women with disabilities, increases awareness on the rights and dignity of PWDs, and raises awareness among members of parliament, executive and judiciary with the regard to the Convention on the rights of PWDs and ensure their support in implementation of the concluding observations in consultation with organisations of PWDs.

Dr Emelonye believes the concluding observations can only be successful once government critically understands the concluding observations to the later, and believes in them as the best options to address the plight of PWDs in Uganda.

According to Edson Ngirabakunzi, Executive Director National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), was meant to drum up support of various stakeholders in the implementation of the recommendations.

The National Union of Disabled Persons Uganda is an umbrella group for DRG's in Uganda. NUDIPU campaigns for the rights of PWDs in Uganda. It has groups at all levels of society and is recognized by the government. NUDIP disseminates and collects information on disability issues throughout Uganda.