Disability Rights 28: Freedom from exploitation, discrimination and torture

In addition to the human rights laws in the Constitution of Uganda there are several other rights granted to persons with disabilities (PWDs). These rights are given by law in the Persons With Disabilities Act 2006 (PWDA) which is modeled on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Whether you are a PWD or not, these laws apply to you.

Section 42 of the PWDA states that no PWD should be exploited, discriminated against or the subject of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Section 3 of the PWDA laid down the objectives of the Act (see Disability Rights 2: Objectives of the Persons With Disabilities Act). The Act was put into place to protect the rights of PWDs and to assure their rights to dignity and equal opportunity the same as every other citizen. The act should eliminate discrimination and promote a positive attitude towards disability.  This section wraps up the PWDA saying that PWDs should be free of exploitation and underlines that PWDs should not have to face discrimination in any form. Above all PWDs should not be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 

The PWDA 2006, modeled on the UNCRPD, is legislation designed to ensure the basic human rights of PWDs in Uganda. The UNCRPD is the foundation for the PWDA. Recognizing that PWDs have impairments, when PWDs interact with an environment that has barriers, the barriers cause disability. The effect of the PWDA should be to create a barrier free environment so that a PWD has only their impairments and can interact on an equal basis with other citizens.

If you are a PWD, the PWDA should remove the barriers of discrimination, exploitation and cruel and inhuman treatment. It is your right to live in a barrier free environment. You should be able to be a member of your community on an equal basis with other citizens.

The PWDA is not perfect, it is in the early stages of implementation, right now the greatest barriers that you face are probably negative attitudes and lack of information. To get your rights, you must demand your rights.

"Negative attitudes" and "Lack of access to information" are the 2 most frequent barriers PWDs experience.
Collecting information on the experiences of PWDs in Uganda is vital to assess how effectively the UNCRPD is put into place.
The histogram above shows the barriers most frequently identified by PWDs in the 2016 research paper My story, my rights: how individual stories of people with disabilities can contribute to knowledge development for UNCRPD monitoring.

This law is written like this in section 42 of the Persons With Disabilities Act 2006:

42. General provisions. 

No person shall in any manner—

(a) exploit a person with disability;

(b) discriminate against a person with disability; or

(c) subject a person with disability to torture, violence, abuse or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.