THE 30 BASIC UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED AND NON-VIOLATED IN UGANDA

The list below is all Universal Declaration of Human Rights given to humanity by the United Nations General Assembly. All universal human rights below are commonly known as 30 basic human rights that must be respected and protected by the law.

When the UN said thse human rights must be respected, it was first and foremost speaking to the member countries or nations of the United Nations. However, they apply to any entity erected by the Human species, Homo sapiens, whether it is a corporation, hospital, school or army.

It is absolutely important that every right thinning human being must be aware of the universal human rights and can understand them and interpret them. Any violation of any of the universal rights makes survival and existence on our planet Earth or in any country extremely difficult. For example, currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo clusters of these universal human rights are being violated by the people called Banyamulenge Tutsis in the Eastern part of that country. There is abundant evidence that the Banyamulenge are getting substantial support, at least militarily from Rwanda, Other credible sources say that Uganda is also involved on the side of the Banyamulenge. Whether or not Uganda is involved will nee more research. However, the recent statement in a tweet by Uganda’s Chief of Defense Forces that he can capture the important Rain Forest of Congo called Ituri, suggests there could be broader interests linking Rwanda and Uganda to Banyamulenge rebellion in the DRC. It means Rwanda and Uganda cannot easily extricate themselves from the blatant human rights violations in Eastern DRC. 

 It is not easy to pinpoint one country on the globe whee one or more of the universal human rights will not be violated by power in pursuit of power, glory, wealth and domination of the people or retention of all these.  I ask you to look through the list of universal human rights below and critically analyse which ones have been respected or violated or not violated by power in Uganda.

1. All human beings are free and equal 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

1. No discrimination

 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs. 

1. Right to life 

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

1. No torture and inhuman treatment 

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

1. Same right to use law 

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. 

1. Equal before the law 

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation and against any incitement to such discrimination.

1. Right to treated fair by court 

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

1. Right to treated fair by court 

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

1. No unfair detainment 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile

1. Right to trial 

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

1. Innocent until proved guilty 

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.

1. Right to privacy 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

1. Freedom to movement and residence 

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

`14. Right to asylum 

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

1. Right to nationality 

Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

1. Rights to marry and have family 

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

1. Right to own things 

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

1. Freedom of thought and religion 

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

1. Freedom of opinion and expression 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

1. Right to assemble 

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

1. Right to democracy 

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

1. Right to social security 

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

1. Right to work 

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

1. Right to rest and holiday 

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

1. Right of social service 

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children shall enjoy the same social protection.

1. Right to education 

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

1. Right of cultural and art 

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

28. Freedom around the world 

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

29 Subject to law 

Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

1. Human rights can’t be taken away 

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

I can record with confidence that in my country over the last nearly forty years in power, the people who captured the instruments of power have done well over at least on the following universal human rights:

1 The right to Asylum (14)

2. Freedom of thought and religion (Universal Human Right 18).

3. Freedom of Opinion and Expression (Universal Human Right 19).

Regarding the Right to Asylum Uganda today is reputed to be the most open country to refuges in Africa and the third in the whole world as a ready destination for refugees. Most of Uganda’s refugees come from the violence-ridden countries of the Great-Lakes region and Nile Basin region. Some critical thinkers have reasoned that this may be explained by the fact that the dominant rulers of Uganda were themselves refugees and, therefore, show a lot of empathy towards refugees. They designed the Constitution of Uganda 1995 in which they created an indigenous group of Banyarwanda so that they can access every opportunity or resource, perhaps even more, than can the indigenous Ugandans. Recently President Museveni’s government decided to allocate a large portion of funds given to the Ministry of Education to offer the best education to the children of refugees in the best schools in the country. Most Ugandans perceive that refugees and former refugees have captured their sovereignty, citizenship, nationality and virtually every civic space in the country and even dominate the military, police, prisons and para-military groups. This an area, which demands serious sociological studies by our academics.  If Uganda were still a debating society, public intellectuals would do s good job articulating and clarifying the problem to the national, regional and global public. Instead of praising Uganda for being so open to refugees, we would be questioning why this is the case and how it came to be so many years after the independence of Uganda.  There are obvious costs to Uganda and Ugandans of admitting numerous refugees into the country en masse. Thr costs are financial, economic, sociological, sociopolitical, sociocultural, ecological-biological and futuristic. We need serious studies on these matters before it is too late.

The National Resistance Movement government has done very well on Freedom of Thought and Religion and on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, at least intellectually. I am saying this because ever since I came back to Uganda after being away from the country for 20 years, I have enjoyed and exploited my freedom of thought and religion and my freedom of opinion and expression. At Makerere University, I meaningfully and effectively participated in the intellectual debates of the 1990s and early millennium, and debated together with high-ranking Movement people. There was a lot of respect between us and the NRM political elite. However, Makerere University has over the years become a haven of conspiracy of silence. Intellectual debates have almost been squeezed out of the University. It is more or less the same status quo in our more than 50 universities. I am not sure whether our academics and intellectuals have been threatened by power, or they have collectively chosen conspiracy of silence over intellectual leadership in critical thinking and reasoning when the country faces issues of national importance such as erosions of various universal human rights. There are fears that most university campuses an reclogged with security agents among the staff and students so much that many choose not to enjoy their freedom of thought in fear of being targeted for academic frustration.

On the issue of freedom of opinion and expression, I must confirm that for almost 34 year I have generated a wide range of opinions in both speech and writing, some of them politically sensitive, some made nationally and others made regionally and globally. I have expressed myself on almost every major issue of human concern. I have written well over 450 pieces, most of them published in various print, electronic and social media. The freedom to express my opinions without fear or favour and without molestation by power has dictated that what ever I choose to write is well researched so that even power can benefit from them or research further. The opinions, very well researched, are being published under the title “Writings, Thoughts and Meditations of Oweyegha-Afunaduula: A Comprehensive Exploration of A Ugandan Mind” in five Volumes, each about 400 pages.

I appeal to academics and intellectuals to escape from their self-imposed conspiracy of silence and begin to write on and speak about critical issues that are confronting our country. Later will be too late. There is a lot of power in the pen and word of mouth in solving problems or addressing daunting challenges and issues of our time. Most of thse are arising from the disregard by power of many of the universal human rights.

For God and My Country

Further Reading.

Betts, A. et al (2019), Refugee Economies in Uganda: What Difference Does the Self-Reliance Model Make? (Oxford: RSC). https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/news/refugee-economies-uganda_jan2019.pdf Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:44 am EAT

Byarugaba Foster and Oweyegha-Afunaduula (1995). The Environmental Impact of Refugees in Africa: Suggestions for Future Actions. http://cidbimena.bvs.hn/docum/crid/Enero2005/CD2/pdf/eng/doc10049/doc10049-d.pdf Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:41 am EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2022). How Refugees and Former Refugees are destroying the environment of Uganda. The Kampala Report,  , Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:37 am EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2023). Uganda: Plagued by Ethnicity, Tribalism or Both? Watchdog,2023 https://www.watchdoguganda.com/op-ed/20221129/146058/oweyegha-afunaduula-uganda-plagued-by-ethnicity-tribalism-or-both.html Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:51 am EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2023). Do Human Rights Matter anymore in Uganda? Uganda Radio Network, 30 October 2023, https://ugandaradionetwork.com/s/do-human-rights-matter-anymore-in-uganda/ Visited on 18 February 2025 at 12:15 am EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2024). How NRM plotted and continues to plot against Uganda and Ugandans. The Kampal Report,  September 11, 2024 Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:48 am EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2024). Role of Pro- Political regime Pastors in de-democratisation. Sunday Monitor, December 8 2024, https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/role-of-pro-political-regime-pastors-in-de-democratisation-4849938#story Visited on 18 February 2025 at 12:00 Noon EAT

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2024). Uganda’s Political Pastors Aspire to the Heaven in State House Where Eternity Awaits them with Museveni. Tell Media, 18 November 2024.https://tell.co.ke/authoritarianism-ugandas-political-pastors-aspire-to-the-heaven-is-state-house-to-live-with-messiah-museveni/ Visited on 18 February 2025 at 12:04 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2024). Religion in Uganda:  When Indigenous African God Died, Ugandans hurriedly installed White and Arab Gods who they can’t access. Tell Media, December 21 2024, https://tell.co.ke/religion-in-uganda-when-indigenous-african-god-died-ugandans-hurriedly-installed-white-and-arab-gods-who-they-cant-access/ Visited on 18 February 2025 at 12:10 pm EAT.

Oweyegha-Afunaduula (2025). What it means to liberate justice from the military in Uganda. Ultimate News,  February 3 2025 https://ultimatenews.co.ug/2025/02/oweyegha-afunaduula-what-it-means-to-liberate-justice-from-the-military-in-uganda/ Visited on 18 February 2025 at 12:22 pm EAT.

Yacine Ait Kaci (2015). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Illustrated edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is published by the United Nations in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. United Nations, 2015, https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf Visited on 18 February 2025 at 11:32 am EAT.