Category: Latest_news

Ensuring a Gender Responsive Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill

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On July 30th 2020, Brenda Kugonza the Executive Director of Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda, together with the Assistant Protection and Rapid Response Manager, Jane Sssenyange met with Hon Lucy Akello, Hon Jovah Kamatek and Mary Harriet Lamunu, program coordinator from Uganda Women Parliament Association to discuss the proposed Human Rights Defenders protection bill and how it can be gender responsive.

Discussing a Gender Responsive Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill

It is important to WHRDN-U that Women Human Rights Defenders are well represented in this bill, and this was central to the discussions held. Hon Lucy Akello, who sits on the Human Rights Parliamentary committee welcomed the idea of ensuring women’s voices and rights are well respected in drafting the bill.

Mary Lamunu, welcomed the timely intervention and discussion and emphasized the need for WHRDs issues to be well laid out in the bill. The discussion held resulted in the members agreeing to champion this cause going forward in Parliament.

The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Work Of Women Human Rights Defenders In Uganda

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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many sectors and notably too, the work of Women Human Rights Defenders in Uganda.  Brenda Kugonza, the Executive Director of Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda, with other members of the network analyzed the effect the pandemic has had on WHRDs in a 2 page feature in the Daily Monitor. Read full article here.

Covid-19 in the eyes of women human rights defenders

Analyzing The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Work Of Women Human Rights Defenders In Uganda
Analyzing The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Work Of Women Human Rights Defenders In Uganda

 

 

Empowering the Girl Child builds a better future

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The students of Bethel Covenant college pose for a group photo with the Girl Child Network Uganda and Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda secretariat

Over the time, girls have been looked at as the weaker sex which has left them vulnerable especially if they do not have someone to mentor and always be there to listen to them.  with that, they are constantly reminded that they are a not what the society tries to make them believe they are.

This year’s Women’s Day celebration which was under the theme I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights got several women thinking of how best they could celebrate the achievements, as well as struggles that women go through in our society. This did not leave out the girls because they are the future mothers, wives, and leaders of our country.

“In Uganda, girls are at the forefront of the fight for social justice. Girls have resisted early marriages, genital mutilation, supported abused children, spoken out to defend survivors of sexual violence. But because of their age, they are seen as being immature to participate in human rights activities. So mentoring support to girls from adult women defenders is crucial to sustaining their activism work,” says Brenda Kugonza,the Executive Director,Women Human Rights Defenders network Uganda (WHRDN-U).

 

On 7th March 2020, Women Human Rights Defenders network Uganda (WHRDN-U) was honored to be invited by Girl Child Network, Uganda, to celebrate Women’s Day with the girl children of Bethel Covenant College, Bwebajja.

The celebration had the girls interact with some professional women who gave them vital tips on how to enhance their self-esteem, manage stress, community care, hygiene, and body.

The topics that were for a discussion focused on building the girls mentally, socially, and economically because they need all that knowledge so that they can shrive in the environment they live in.

Kugonza encouraged the girls to reflect on what they want to celebrate in the future and choosing their role models wisely because these are people who influence what they do.

 

Ensuring a Safe Working Environment For Female Journalists in Uganda

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Every year, on 08th March the world over celebrates Women’s day in the commemoration of the achievements as well as struggles of women. In line with this year’s theme,” Iam generation equality: realizing women’s rights”, Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda engaged with the female journalists under the theme The need to allow women journalists to work in a safe environment and speak up about harassment they face in their line of work.

The Women Human Rights Defenders Network-Uganda reflected on the role played by female journalists as human rights defenders with a clear emphasis on the their working conditions of discrimination, impunity and human rights violence that puts their lives at risk.

The training provided a platform for the female journalists to share experiences they go through while doing their work. This created visibility for the human rights violations they are subjected to while in the field.

The training sought to create space for female journalists as frontline defenders for human rights, with a clear focus on the gender specific attacks and share support systems where women human rights defenders at risk can be supported. Much as they are called upon to do their work, it exposes them to numerous risks and intimidations because they use mainstream media and social media to report on contentious issues such as corruption, crimes, human rights violations in elections, sexual violence, human rights violations and so much more.

Brenda Kugonza, the executive Director, Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda (WHRDN-U) urged the journalists to be vigilant with the environment they work in because they are always at risk.

“Because of the work they do, in Uganda Women Journalists face specific dangers, vulnerable to sexual harassment. They have had to deal with hateful comments directed to their appearance, gender and sexuality. These attacks and intimidations against them, have in some cases silenced them and blocked them from disseminating news yet their absence in the media has serious implications in the free and democratic media,”. says Kugonza.

On that note, stake holders were called upon to uphold fundamental rights so as to enable journalists to have a safe and secure working environment.

Protection is key

Brenda Kugonza advised the journalists to always seek for help from organisations that offer journalist protection, move with first Aid kits, with contraceptives and PREP for just in case something happened to them while in the field.

For protection the Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda gave the journalists a list of support services that exist for female journalists and advised them to make use of them or even share with their colleagues because they may need it for protection.

Just like Brenda Kugonza, Margret Ssentamu, the director of Uganda Media Women’s Association advised the journalists to protect themselves at all times and she told them to be well informed with the law for instance they should know their rights, entitlement, where to get services and what the law says about their work so that they are not caught off guard.

Margret Ssentamu advised the journalists to follow their work ethics while doing their stories because that is one of the protection measures they can use.

The risks highlighted at the event

The journalists present also raised concerns of facing sexual harassment at their work places, some are being asked for sex in order to retain their jobs, being used as baits to get some information from the male sources, their work mates using gender stereo types to attack them which in most cases has silenced them.

They further shared the experiences they have had while in the field doing work for instance some of them are intimidated when they chose to report on sensitive issues, blackmail from politicians, being raped by their colleagues while at the field being beaten and also having their items confiscated when in line of their duty.

With all that happening to the female journalists, the journalist requested the network to always have such trainings for them so that they can be empowered, they asked the network to do follow ups just to know how they are doing, to pay regional visits so that there can be regular engagements and they also decided to remain in contact with them.

  • The journalists urged each other to create friendship so that they can be united.
  • The journalists said they should get to know each other so that they can interact so well especially when they meet.
  • The journalists said they should share contacts with each other for easy communication.
  • The journalists said they should enhance the visibility of the attacks they face.

Ms Brenda Kugonza, Named Human Rights Defender of the Month

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Our Executive Director Brenda was named Human Rights Defender of the month November 2019 by Defend Defenders, an organisation that seeks to protect and strengthen human rights defenders in East Africa and horn of Africa sub region. We are deeply honored as an organization to also be recognized by our works and are more than motivated to pursue justice for all Women Human Rights defenders in Uganda.

States’ responsibility towards the protection of women human rights defenders

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UN Headquarters, New York 26 July 2018

Panelists/moderators:

Ivana Radačić, Chair, UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice
Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Andrew Gilmore, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Head of OHCHR New York Office
Lolita Chavez, Council of the Kiché People (Consejo de Pueblos Kiché Guatemala)
Lydia Alpizar, Mesoamerican Women Defenders Initiative
Brenda Kugonza, Uganda Women Human Rights Defenders Network (Uganda)
Asha Kowtal, All India Dalit Women’s Rights Forum (India)
Marusia Lopez, Jass (Just Associates)
Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International
Alda Facio, UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice
Pooja Patel, International Service for Human Rights
Miriam Miran, OFRANEH (Honduras)
Mélanie Sonhaye Kombate, West-African Human Rights Defenders Network (Togo)

____________________________________

Main issues raised:

Participants called attention to the particular situation of risks and vulnerability faced by women human rights defenders (WHRDs), especially those working on environmental issues, the rights of minorities, including indigenous and dalit people, LGBTI rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs). Specific challenges facing WHRDs include: physical assaults, denial of medical treatment, degrading searches, threats to their families and communities, public defamation and attacks against their “honor”, media attacks against their physical appearance, arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and killings. WHRDs are also at risk of being rejected by their communities and of being revictimized if they report acts of violence.

All panelists and several other WHRDs from the Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Colombia and Spain attending the event testified about the challenges they have encountered as WHRDs. These range from structural gender-based discrimination, surveillance, breaking in, criminalization and arrests, to kidnappings and assassination attempts.

Overall, participants insisted on the need to address the growing impact of religious extremism and corporations (in particular extractive industries) on WHRDs. Calls were also issued to tackle the structural causes of discrimination against women, regressive trends with regards to the rights of women (particularly through the rise of an anti-rights discourse in Eastern-Europe and Latin-America), the shrinking of civil society space as well as sexism and misogyny, including within the human rights movement. In this regard, participants underscored the need to adopt an intersectional approach to the protection of WHRDs, tackle impunity and ensure that risk analysis and protection mechanisms include a gender perspective. There were also calls for bottom-up, creative and long-term mechanisms aimed at better protecting WHRDs.

Serious concerns were expressed about the record number of reprisals against WHRDs in 2017 which led to the UN’s growing engagement in the protection of WHRDs against reprisals, including the SG annual report on cooperation with the UN, more frequently referred to as the “reprisals report”. For the first time, this report will be presented to the Human Rights Council. Reference was made to OHCHR’s important contribution in ensuring the inclusion of WHRDs in the Outcome Document of the 2018 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Key recommendations for States:

Recognize and support the work of WHRDs, in particular by granting political and legal recognition to their work
Recognize that WHRDs include women working for NGOs, labor rights, land rights, cultural rights, SRHRs, collective rights and grassroots movements
Strengthen protection mechanisms and programs by:
Adopting legislations, policies and programs focused on eliminating the structural causes of violence against WHRDs
Preventing, investigating and punishing the perpetrators of abuse and violence
Ensuring that the implementation of provisions for protection, redress and remedy adopt an intersectional approach
Ensuring that protection legislations and mechanisms do not re-victimize WHRDs
Reviewing and repealing policies and practices that are not in line with international human rights standards, including laws that restrict CSOs space
Ensuring the financial sustainability of protection programs
Domesticating the UN Declaration on HRDs
Ensuring that official protection mechanisms do not contradict or hinder the holistic, spiritual, and collective protection practices and measures that WHRDs depend on
Ensuring that legislations, policies or legal frameworks do not use personal and privileged information from or about WHRDs and their organizations
Strengthen access to justice and end impunity by:
Accelerating investigations for cases of violence against WHRDs
Ensuring that investigations are free from sexist and misogynistic prejudices and stereotypes
Ensuring that investigations integrate an analysis of the context, the patterns of attacks and the socio-environmental conflicts that frame those attacks
Holding public officials, media, religious, cultural, community and business leaders accountable for attacking, defaming, inciting violence and stigmatizing women
Enforcing stringent measures against state armed forces that harm or inflict violence on HRDs
Strengthening the proactive role of independent public human rights and judicial institutions in the prevention and investigation of violence against WHRDs
Training officials, especially those in the judicial and penal system
Creating mechanisms that ensure that political appointments, promotions to public office or advancement of political careers take officials’ histories in relation to WHRDs into account
Ending extractive, agro-industrial, infrastructural and hydro-energy projects that were started without the free and informed consent of affected communities
Strengthen the implementation by States of their human rights obligations
Improve the coherence between international instruments
Invite UN Special Rapporteurs and other Special Mechanisms for visits
Facilitate cooperation between regional and international levels

Key recommendations for UN entities:
Strengthen technical assistance provided to States to implement UN recommendations
Adopt an intersectional approach to HRDs in all aspects of the Organization’s work
Ensure effective follow-up, implementation and accountability in collaboration with regional human rights mechanisms
Strengthen the participation of WHRDs in UN bodies, processes, meetings, country visits, etc.
Ensure a safe space for CSOs at the UN and denounce all acts of reprisals at the highest level
Strengthen country-level coordination amongst UN entities in supporting the implementation of UN recommendations
Monitor the adoption and implementation of legislations that legitimize or criminalize WHRDs
Adopt a holistic approach to protection measures
Urge private companies to improve how they identify, address and prevent violence and abuse against HRDs

SOURCE : https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/StatesResponsibilityTowardsProtection.aspx