HRCU WEEKLY UPDATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND KEY EMERGING ISSUES IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF HRDS IN UGANDA (5TH - 11TH OCTOBER 2020)
THE HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE UGANDA (HRCU)
WEEKLY UPDATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND KEY EMERGING ISSUES WITHIN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN UGANDA DURING THE PREVALENCE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
The Week of 5th – 11th October 2020
Issue No.27
INTRODUCTION
We are in the last quarter of the year and efforts are geared towards consolidating all works to see that the year ends well. Despite this however, we are all called upon to continue monitoring, documenting and sharing information on human rights and key emerging issues within the working environment of human rights defenders.
In sharing these updates, HRCU intends that human rights defenders and HRCU partners shall keep updated on the developments and trends regarding some of the human rights and key emerging issues that can be merged with more information within their reach and means so as to assess the human rights situation in the country and therefore strategise together to see that ultimately, there is creation of a society where human rights and fundamental freedoms can be respected, upheld and realized by all and for all.
LATEST UPDATES ON COVID-19 IN UGANDA
Results from COVID-19 tests done on Sunday 11th October 2020 confirm 63 new cases. The cumulative cases are now 9,864. Recoveries stand at 6,109. One (1) new COVID-19 death from Kampala bringing the total COVID-19 deaths to 94.
The breakdown of the new cases are: Contacts and alerts (63); Kampala (24), Gulu (11), Wakiso (9), Soroti (6), Masindi (3), Mbale (2), Amuru (1), Busia (1), Masaka (1), Mityana (1), Moroto (1), Ntungamo (1), Sembabule (1) and Tororo (1)
Source: https://web.facebook.com/minofhealthUG/
COVID-19 PATIENTS PRESENTING WITH MENTAL ILLNESSES
COVID-19 patients and some of the recovered cases are presenting with a number of mental illnesses, mental health experts revealed.
While studies show that COVID-19 mainly affects the respiratory system, medical experts say evidence from active patients and recovered cases show that it also affects their mental health.
According to mental health experts, while studies are still ongoing to establish the mental effects of COVID-19, some cases that have been treated in Uganda have presented with a series of mental conditions including anxiety, acute psychosis, delirium, depression and chronic fatigue.
Prof. Noeline Nakasujja, the Head of the psychiatry department at the College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, says that the most common mental health condition COVID-19 patients presented during treatment was anxiety and depression.
Details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66928-covid-19-patients-presenting-with-mental-illnesses
50 UGANDAN JOURNALISTS TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
The ministry of Health revealed that at least 50 journalists in Uganda have so far tested positive of the corona virus (COVID-19).
According to Ministry of Health statistics, 9,442 persons had tested positive and 85 died of COVID-19 in Uganda as of October 7. Speaking to journalists at a virtual media symposium on the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda organized by the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), Dr. Charles Olaro, the Director of Curative Services at the Ministry of Health revealed that at least 50 journalists had tested positive of the virus representing close to 0.6% of total cases.
Dr. Olaro didn’t reveal the media houses or areas where the journalists have been registered but noted that the numbers have been aggregated from the persons who indicated journalism as their classifications during testing.
Details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66911-50-ugandan-journalists-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19
EASING THE LOCK DOWN: UGANDA IS NOW OPEN TO THE WORLD
Uganda on Tuesday 6th October 2020 opened to the world
following months of closure due to Covid-19 pandemic.
President Yoweri Museveni announced that Uganda was now open to the world,
provided the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are strictly adhered to.
Using his social media Twitter handle, Museveni said tourists/travelers should
have tested negative 72 hours before arrival.
Entebbe International Airport resumed commercial passenger flights on October
1, 2020, ending at least five months of lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19
pandemic.
Details at: https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1528634/uganda-open-world-museveni
MALAWI PRESIDENT FLOUTS OWN COVID GUIDELINES DURING VISIT TO TANZANIA
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera defended himself from public criticism for not putting on a face mask during his scheduled three-day official visit to Tanzania Wednesday 7th October 2020.
Chakwera had been under public criticism in Malawi following pictures on social media showing him with no face coverings when he met with his Tanzanian President John Magufuli.
The move violated COVID-19 prevention guidelines Malawi instituted in August making wearing masks mandatory in public places. According to the guidelines, those who do not adhere to the measure would be fined about $15.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND OTHER EMERGING ISSUES THAT DEVELOPED IN THE COURSE OF THE WEEK
ABUSE OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE: WOMAN THROWS TWINS INTO RIVER AFTER HUSBAND DISAPPEARS WITH FOOD MONEY
Kitgum police arrested and held a woman for allegedly dumping her eight-month-old twin boys in a fast-flowing stream. Lily Oyella, a resident of Bipong village in Oryang parish and mother of six reportedly dumped the children in Auch stream, some 500 meters away from her home at about 6 pm on Saturday evening after a quarrel with her husband.
Wilfred Nyeko, the Labongo Amida sub-county LC 3 Chairperson told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that one of the children drowned in the stream while the other was rescued unconscious by locals.
Nyeko says trouble started on Friday when the suspect waited for her husband whom she had sent with an unspecified amount of money to buy food for the family for Independence Day celebrations in vain. He notes that the suspect’s husband identified as Kenneth Ochol instead used all the money to drink alcohol, leaving his family to spend the day without food.
According to Nyeko, Ochol returned home on Saturday morning but disappeared shortly after his wife confronted him. He says the infuriated woman took an irrational decision to dump the children in the stream to purportedly relieve her of the burden of keeping them since their father had absconded from his responsibilities.
Please read more details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66931-woman-throws-twins-into-river-after-husbands-disappears-with-food-money
DISOBEDIENCE OF LAWFUL ORDERS: POLICE BURST KIREKA 'SEX PARTY', 21 SUSPECTS ARRESTED
Police in Kiira Division is holding 21 suspects for allegedly staging a sex orgy in Kira Municipality, Wakiso district.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, says the suspects were picked up from a private residence in Kireka in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
According to Onyango, they received intelligence information about the alleged sex party and planted an informant to keep track of the events.
He said the suspects were charged with disobedience of lawful orders and doing acts that are likely to cause the spread of infectious disease including corona virus disease (COVID-19).
Some of the photos from the party showed half-dressed females and men partying with all kinds of drinks of tables. According to the posters for the sex party dubbed ‘Be Mine’, the entrance fee for VIP clients was Shs. 50,000 and for the ordinary revelers Shs. 30,000.
More details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66929-police-burst-sex-party-21-suspects-arrested
EFFECT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE IN GULU FOLLOWING PARENTS' FIGHT
A teenage girl has committed suicide in Gulu city, northern Uganda following a fight between her mother and father.
The 14-year-old primary seven-candidate of Bishop Cipriano Kihangire primary school in Kitintale, Kampala hanged herself following a fight between her father, Alfred Oryema and mother, Concy Oroma at their home in Custom Corner in Gulu West Division on Friday morning.
The deceased’s uncle, Tom Mboya says that on the fateful morning, Oryema reportedly returned home drunk and picked up a fight with his wife Oroma and their children including the deceased attempted to intervene. According to Mboya, in a fit of anger, Oroma bought two bottles of crude alcohol and took them all.
She collapsed and lay half-dead behind the house. The 14-year-old girl allegedly thought her mother was dead and rushed back to the house where she tore one of the clothes and used it as a rope to hang herself.
Detectives visited the home but were stopped from carrying out a postmortem by the deceased’s family who went ahead and buried the girl's body. Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa Region police spokesperson has advised families to desist from domestic violence and seek counselling services.
The teenager’s death brings to 66, the number of documented people who have committed suicide in Acholi sub-region between March and October this year. Ambrose Oola, the prime minister of Acholi chiefdom, says they are overwhelmed by the increasing cases of domestic violence leading to suicide in the region.
Details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66926-14-year-old-girl-commits-suicide-after-fight-with-drunk-father
THE ROAD TO 2021 GENERAL ELECTIONS: BIRIGGWA BOWS OUT OF FDC PRESIDENTIAL FLAG BEARER RACE
Forum for Democratic Change chairperson, Wasswa Biriggwa pulled out party presidential flag bearer race in favour of party president, Patrick Oboi Amuriat.
During the FDC national council meeting held on Thursday 8th October 2020 at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, Birigggwa said he did not want to divide the party like the previous party president Gen. Mugisha Muntu had done when he left the party and founded the Alliance of National Transformation (ANT) after being defeated by Amuriat. Biriggwa said to date, the party was still paying for Muntu's departure.
Details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66915-biriggwa-bows-out-of-fdc-presidential-flag-bearer-race
FORT PORTAL NRM PRIMARIES LOSER KIHUNDE JOINS NUP
Sylvia Kihunde, who lost in the NRM party primaries for the Fort Portal City Woman MP race has crossed to the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party.
Kihunde contested against Sylvia Rwabwogo, the incumbent Kabarole Woman MP, Linda Irene Mugisa and Judith Mukidi. Mugisa was declared the winner.
Mukidi and Rwabwogo said the primaries were marred by vote rigging, voter bribery, and voting by non-NRM members among others irregularities. They have since announced that they will contest as independents in the general elections scheduled for next year.
Details at: https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66905-fort-portal-nrm-primaries-loser-kihunde-joins-nup
MILESTONES FOR UGANDA’S SPORTS: UGANDA'S CHEPTEGEI SMASHES 10,000M WORLD RECORD IN SPAIN
Uganda’s king of long distance racing, Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei broke the men's 10,000m World Record in Valencia, Spain on Wednesday 7th October 2020.
Cheptegei who also broke the world 5,000m record in August this year, was in good form to cover the 10,000m distance in 26:11:00 in the NN Valencia World Record Day at the Turia stadium on Wednesday evening.
As he promised 3 months ago, Cheptegei broke Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele’s record of 26:17:53 that he set in Brussels in 2005. Cheptegei who is also the Cross Country champion has re-written history by breaking two records in a space of seven weeks. In all the 3 races that Cheptegei has participated in this year, he has smashed all their World Records. In December last year, he also broke the 10km World Record.
Details at:
https://observer.ug/news/headlines/66900-uganda-s-cheptegei-smashes-10-000m-world-record-in-spain
CONCLUSION
The human rights promotion and protection environment in Uganda is dynamic, just as it is in other parts of the world. Human rights defenders are continually engaging in activities and initiatives that aim to sensitize as many people as possible about their rights and fundamental freedoms.
Much as the State has the duty to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, each of us is called upon to realize that we have the cardinal responsibility to observe and claim our rights at all material times. We should always be on the look out to see that neither our own nor the rights of our neighbors are violated or abused in any way. We have to strive for a conducive environment for all while continuing to respect and abide by the guidelines in place to avert the further spread of the deadly COVID-19.
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