Eerste River, Cape Town, South Africa – Valencia Farmer, a 14-year-old girl is gang raped by four men before she is stabbed fifty-three times; her throat slit and she is left for dead. The young girl is unable to grow into an adult because four rapists have snuffed out her opportunity to grow old. More […]
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Uganda: Sound bites will not end practice of torture in detention
Gory images from Uganda’s torture chambers have gripped the nation. Many are still struggling to fathom why cold-blooded torturers would descend on human beings and unleash such untold horror on them. In response, President Museveni penned a tepid open missive advising police and other law enforcement agencies to cease the use of torture. It has […]
Social Media: Uganda’s chance at an Indigenous Civil Society
A simple definition of ‘Civil Society’ is enabled by truncating the term into two words Civil and Society. When we say something is Civil, we mean that it is non-Military or non-Government, we mean that it relates to ordinary citizens. A Society is a group of people linked by common interests and activities. When we say […]
My Day Job
I am used now. I have been at it for years and I’m still counting, the way I count the number of lashes as I rain a hurricane of them on my patients’ buttocks, on their legs, arms, ankles, at their back. I love it at their back because they can’t shield their backs. They […]
Thoughts of an Alira Primary School Teacher
“How are we to buy sanitary pads from UPE Money?”
Nalufenya: My Quarrel is with Parliament’s Committee on Human Rights
To some, ‘Nalufenya’ is a word that doesn’t glide off the tongue easily, maybe it’s the four syllables? No, maybe it’s the fact that it’s an awry town in Jinja synonymous with Uganda’s very own Abu Ghraib Jail. Nalufenya Police Station sends shivers down spines, especially for those who’ve allegedly suffered at the hands of […]
We need sustainable solutions for menstruation hygiene beyond donating pads
There is an old saying, usually attributed to Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher that goes “give a man fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” In that simple statement, lays an important life lesson and that is; give someone an answer, […]
Gender and Equity Non-Compliance and what it could mean for Uganda
Principles of gender and equity are primary to achieving social justice in terms of rights, access to resources or representation in decision making for many marginalised demographics world over. The same principles are fundamental to achieving sustainable economic development and the government has not minced its words on its zeal to rrealizemiddle income status by […]
Could Internal dealing within key Government Institutions be the likely rise of Human Trafficking in Uganda?
Trafficking women for sexual slavery has become the second world ‘lucrative crimes’ after drug trafficking and arms deals with the highest number of women reported to come from Uganda. Uganda is a source and destination country for commercial sexual exploitation. Young girls and women are lured into sex trafficking within East Africa, Europe and Asian […]
Government should address reprisals against human rights defenders
The environment in which Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Uganda operate is increasingly becoming hostile. This is evident in the twist in attacks with escalating office-break-ins, kidnaps, harassment of civil society organizations and now targeted reprisals to HRDs. This situation becomes worse when the perpetrators involved are state agents such as the police and elements […]