NTV news segment presenting findings from a research study that examined the rise in child labor and poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic in three countries: Ghana, Nepal, and Uganda, and the impact on children’s rights, and government responses.
On 9th May 2021, Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager - ISER) was hosted on NTV Uganda's Talk of the Nation to discuss the benefit of the National Health Insurance Scheme Bill, recently passed by the Parliament and now awaiting assent by the President.
On 7th May 2021, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) together with community members filed a case in the High Court Mukono District, challenging detention of mothers who fail to clear hospital bills in private health facilities. In the civil suit, the Attorney General and respective Local Governments are held accountable for the violation of constitutional and international human rights.
On 19th March 2021, NBS TV hosted Joshua Kisawuzi (ISER's Community Outreach Officer) to discuss the emerging issues from the phased reopening of schools in regards to access to learning as well as identifying and examining ways of addressing those issues eg teenage pregnancies.
As the country received the first batch of COVID 19 vaccines and embarks on vaccination, the Ministry of Health requires a National ID card in order to access the vaccine. This requirement raises public health and human rights concerns as a number of Ugandans, including, those at a high risk of dying or being hospitalized from the Corona virus will be excluded simply because they lack a national ID. On 9th March 2021, Elizabeth Atori (Legal Officer - ISER) was one of the guests on the NTV Kick Starter programme.
Civil society led by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) and Unwanted Witness on 5th March dragged government to court over the requirement by the Ministry of Health to mandate one to present either a national identification card (NIC) or national identification Number (NIN) before receiving COVID 19 vaccines.
The Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng led her team to parliament to request approval of a 18.5 billion shilling supplementary budget for the initial procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine. This is part of the 59 billion shillings required by the Ministry to procure 18 million doses of vaccine. These would then vaccinate 20% of the population equivalent to 9 million people. On 7th February, Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager - Right to Health) was hosted on NTV Talk of the Nation to discuss issues surrounding Government's efforts in securing COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Since March 18, 2020, schools remain closed and children and parents are anxiously waiting to hear from government regarding continuity of education. When will schools be opening for all children? Will the authorities announce learning remotely again? What happened to the initial plans for remote learning that among others involved distribution of radios and hard copy self-learning materials to all children? These are some of the questions to which government is yet to provide answers. On 2nd February 2021, Salima Namusobya (Executive Director - ISER) was hosted on Morning@NTV to discuss the issue.
Following the government's launch of COVID 19 treatment trials, Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager - Right to Health, ISER) was hosted on NTV's Morning@NTV on 28th January to discuss the issue together with Dr. Grace Nambatya (Director, Research - NCRI).
There have been concerns about the cost of campaigning in the electoral season. For some candidates, it has been a hard road without money. However, there have been some bright lights, where one candidate has won popular support through crowd funding on social and legacy media. But others are also concerned that the high cost of campaigning is affecting which candidates we can actually run for public office. Joseph Byomuhangi (Program Officer - Business & Human Rights, ISER) was hosted on NTV's Talk of the Nation on 5th December to discuss the issue.
This is a recording of a discussion on how Presidential Candidates' manifestos rate on various aspects including Economic, Social & Cultural Rights. The discussion was held on NTV on Thursday 12th November 2020, with Allana Kembabazi (Program Manager - Right to Health) being one of the panelists.
An article published in the Daily Monitor newspaper on 17th October 2020 making reference to the 7th Annual National Conference on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that was held under the theme "Election Promises, Political Accountability and Service Delivery; A Reality Check".
Link: https://www.monitor.co.ug/