ICAR, UCCA and ISER issued this statement at the 3rd Session of the UN Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (OEIGWG) working towards a binding treaty on business and human rights.
A group of 44 elderly people from different parts of the country on Monday stormed the Equal Opportunities Commission offices in Bugolobi in Kampala demanding to know why they are not being paid the monthly grants for the elderly.
15 August 2017, KAMPALA – Today the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), an NGO committed to advancing social and economic rights in Uganda, together with the Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) converged on the Constitutional Court to call for an end to discrimination against people with hearing disabilities (hereinafter referred to as deaf) in Uganda’s health system.
Businesses play an important role in the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, inter alia, by contributing to the creation of employment opportunities and, through private investment, to development. However, the Committee has been regularly presented with situations in which, as a result of States' failure to ensure compliance with internationally recognized human rights under their jurisdiction, corporate activities negatively affected economic, social and cultural rights.
Link: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=E/C.12/GC/24&Lang=en
Source: UN
In a new important UN resolution adopted today, States have reaffirmed the urgency to address the negative impacts of the commercialisation of education, which could undermine human rights.
Source: Global Initiative on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GIESCR)
21 March 2017, Geneva/Kampala/New York: The Ugandan government has agreed to implement a range of social and economic rights reforms recommended by the United Nations Human Rights Council following its recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Uganda.
A Ugandan non-government organization (NGO) has petitioned Parliament over the increased tuition in government schools. The Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) is seeking intervention in the regulation of fees being asked for by government-aided schools across the country.
Link: https://www.independent.co.ug/ngo-petitions-uganda-parliament-increased-tuition/
Source: The Independent
PARLIAMENT. The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has pledged to stop the haphazard increase and high charges of tuition and non-tuition fees by Government-aided schools, which she says is frustrating children’s talents.
Source: Daily Monitor
The Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) submitted comments to the Draft General Comment on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in the context of business activities.
Please see link: Written submissions 2017
This year, the Sustainable Development Goals were launched with a commitment to: “Leave no one behind.” While the country has made commendable progress in realizing human rights, we cannot ignore the fact that the country is failing to safeguard the rights of the poor and vulnerable, resulting in deepening inequality. 2 in 3 Ugandans remain poor or vulnerable to falling back into poverty, living on less than 2 USD per day.