Opposition must raise human rights issues

Human rights relate to our daily bread. Human rights are one’s entitlements by virtue of being a human being. We are born with them.

They emphasize the inherent worth of persons and protect us from arbitrariness, repression and suffering. Human rights are especially important for minorities and the vulnerable in society. Human dignity, liberty and equality are their foundation. They are inherent, interconnected, universal and interdependent. Human rights are the cornerstones of rule of law and a just and democratic society.

We have human rights like human dignity, freedom from torture or cruelty, fair trial and personal liberty without which life would be reduced to an ugly and crude contest in the deployment of force. There are human rights such as freedom of peaceful assembly, association, petitioning, speech and religion without which citizens would not be able to participate in their governance.

There are those human rights, like the right to a clean and healthy environment, access to information, and civic rights that enable us to protect nature, work for a livable climate and give sustainable development a chance. President Roosevelt conceptualized the four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom of worship.

The Magna Carta, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and our 1995 Uganda Constitution underscore the primacy of human rights and recognize that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable human rights is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Freedom never comes on a silver platter. Like Kwame Nkrumah clarified, freedom is the shining trophy of struggle and sacrifice. Freedom is the fruit of struggle. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau noted, man is born free but everywhere he is in chains. The chains of forced disappearances, torture, illegal detentions, corruption, dictatorship, disease, ignorance, poverty, the climate crisis and other ills that damn Uganda today.

These chains must be broken. It is the duty of every citizen to participate in politics. Governance is too important to leave to only politicians. Human rights offer ordinary citizens and politicians a platform to break chains and push back against military dictatorship, social and economic injustice.

Liberty includes engaging in civic activities like voting, marching, criticizing, writing and speaking about politics––the art of managing society. People should choose and hold their leaders accountable. Criticizing government may be done by ordinary citizens, opposition politicians or civil society. To do so is their freedom and responsibility.

Yet, Mariam Wangadya, the chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), has puzzlingly warned human rights proponents and the political opposition against mixing politics and human rights. The 1995 Uganda Constitution demands all people, including and especially UHRC, to respect, promote and protect human rights.

It is not the place of a human rights defender to stop politicians from demanding accountability even if doing so gets them political capital.
Politicians have long championed for human rights. Fear leaders who shun human rights arguments, discourage human rights advocacy by all or distract masses from pressing for their civil liberties on camera. Injustice hates light. Oppression courts darkness.

We should condemn human rights violators, not the champions of our liberties. Politicians too have freedom of speech and that necessarily includes asking for the whereabouts of disappeared people. Human rights advocacy is not a preserve of victims and their families. It is everyone’s responsibility.

If there is one thing some Ugandan politicians are doing right and should be praised for, it is advocating for the human rights of Ugandans including demanding that UHRC exercises its constitutional mandate to promote human rights in a more energetic, proactive and fearless manner.

The current UHRC boss has retreated from actively demanding for the stopping, and accountability for harassment of opposition politicians, loud civil society voices and dissident Ugandans. UHRC has been handling human rights complaints of opposition politicians at a snail pace and its chairperson issuing biased statements that discourage politicians from using human rights notions in their politics yet that is why human rights exists to be used by the oppressed, violated, the opposition, the voiceless and the aggrieved to demand for accountability, equality and justice.

The UHRC boss has even discouraged politicians from using social and traditional media from amplifying the voices of disappeared or tortured Ugandans. While Wangadya does not disguise her praise and inclination to NRM, she needs to disguise her contempt for human rights advocacy and opposition’s employment of human rights to demand the release of disappeared Ugandans.

Inaction or delayed action on human rights complaints, biased responses to human rights cries, attempting to separate human rights advocacy from political activism is unnecessary, unwise and illegal.

Uganda has a history of pain, suffering and tyranny. To cure the historical oppression and injustice, Ugandans wrote the 1995 Constitution. Respect it.

The author is a human rights lawyer