C. Human rights-related issues arising from COVID-19 responses of states
Right to health
Travels to hospitals became difficult especially during the period from 30 March 2020 to 19 April 2020 when there was in force a blanket ban on public and private transport of any form except for the specified services. This resulted in a number of consequences including the death of at least seven pregnant mothers who failed to receive timely care due to the lack of means of transportation which was not helped by a general scarcity of services such as ambulances. Other groups affected include those who often seek regular medical care such as persons living with HIV, TB patients, sufferers from chronic illnesses, as well as people with medical emergencies.
This prompted CSOs to petition the Prime Minister to have the blanket ban on transport revised in order to prevent future related deaths. On 19 April 2020, the President declared during an address to the nation, the removal of travel restrictions for pregnant women including the requirement to seek permission from the RDC.
Right to housing (including homelessness, informal settlements, slums, shacks)
Landlords were requested not to chase away their tenants for defaulting on rent. However, this was merely a plea as opposed to a legal requirement and there was, therefore, no guarantee of protection. Furthermore, as the discussion on LGBTI persons’ rights below reveals, some of the vulnerable communities living in shelters for homeless persons were harassed; some arrested, detained and tortured allegedly for overcrowding contrary to the measures.
Right to water and sanitation
In February 2021, Sempewo et al published results from their research titled “The impact of COVID-19 on households’ water use in Uganda.” Among others, they highlight the problematic environment within which should be situated the discussion around the right to water during COVID-19, as follows:
In Uganda, clean water supply remains a challenge in rural areas (Naiga et al. 2015). This problem is a result of limited resources and skilled personnel, mismanagement and poor accountability of public funds (Calow et al. 2012). In urban areas, proper hygiene can be compromised in situations where households need to pay for the water they use (Naiga et al. 2015). This forces urban residents to restrict water use. Yet, this can facilitate the spread the viruses and bacteria (Burton et al. 2011).
Yet, as they rightly note, “(u)n stable water supply compromises the fight against contagious diseases.”
The work notes that the government took an initiative to ensure uninterrupted access to the water grid by Ugandans thereby connected, which took the form of a presidential directive,
…at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, to the water body (National Water and Sewerage Corporation) not to carry out any water disconnections during the lockdown in order to avoid a failure to practice handwashing that might ensue as a result of limited water supply.
Although the customers would ultimately have to pay, this temporary measure evidenced a pragmatic approach to the realisation of the right to water in the utmost time of need. The findings in the above research indeed unsurprisingly indicated an increase in water use by households over the lockdown period.
It remains to be seen whether or not Ugandans will translate this momentum into a foundational basis for demanding concrete policies leading to a better realisation of the right to water and sanitation.
Right to food/ nutrition and other socio-economic rights
The government set aside a budget to provide food relief to deserving Ugandans. In principle, priority was given to communities in urban and peri-urban locations whose means of livelihood had totally been locked down. The food reliefs included maize flour, beans, sugar and powdered milk necessary in a diet especially of children and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers.
Furthermore, the government ensured not to interrupt the supply and distribution chain for food by leaving the markets open at all times of the lockdown. The Minister of Trade also sounded a warning against food traders not hoarding food in order to hike prices as this would compromise food security.
Even then, there were concerns relating to the quality of the food distributed, some communities were not receiving food or doing so much later than their immediate neighbourhoods.
Economic impact/ impact small business/ employment social security networks
The economic and social impact of COVID-19 in Uganda has been highlighted by reports including the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, ACODE, DEVINIT and ABI. During COVID-19, the country’s economy plummeted from a 6.8% growth rate in 2019 to 2.9% in 2020. Notably, COVID struck when the country was still recovering from shortfalls in her revenues and an invasion of locusts which had posed unforeseen budgetary expenditures. This is attributed to the measures which led to the closure of business operations and disruption in supply and distribution chains due to the closure of borders and the lockdown.
In the area of employment, the four months lockdown led to the collapse of many businesses and lay off of workers while in some cases those who were retained had their payments either cut down or totally suspended. A number of businesses had running loans by the lockdown, on which interest accumulated beyond their capacity to pay, which resulted in attachment of their properties and liquidation of some.
Although the lockdown was later relaxed and some business operations allowed to resume, many still had to operate on half capacity meaning that a significant proportion of the pre-Covid staff population remained redundant moreover without alternative means of livelihood. In the case of factories, this also meant a reduction in production levels as the firms were operating under half capacity.
Relatedly, lockdown affected the capital stock of many small scale businesses as proprietors resorted to the capital stock and savings on livelihood in the form of buying food and medical care, paying rent for accommodation and bailing out indisposed relatives and friends. This left them with no capital to resume operations post the lockdown.
Furthermore, a number of enterprises such as media that remained standing for a while are also starting to cut down on their staff due to a plummeting of business which affects their turnovers and therefore cannot sustain the pre-covid employee population. This is compounded by a generally poor social security landscape in Uganda characterised by a limited range of benefits that do not cover situations of redundancy and the fact that most of the people are unemployed or informally engaged without social security or any form of insurance including for health.
Women (including domestic violence)
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response measures on women in Uganda took different forms. For instance, the lockdown on public and private transport limited access by pregnant mothers to relevant health services as a result of which some women died whilst trying to reach facilities on foot. There are also reports of the beating of women found along the streets where they had gone to sell merchandise such as fruits in baskets in order to fend for their families. In northern Uganda, women caught outside their homesteads during curfew hours were subjected to worse forms of degrading treatment including beating, undressing and requiring them to roll on the muddy ground. The president later ordered a seizure of such violence.
Domestic violence against women also skyrocketed in Uganda due to the prolonged lockdown amidst poverty and the associated stress and fights in homes. This was not helped by a restricted environment for access to justice following the Chief Justice’s Circular on the Administrative and Contingency Measures to prevent and mitigate the Spread of COVID-19 by the Judiciary. It was observed that by emphasizing consideration of only urgent cases, which is interpreted to have meant criminal cases such as murder, aggravated robbery and domestic violence, the Judiciary effectively suspended consideration of “legal issues predominantly reported by women” such as family and children related matters.
The other concern in this regard is that the digital transition was oblivious to the digital gender gap which was as limiting as to the “physical restrictions on movement [which] made it difficult for women to access courts and lawyers for legal help”.
Children (including education)
While the threats surrounding COVID-19 and attendant measures indeed affected everyone, the impact was no doubt overwhelming for children. The experiences were multifaceted. Examples in this regard include anxiety generated by the fear of contracting COVID-19; the inconvenience of a phenomenally long break from school for over a year without advancing to another level of education, exposure to physical and other forms of abuse including of a sexual nature due to the confinement and at times idleness, trauma especially when parents had misunderstandings some of which may have emanated from the lack of means to meet the needs of families, among others.
In an attempt to facilitate continuity of learning under the newer circumstances imposed by COVID-19, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) developed a Preparedness and Response Plan (PRP) of the country’s education Sector to COVID-19 focusing on three core areas namely: continuity of learning, the learning agenda and school after the lockdown. A part of this program, the MoES published self-study materials for all levels of education from lower primary classes to Advanced Level Secondary. All study materials were provided free of charge and the public was advised accordingly. In the case of lower primary classes, the Ministry prepared radio scripts of study materials to guide the study programmes of young people across the country.
Importantly, these materials were translated into the several languages spoken by most of the tribal groupings across the country and were published on the Ministry’s website for ease of access by the teachers: Luganda, Lusoga, Lhukonzo, Lugbarati, Runyankore-Rukiga, Runyoro-Rutooro, Ateeso, Aringati and Maditi. Additionally, the national broadcaster issued a National Education Program Time Table which was to be followed in the provision of remote learning. Delivery of these training programmes was to follow a framework designed by the MoES. Additionally, the Ministry arranged for issuance of study materials to learners across the country through the District Resident Commissioners. The materials were accompanied by a Parents’ Guide to supporting Children’s learning at home with a view to facilitating learning in an environment without teachers and in acknowledgement of the limitations in access to platforms for virtual education by professional teachers.
So far, there are no studies conducted to assess how impactful these measures were especially in view of concerns around the accessibility of the virtually provided education to learners from extremely poor localities with no or limited access to the major medium of transmission of the education namely mainstream and social media platforms.
Persons with disabilities
Just as is usually the case with many of society’s challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic definitely had a disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities due to among others reasons, shortfalls in the environment for the articulation of their concerns.
Notably, Uganda an approximated 12% population of persons with disabilities. However, most of the interventions appeared to be lacking in a comprehensive disability-friendly approach. For instance, although the Ministry of Health tried to ensure the availability of sign language translation during its Press Conferences, a similar approach was lacking for the Presidential addresses to the nation which have been postured as having been central in popularising the response measures. This means that the deaf could hardly receive timely information. It is also likely that most of the communication materials circulated in an attempt to sensitise the public about COVID-19 were not disability sensitive.
These and more areas in relation to the experience of persons with disabilities in Uganda during COVID-19 warrant an empirical inquiry in order to guide responses to similar occurrences in the future.
LGBTI persons
It has been noted that Uganda’s lockdown measures were in some instances used as a target to emit violence against LGBTI persons with as many as 20 of them being remanded for nearly two months over alleged violation of the said measures during their residence at a shelter provided by a local NGO.
Reports from HRW, UNAIDS and Mail & Guardian indicate that the dire human rights situation of LGBTI persons in Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic has generally been interpreted as a continuation of the homophobia against this group years before COVID-19 struck. These trends are not any different from the general approach across Africa.
Migrants
The limitations which came with the lock-down measures severely impacted the enjoyment of rights and rights-related goods and services for the over 1.4 migrant population in the country. Compared to citizens who may have had some form of social support system to resort to, migrants had to struggle harder in the event of extreme difficulties such as unemployment due to COVID-19 lockdown on activities, food shortages and mental health challenges driven by anxiety and an extended period of solitude. This was not helped by the declines in the resource envelope of providers of food and financial needs to refugees such as the World Food Programme which significantly cut down on its package for refugees in Uganda. In addition to significantly affecting the livelihoods of refugees, the resultant food shortages were also projected to worsen the tension between the refugees and nationals in competition for scarce resources. This is not to downplay the efforts of agencies such as the UNHCHR and civil society organisations in trying to try and mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of migrants.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the need to protect the country from the importation of COVID-19 cases led to a ban on entry into the country across all borders save for a few exempted categories indicated in Part A of this report. The Office of the Prime Minister expressly suspended the reception of new refugees into the country.
Persons deprived of their liberty
Many persons were arrested and detained, both over alleged violation of the measures put in place to control COVID-19, as well as for other crimes. One of the key Constitutional guarantees required for suspects under such circumstances is access to legal advice. However, just as was the trend in other East African countries, in Uganda, lawyers were initially excluded from the list of essential service providers who would be able to continue their operations during the continuance in force of some of the relatively tight lockdown measures for instance restrictions on movement and curfew. This meant that at some point lawyers would not be able to facilitate access to justice by persons deprived of their liberty as their constitutional right to fair hearing requires timely access to legal counsel. Notably, after a long period of lobbying, the legal profession was allocated a paltry 30 lawyers allowed to provide legal services on any one day which was regarded as an insult to a profession with a membership of over 3500 Advocates.
Furthermore, the suspension of business by the courts and the cross-cutting lockdown measures reportedly hit hardest the accused persons on remand given that physical court appearances were not easy to secure. It has been noted that even where the courts would be willing to hear the matters, this was at times not possible in light of the precautionary measures taken by other chain institutions such as the Prisons Service and the Police.
Right to life and bodily security
As noted in earlier sections of this report, Uganda’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was characterised by incidents of heavy-handedness in the form of acts of brutality against citizens in the form of ‘whipping, shooting and snooping’ during enforcement of nighttime curfew, and in order to chase people off the streets. Some of these events reportedly resulted in death in some cases. It was suggested that the level of impunity and lethal force with which security forces acted in purported enforcement of COVID-19 measures might have been deadlier than the pandemic itself.
Freedom of assembly
The fact that COVID-19 was scientifically believed to thrive in congested environments would ordinarily make claims to the freedom of assembly appear to be unreasonable if not reckless. Yet, the awareness that repressive regimes could use the necessity created by the pandemic to unreasonably impede enjoyment of this right makes it necessary to reflect on how it manifested in the case of Uganda. Notably, when the threat from COVID-19 appeared to have escalated, Uganda adopted lockdown measures including a ban on what would ordinarily have been micro gatherings. This development altered the socialization approach of what is traditionally a highly communal and physical Ugandan community. Mostly affected were the religious unions, political activities as well as social functions.
Notably, and as indicated in Section B, there are suggestions that over and above the threat posed by the pandemic, the restrictions on especially political activities were also an opportunity for the Ugandan regime to deny opposition figures the campaign momentum often generated through mass events. The paranoia against political activity is also visible in the explicit requirement of religious leaders not to entertain any political campaigns in their places of worship once opened.
Freedom of movement
As highlighted in Section A, Uganda imposed – and still enforces a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am night curfew in addition to restricting operators of public transport to load 50% of their carrying capacity. This both affects peoples’ movement in terms of the increased cost of travel as well as limited flexibility of long-distance travellers who have to ensure arrival to their respective destinations within the allowable time period for the travels. At the height of the lockdown measures, the movement was practically impossible both for public and private travellers. Those who had emergencies initially had to go through an uncertain process of processing a travel permit from a District representative of the President resulting in significant delays and frustration.
Freedom of expression/ access to information/ privacy/digital rights
The MoH was pragmatic and comprehensive in providing relevant information to the public in relation to COVID-19 including on issues such as SOPs, updates on case incidents among others in addition to the regular national addresses by the President in the company of relevant officials to update the nation and respond to questions/concerns from the public in relation to the measures.
However, there was a very restrictive environment as regards freedom of expression especially of views critical of the country’s response to COVID-19. For instance, people who published false information on COVID-19 were arrested and detained in spite of the presence and wide dissemination of overwhelming scientific evidence on the pandemic which could easily have diluted their claims. Most of these publications were done on digital platforms such as social media which appear to have been closely policed.
