Poverty, Human Rights and the Quest for Sustainable Human Development in Structurally-Adjusted Uganda
| DOI | 10.1177/092405190001800103 |
| Date | 01 March 2000 |
| Published date | 01 March 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Poverty, Human Rights and the Quest for Sustainable Human
Development in Structurally-Adjusted Uganda
J. Oloka-Onyango'
Abstract
In a bid to address the almost two decades
of
economic malaise and decline that Uganda
had experienced in the 1970s and 1980s, Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance
Movement adopted radical measures
of
economic adjustment under the tutelage
of
the
World Bank
and
the International Monetary Fund. Although those measures resulted in
significant economic growth -in GDP terms -this article argues that they failed to be
conscious
of
basic principles
of
human rights relating to equality, non-discrimination and
participation, and have consequently compounded the situation
of
poverty in the country.
It further argues that the 'non-party' political system in existencefurther undermines the
promotion and protection
of
fundamental human rights.
I A Background Note
Reports on
Uganda's
recent economic situation present aglowing picture; growth rates
averaging nearly 6percent per annum for the past decade, liberalised schemes for foreign
investment paraded on the Internet and in international news magazines, and inflation kept
to a low (and consistent) minimum.' When one considers the fact that for nearly two
decades Uganda was considered the classic example
of
all things gone awry in Africa, the
tum
around has been fairly remarkable by any standards
of
evaluation.' In the words
of
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),
'Even
the most ardent detractors
cannot fail but acknowledge that
Uganda's
economic achievement over the past decade
has been nothing short
of
phenomenal'.3Obviously, there is something that somebody is
doing right with regard to the economy. However, these glowing reports conceal ahidden
and quite stark reality; the growth
of
real poverty, declining levels
of
infrastructural
development and a reducing commitment to social change and fundamental transformation
Associate Professor and Dean of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; Member of the United
Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Visiting Professor at Harvard
Law School (1997) and the University
of
Minnesota (1994-95).
According to Ddumba-Sentamu, the average growth rate has been 5.9 percent since the inception of the
Economic Reform Program (ERP) in 1987,with thehighest rate of 10.6percent being recorded in fiscal year
1994-1995. See J. Ddumba-Sentamu, 'Structural Adjustment Programme in Uganda: The Recent Experience
and Challenges', Mawazo, Vol. 7,
No.1,
1997, p. 31. In a newspaperinterview, IMF representative Ulrike
Wilson reiterated the view of Uganda's'stellar' economic performance. See 'Wilson Quits IMF', New Vision,
3 September 1998, at p. 17.
For an analysis
of
the situation of human rights violations in Uganda in the 19705 and 19805, see Henry
Kyemba, State
of
Blood, Corgi, London, 1977.
See UNDP, Uganda Human Development Report, UNDP, Kampala, 1997, p. 1.
Netherlands Quarterly
of
Human Rights, Vol.
1811,
23-44, 2000.
©Netherlands 1nstitute
of
Human Rights (SlM). Printed in the Netherlands. 23
NQHR I
/2000
on the part
of
the State." Furthermore, they are accompanied by deteriorating conditions
of
human rights - social, economic and cultural, and civil and political.!
The deterioration in the Ugandan body politic is particularly marked by enduring (even
growing) violations
of
the right to peace, sustainable human development (SHD) and the
right to a clean and healthy environment. Moreover, despite the accolades that have been
heaped on the 'no-party' system
of
government that has been in place since 1986, serious
questions arise as to the extent to which the system can provide alasting framework for
the basic respect
of
rights
of
association, assembly and democratic organisation, and
participation and opposition." Viewed together, these two dimensions
of
the issue
compound the economic reality, which ultimately exacerbates existing conditions
of
poverty and marginalisation.' From this perspective, Uganda's success story is a different
and certainly amuch less encouraging one.
This article examines certain aspects
of
the question
of
poverty in Uganda, drawing its
main thrust from a human rights perspective. To borrow the words
of
Jose Bengoa:
Human Rights, as a code of values juridically accepted at the international level, can
legitimately signal the ethically acceptable or unacceptable limits of economic policy measures
and economic functioning. The human rights system has the legal obligation to observe the
economic system and to signal the greater or lesser impact it is having in meeting the needs
of
individual human beings and on their enjoyment
of
essential civil, economic, social, political
and cultural rights."
Given the above, when discussing the issue
of
poverty and its relationship to human rights
it is essential to adopt an holistic perspective. Such a perspective must consider both
categories
of
human rights, an approach that is seldom adopted by most scholars in the
area, or even within international agencies whose brief covers the issue." Thus, although
economic and social rights are beginning to receive more attention, most analyses look at
them in isolation." This perspective has been carried over to the issue
of
poverty. When
the subject
of
poverty is debated, it is most usually economic, social and cultural rights
(the right to adequate shelter, nutrition, health, food, education and work, inter alia) that
are implicated. However, it is the argument
of
this article that equally important to an
understanding
of
the phenomenon
of
poverty is the dimension that relates to the
See, for example, World Bank, Uganda: The Challenge
of
Growth and Poverty Reduction, World Bank,
Washington DC, 1995.
On the overall status of civil and political rights in Uganda, see J. Mugaju and J. Oloka-Onyango (eds.), No
Party Democracy in Uganda: Myths and Realities, Fountain Publishers, Kampala, 2000.
See 1. Oloka-Onyango,
'Uganda's
"Benevolent" Dictatorship', Current History, Vol. 96, No. 210, 1997,
pp.212-216.
One can draw parallels between Uganda and Ghana, which has similarly been touted as an economic success
story, but where the reality is starker. According to an article in Business in Africa, 'A civil servant friend
supplements his government salary with a private law practice and has a stake in an electronics repair firm.
A real estate agent ( ...) also runs a computer repair business and an office cleaning service. Such are the
contradictions
of
Ghana's
economy today - a decade and a
half
into the country's Economic Reform
Programme - that at a time when more goods are available to buy than at any other moment in recent
history, people must work harder to purchase them,
if
they can afford them at all'. See 'Tough times linger',
Business in Africa, FebruarylMarch 1998, at p. 15.
Jose Bengoa, The relationship between the enjoyment
of
human rights, in particular economic, social and
cultural rights, and income distribution, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/9, 1997, p. 5.
See Asbjern Eide,
'Human
Rights Requirements to Social and Economic Development', Food Policy, Vol.
21, No. I, 1996, pp. 23-40.
\0 Ibidem, at p.
:is.
See further Balakrishnan Rajagopal (Book review),
'Human
Rights
Law'
(Philip Alston),
Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol.
II,
1998, pp. 363-378.
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