Uganda
Victim Assistance
Victim assistance action points
- Improve the sustainability, quality, and availability of prosthesis and rehabilitation services, including by enhancing coordination and dedicating the necessary national resources.
- Eliminate barriers to access, including to health and livelihoods, for survivors and other persons with disabilities.
- Closely consult with local survivor organizations in decision making processes.
Victim assistance planning and coordination
Government focal point |
The Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development (MGLSD) |
Coordination mechanisms |
None for victim assistance |
Coordination regularity/frequency and outcomes/effectiveness |
No victim assistance meetings were held |
Plans/strategies |
None, the 2006 national disability policy was due for a planned review since 2015 |
Disability sector integration |
The MGLSD is also responsible for disability planning and projects |
Survivor inclusion and participation |
Survivors participated in specific public events and at the International Day of Persons with Disabilities |
Reporting (Article 7 and statements) |
Uganda has not submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2012; its last Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report (for 2011) did not provide information on victim assistance.[1] Uganda last made a statement on victim assistance at the Mine Ban Treaty Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties in Santiago in November 2016[2] |
International commitments and obligations
Uganda is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munitions victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need |
|
Mine Ban Treaty |
Yes |
Convention on Cluster Munitions |
Yes |
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) |
Yes |
Laws and policies
No significant changes to legislation or the implementation of laws and policies were reported in 2017.
Major Developments in 2017–2018
In October 2018, the Republic of Uganda held a national meeting with over 50 disability and victim assistance experts, representatives of relevant ministries, and landmine survivors’ and persons with disabilities’ organizations. The meeting was held with the support of the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit, and funded by the European Union, with the aim of initiating the process of revising the national disability policy with a victim assistance inclusive perspective.
Needs assessment
No assessments of the needs of survivors were reported. Data on mine/ERW survivors was not disaggregated among data on other persons with disabilities. However, a data collection tool developed by the MGLSD and Ministry of Health was available and could be updated for use in survey.
In mid-2018, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), in consultation with the MGLSD, began undertaking the Uganda Functional Disability Survey based on the Washington Group Questions on Disability.[3] Data collection on persons with disabilities remained a challenge. The 2014 national census, released by the UBOS in 2016, found that the disability prevalence rate was about 12%.[4]
Medical care and rehabilitation
No improvements were reported and the health and rehabilitation systems remained under-funded and inaccessible due to costs and distances to reach facilities. Quality healthcare remained unaffordable and inaccessible to survivors in many regions, and particularly in remote and rural areas where private health centers were not profitable and limited NGO funding for health services and essential transportation to medical facilities had significantly declined in the period 2014–2017.At times when the health budget cycle meant that the allocated budget was fully spent, stores of medicines were not available.[5]
Overall the 10 Ministry of Health monitored referral rehabilitation centers were inadequately supplied and poorly functioning. The distribution of materials for manufacturing prosthesis and mobility devices though the state system was not adequately reaching all those in need and prostheses were not affordable for the majority of persons with disabilities. It was reported that the state was not providing funding for rehabilitation centers, which are key providers of mobility devices. The Ministry of Health placed disability services under the category of an unfunded priority. Therefore, rehabilitation centers relied on NGO support and international contributions. A change would require attention to the issue by the finance ministry and the allocation of a dedicated rehabilitation budget.[6]
Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion
No improvements in psychosocial assistance including peer support were reported. The Ugandan Landmine Survivors’ Association (ULSA) implemented livelihood and income-generation activities with the remaining AAR Japan support.[7] A number of survivor groups create and sell regionally specific crafts to generate income based on incentive programs established many years ago. A teacher-training module on disabilities was intruded to the professional education system in 2018.[8]
Cross-cutting
Uganda is receiving and hosting many refugees who are mine survivors, and thus required additional resources to meet their needs.[9] Humanity and Inclusion (HI, formerly Handicap International) relaunched programs in 2017 and worked with refugees with disabilities, most of whom have fled the conflict in South Sudan.[10]
Victim assistance providers and activities
Name of organization |
Type of activity |
Government |
|
MGLSD |
Grants and cash transfers for persons with disabilities; data collection; training on psychosocial support |
Ministry of Health |
Medical care; community-based rehabilitation (CBR); officially responsible for 10 orthopedic workshops |
Mulago National Referral Hospital orthopedic workshop |
Prosthetics and orthotics |
Arua Regional Referral Hospital orthopedic center |
Physical rehabilitation in West Nile region (northwestern Uganda) |
Fort Portal Hospital/Buhinga Orthopedic Workshop |
Prosthetics services not functioning, but based in Kabarole district, western Uganda. Fort Portal is the referral hospital for the districts of Bundibugyo, Kabarole, Kamwenge, Kasese, Ntoroko, and Kyenjojo |
Gulu Regional Orthopedic Workshop (GROW)/Gulu Referral Hospital |
Prosthetics and orthotics physical rehabilitation for conflict victims and main rehabilitation center for mine/ERW survivors supported by AVSI through the Trust Fund for Victims |
Lira Regional Rehabilitation Hospital |
Minor repairs to prosthesis in northern region |
National NGO |
|
Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda (CoRSU) |
Physical rehabilitation services, CBR; private user-pays prosthetics services for adult amputees |
Local landmine survivors organizations: |
Variously: peer support and advocacy; income-generation activities: vocational training and socio-economic projects; housing support |
Kasese Landmine Survivors Association (KALSA) |
Peer support and advocacy; income-generation activities |
ULSA |
Economic inclusion; access physical rehabilitation; advocacy—not active in 2018 |
Ave Maria Vocational Training Center |
Vocational training |
CEASOP |
Vocational training |
International organization/NGO |
|
AVSI |
Physical rehabilitation through GROW |
AAR-Japan |
Income-generating projects |
Humanity and Inclusion (HI) |
Identifies vulnerable persons with disabilities among refugees entering Uganda; facilitates access to humanitarian services and aid; psychosocial support; rehabilitation care; mobility aids for refugees; and financial assistance to refugee families |
[2] Statement of Uganda, Mine Ban Treaty Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties, Santiago, 30 November 2016.
[3] Interview with Beatrice Kaggya, Commissioner for Disability and Elderly, MGLSD, 2 August 2017; and presentation by Beatrice Kaggya, Uganda National Victim Assistance Dialogue, Kampala, 11 October 2018.
[4] Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2016, “The National Population and Housing Census 2014 – Main Report,” Kampala, Uganda, 24 March 2016.
[5] Notes from Monitor Field Mission July–August 2017, and visit in October 2018.
[6] Observations from Monitor Field Mission July–August 2017, and from a visit in October 2018; National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), “Alternative Report to the UN Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),” December 2014, paras. 64–65.
[7] Interview with Margaret Arach Orech, ULSA, in Geneva, 31 August 2017.
[8] Observations from Monitor Field Mission July–August 2017, and visit October 2018.
[9] Statement of Uganda, Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 9 June 2017.