Behinderung und internationale Entwicklung Disability and ...

A RTIKEL/ARTICLEHuman Rights-Based Approach in theUgandan Disability Movement: A Fairy Tale ofSelf-Determination and Self-Advocacy?Hisayo Katsui/Jukka KumpuvuoriThis article is based on findings from the research project entitled, Human Rights-Based Approach to Disabilityand Development: Interplay of Disability-Sensitive Development Cooperation and National Policy in Uganda between2007 and 2012. This is a multi-disciplinary project. Particular focus of this article is on ownership and prerequisites,without which self-advocacy work of persons with disabilities and their organisations (DPOs) is extremelydifficult. The article starts by exploring the Ugandan disability movement. Subsequently a case study on UgandanMembers of Parliament as a form of representative democracy and its downside is introduced. The articleconcludes with some considerations on how self-determination and self-advocacy of persons with disabilities inUganda could be promoted, including a future research agenda. All the arguments are based on empirical studyfindings under the aforementioned research project.Development of the Ugandan DisabilityMovementIn Uganda, the disability organisations startedto be established during the 1970s. The idea offorming a national umbrella organisation ofpersons with disabilities started around 1976,but was hindered by the war between Ugandaand Tanzania from 1979 to1987. In 1987, personswith disabilities in the Ruti RehabilitationCentre in Mbarara and the Kireka RehabilitationCentre in Kampala realised the idea of formingthe organisation as the National Union ofDisabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) (Ndeezi2004: 10-11). 17 DPOs joined NUDIPU. Thiswas the first of its kind in the African continent(ibid.: 12). Without assets and money, voluntarywork and contributions of members enabledthe activities in the beginning. This spirit is saidto have led the NUDIPU into “one of the strongestnational advocacy and lobbying organisationschampioning the cause of marginalisedgroups in Uganda” (ibid.: 17).Already in the beginning of the disabilitymovement, Ugandan DPOs applied a humanrights-based approach in their activities (DSI2007: 21; Lang/Murangira 2009: 36). The AffirmativeAction Policy 1989, for instance, promotedrepresentation of marginalised groupsincluding persons with disabilities to upliftthem. In the Constituent Assembly for the formationof the Constitution in 1995, the late EliphazMazima, a disability activist with a physicalimpairment and the first elected chairpersonof the NUDIPU represented persons with disabilities.As a result, the Constitution includedmany clauses related to persons with disabilities.Consequently, the Constitution (1995) is citedas a “human rights charter” (Mawa 2003).That is, they were applying a human rights-basedapproach even before they started to engagein development cooperation. This is an importantpiece of fact that is against the understandingthat human rights discourse comesfrom the North (Kennedy 2004: 18; Uvin 2004:17). In other words, it is misleading to presumethat a human rights-based approach is an exclusivelyNorthern concept. The Ugandan disabilitymovement has deliberately used this approachfor making political space even beforethe era of the UN Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities.The main achievements of the Ugandandisability movement include political representation.After the enactment of the Local GovernmentAct of 1997, affirmative action policyhas been introduced for politically marginalisedgroups including women, persons with disabilities,youth, workers and members of the army.Since then, all those groups are represented inUgandan politics at all levels including the Parliament.Uganda has a quota system where fiveMembers of Parliament represent persons withdisabilities: Four Members of Parliament fromfour regions (Central, East, West, North) andone woman with a disability. An interesting factis that in the 2011 election, two women withdisabilities stood for the positions outside of thedisability quota framework and also passedthrough (Margaret Baba Diri and Jessica Ababiku).Therefore, there are seven persons withdisabilities in the Parliament linked to the disabilitymovement today. Moreover, over 50,000disabled councillors work in the local governmentstructure (Lang/Murangira 2009: 37), ofwhich half are women with disabilities at districtand sub-county levels, while parish and villageBehinderung und internationale Entwicklung 3/2012Disability and International Development9