Current situation of children in Uganda

Uganda (also called the Republic of Uganda) is a country in East Africa that comprises 21 million children (46 percent of the total population). With famine, constant conflict, AIDS, and poverty, Uganda has been challenged with several issues that significantly affect children’s lives. When combined with lack of resources, education, and healthcare in certain regions, children’s rights remain the object of an unrelenting assault; the conditions of their existence and survival precarious at best.

Uganda
Uganda

Ugandan children are especially vulnerable because they face a high risk of violence, abuse, lack of education, and challenges while reintegrating into societies post-conflict. Programs and a national child protection system to address these needs and protect vulnerable children must be implemented.

Ugandan children are especially vulnerable because they face a high risk of violence, abuse, lack of education, and challenges while reintegrating into societies post-conflict

Violence, exploitation and abuse in all forms puts children’s physical and mental health and education at risk, jeopardizing their development and entire future. My child your child ministries works to build a strong system to prevent and respond to violence against children and youth in all contexts.

Status of children rights in Uganda.

Status of children rights in Uganda.

Almost half of Uganda’s population is children from the ages of 0 to 14 at 46 percent of the general population, representing one of the youngest populations in the world (World Bank, 2021). Although poverty reduction has been significant over the past three decades going down from 56.0% in 1993 to 21.4% in 2016, Uganda still remains a country that struggles with poverty. 

Uganda still remains a country that struggles with poverty. 

With a significant portion of its population in poverty, children are at risk and have few opportunities to get out of this impoverished state (Owori, 2020). With almost 80 percent of the population living in rural areas, rampant poverty and lack of access to resources have serious consequences which oblige many parents to restrict their children from attending school for them to work full time and contribute financially to the family, work in conflict zones, or marry at a very young age which are all very dangerous for the child.

Although there have been additional efforts to ease and better children’s lives such as programs and legislation to increase school enrollment, decrease maternal mortality and adopt the Children Amendment Act, many children still cannot get the full benefits of these: many cannot get adequate health care, education, or social care and are subject to increasing amounts of violence and harmful traditional practices (UNICEF, 2017).

Furthermore, there are gaps and insufficiencies in policy frameworks, implementation of programs, and mindset that must be improved to correctly address the needs of the children in Uganda and provide them an opportunity to benefit from all of their rights.

Urgent Children needs in Uganda

Urgent Children needs in Uganda

My child your child ministries, with partners, places a particular focus on instituting measures to protect children, especially girls, who are more vulnerable.MCYCM has conmpiled a list of the most pressing issues in children.

1. Social protection

1. Social protection

This is essential for preventing and reducing poverty for children and families, for addressing inequalities, and for realizing children’s rights. In addition, it is essential that social protection programs respond to children’s vulnerabilities by optimizing positive effects on children and minimizing potential adverse consequences. Given its positive contribution to reducing poverty, vulnerability, and risk social protection has gained interest in the last years.

Especially if child-sensitive social protection is put into action correctly, it has the opportunity to address chronic poverty, social exclusion, and external shocks which can irreversibly affect children. Social protection programs are established in Uganda but there are few that focus on children’s rights and the wide range of vulnerabilities children face. Ugandan children are especially vulnerable because they face a high risk of violence, abuse, lack of education, and challenges while reintegrating into societies post-conflict. Programs and a national child protection system to address these needs and protect vulnerable children must be implemented.

2. Right to health

2. Right to health

In Uganda, the mortality rate of children under the age of five is gravely high (41 per 1000 births) (World Bank, 2019), and life expectancy at birth is particularly low at 63.4 years (World Bank, 2019). Although over the years under-five mortality rates have steadily declined, it still remains significantly high. Chronic malnutrition, pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, and HIV are big contributors to these and if not addressed will keep on affecting already vulnerable children. Child mortality is not evenly distributed: while rural areas like Karamoja, West Nile, and Southwest have significantly high mortality rates, urban areas have lower rates, yet still comparatively high (UNICEF, 2019).

Poverty, lack of infrastructure and ill-suited personnel are barriers to the health of children. Viral maladies are very virulent and are rapidly transmitted on account of lack of hygiene and unhealthy living conditions. Cholera, for example, is one of the problems that gravely affect the health of Ugandan youths. The use of dirty water in many households leads to many children becoming infected by this particular disease which can turn out to be fatal.

AIDS is equally prevalent throughout the country: 98,000 children from the ages of 0-14 are living with HIV (World Bank, 2020). There are high disparities between regions in terms of HIV rates, as well as disproportionately high rates regarding the female gender (UNICEF, n.d.). In recent years, significant progress has been made regarding AIDS prevention. Still, the virulence of this virus remains disconcerting. Not only children who have HIV are affected, but also the children whose parents pass away because of this are affected. Too many children still become orphans as a result of AIDS, and their future remains very dark.

3. Right to food

3. Right to
food

Many Ugandan children suffer from malnutrition. The country’s north-eastern region is very arid and the most affected. There, the land is too dry to produce an adequate amount of food; consequently, food shortages are a regular problem. In a Demographic and Health Survey done in 2016, it was found that 53% of children under the age of 5 suffered from anemia, 29% from stunting and 11% from underweight which are significantly high values. Although the government has implemented policies and programs including breeding of crops with specific nutritional values, providing supplements, and child-specific feeding programs, by looking at a general overview, these programs have not shown their full effect and benefitted children significantly (CDC, 2020).

Malnutrition, especially among children, has a serious impact on people’s health. Some die from it, while others exhibit deficiencies that can lead to any number of diseases. Lack of nourishment can have harmful effects that are sometimes felt for the entire duration of one’s life. Thus, it is essential to gain adequate nutrition to minimize the vulnerability of children.

4. Right to education

4. Right to
education

Uganda has been dealing with uncontrolled population growth for a long time and this puts extreme stress on the country’s educational system, making it harder to increase quality in education and lowering accessibility of education. Additionally, the learning facilities are in poor conditions with lacking washrooms and resources as well as poor and dangerous infrastructure.

Although the literacy rate in 2018 was 6.33% higher than 2012 at 76.53%, it is still not where it is supposed to be (Macrotrends, 2020). Nearly one out of every five children in Uganda is uneducated. The problem is particularly serious among young girls living in rural areas because of familial responsibilities and stigma (Hassan, 2020).

Although 7 years of education is compulsory for all children in Uganda, many school children cannot finish their schooling because they have to help pay family expenses or are recruited for conflict. While supplementary school costs also dissuade many parents from sending their children to school, to begin with, the total number of children receiving adequate education is still low.

5. Right to identity

5. Right to
identity

The situation in Uganda was very alarming in 2011 when birth registration was only at 30 percent, but, the implementation of a new automated registration system launched with UNICEF has helped bring this up to 69 percent. However, there still remains a large percentage of undocumented births. This is primarily the result of the inaccessibility of registry services. Cost is also a factor, since the fees required for such a formality remain in practice quite high, despite Uganda’s efforts to improve the situation (UNICEF, n.d.).

In effect, children who lack the appropriate official papers are not recognized as members of society and cannot exercise their rights. Consequently, they do not exist in the eyes of society. In addition, children who are not registered, are most likely not protected from abuse, be it forced labor, drug trafficking, child marriage, prostitution, or other forms of sex trade, etc.

This in turn leads to greater difficulties for the individual in question: since they do not technically exist in the eyes of the law, they will not be able to enjoy their rights. Thus, it is imperative that the government of Uganda and the programs working on this issue continue to actively work to make funds available for campaigns aimed at raising awareness.

6. Right to freedom

6. Right to
freedom

In Uganda, speech can sometimes prove costly. Different opinions are not always welcome, and it can be risky to voice them too strongly. In these cases, the use of force is common; in general, demonstrations are violently suppressed. As a result, the personal security of individuals is considerably limited. A certain number of children, for example, are routinely wounded or even killed during these demonstrations (Burke, Okiror, 2021).

The situation for homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals is equally deplorable. They are violently persecuted and their freedom of expression is totally violated under the “Anti-Homosexuality Act” which calls for very harsh sentences. Homosexuality is considered a crime and can be punished with extremely heavy prison sentences. The rights of adolescent children are totally obsolete and they have no means of making themselves heard and respected (Fitzsimons, 2019). This can significantly affect their mental health as well as their physical health which is a significant threat.

Our Goal

Our Goal

By 2025, through My child your child ministries belives that through its child protection programme aims to free all children in Uganda from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, including harmful practices, and realize their right to legal identity, by:

• Building and enhancing capacities of children, families and communities to identify risks and prevent and respond to all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
• Strengthening legislative, policy, budgetary and institutional frameworks.
• Ensuring that children and their families access quality cross sectorial protection services.

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