The main aim of the workshop is to gather together local human rights defenders and activists and to tell them about the laws and mechanisms available to them to help them in their work, specifically the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, the international system based around the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, as well as a little about local laws and provisions. The reason there is only a little time spent on local provisions is of course because there aren't many.
The Declaration was passed in 1998 by the UN General Assembly. It is not legally binding but it basically gathers together various rights and protections guaranteed in other human rights instruments which are binding and puts them together in a way which is geared towards getting States to recognise that defenders are legitimate actors in society and that they are entitled to protection. The Human Rights Centre recently translated the Declaration into seven local Ugandan languages and the training program is one of the main thrusts by which they're taking it out to the communities. A human rights roadshow, if you will.
Incidentally, the training program has been funded by Trócaire (for those of you not of the auld sod, Trócaire – which the Ugandans pronounce tro-care as if it was French! - is one of the main Irish development aid organisations, and enjoys a very high-profile presence at home as one of the traditional recipients of popular charity donations). When I inquired about the arrangements for the hotel and expenses for the trip, my colleagues told me not to worry because the hotel would be covered by the funding for the program. So I found myself in the strange position whereby the money that I myself had thrown into the Trócaire box last year had come back to find me in Uganda so that I could teach Africans about human rights. Brilliant!
In fairness, I did have a similar feeling last week when I learnt that the Human Rights Centre itself is largely funded by Irish Aid, the development wing of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs. I would have been chuffed to see where my tax-payers' euro were going, except that in recent years my poverty-stricken choices of employment have meant that I have yet to qualify to pay tax. A charity case employing a charity case, if you will. What can I say; I'm happy to do my part to cut down on social welfare bills. Thank me later.
The training was quite a success, at least to my innocent eye. With 30 participants we were at full capacity, and the distribution was good in that we had a cross section of civil society: journalists and radio broadcasters, students, health officers, clergy, an elected official and a representative of the police, in addition to the employees of human rights and community organisations. They varied in age from their twenties to their seventies, and not all of them had degrees or training or human rights 'careers'. But all of them were receptive and keen to learn, happy to debate and constructive in their ideas and suggestions.
Spot the muzungu in the corner...
In the afternoon the participants split into three groups to brainstorm. The three separate identifications of the key problems and difficulties, and their suggestions for change and initiative, were remarkably similar; its not that Ugandans don't know what's wrong with their society or how to fix it, or that they don't have a vision for what they'd like to achieve. Neither did anyone romanticise the whole thing - no one mentioned the words 'change' or 'hope' or 'dream', or wrung their hands. But no one knows where to start.
By the end of the afternoon many participants looked visibly satisfied at having this confusing muddle of half-information and misunderstanding set right in their minds; hearing about the avenues of entry into this remote and distant international system is stimulating, but far more thought-provoking is the prospect of using this new information and sense of authority on the subject the next time the authorities come knocking. If defenders haven't heard of the Declaration previously, neither have the police or the local heavies. An authoritative-sounding defence can be very useful, even in a remote town like Mbale - particularly when the laws are written clearly in your own local language. All our booklets of the Declaration were snapped up on the way out the door.
Afterwards we went to a local radio station recommended to us for its political discussions and topical shows. Radio remains the predominant means of communication in Uganda, at least outside Kampala, and each of the training workshops so far have been followed by an hour-long phone-in talk show. I had been impressed initially by my colleagues' savvy media connections, getting on talk shows all over the country. They laughed at my enthusiasm – time on air here is paid for, and we had essentially bought an hour's advertising in a talk-show format. Still, it was fun to sit in the booth with our headphones on, even if I couldn't understand a word of what was being said. True to our policy of maximum engagement of the community, the broadcast took place primarily in Luganda (one of the most common Ugandan languages, dominant in Kampala, which my colleagues speak) with the presenter translating a lot of the comments into another language more common in Mbale – to my shame I must admit that I can't remember what it was called. I make a bad reporter!
My colleagues Robert and Jacques with the radio presenter. In the background is a poster of one of the Tribal Kings
The talk show will be followed by a series of ads encouraging people to know their rights and to contact the Human Rights Centre, which will run in three different languages.
It all might not sound like much, but its remarkably simple to carry out, once you have the funding to do it – and in relative terms there's very little cost involved other than travel, accommodation and hosting expenses. If the funding is there for follow up – for coming back in six months or a year, for staying in touch with participants, for arranging other meetings for them to organise together and take their ideas further, to draw other participants in – it could be the start of something.
Stay tuned for the non-professional bit of Mbale to follow...
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