Uganda
English
Uganda has made much progress in reducing poverty and promoting stability in past years, particularly through improvements on several justice-related indicators. Despite these gains, the justice sector still faces significant challenges relating to funding and capacity, public perceptions of pervasive corruption, inaccessibility of services for the poor sections of the population, low quality and sustainability of the legal aid and information services, costliness and slow speeds of dispute resolution, among others. These challenges have negatively affected citizens’ confidence in the formal system leading people to resort to other means to seek recourse and may also increase the likelihood of violence and further corruption. There is a therefore a need for effective interventions to enhance the reach, quality and sustainability of access to justice in Uganda.
Call for sub-project concept notes (Uganda)
Promoting Healthy Diets and Physical Activity in Uganda
Engaging with informal systems to enhance justice for women
As countries seek to make progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16, there is growing recognition that it is essential to work with both state and non-state justice systems to strengthen the rule of law and effectively prevent and resolve conflicts.
Africa: IDLO promotes legal regulation for healthier living
Legal regulation is an essential tool for governments to promote healthy diets and physical activity to curb non-communicable diseases, IDLO told participants of a conference organized by the Association of Schools of Public Health in Africa (ASPHA) in conjunction with Makerere University’s School of Public Health.
The Road to Justice: Perspectives from Uganda
“I heard on the radio that this place helps people at no cost,” said Sarah*, a client at a legal aid center in Jinja, Uganda. Sarah’s estranged husband had refused to provide maintenance for their children.
The Road to Justice: Scenes from Uganda
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Photos: ©IDLO_Lorelei Taylor French
IDLO welcomes Uganda as newest Member
“We are delighted that Uganda has joined IDLO,” remarked IDLO Director-General Irene Khan. “By becoming a Member, Uganda is sending a very clear message about its commitment to the rule of law and advancing access to justice.”
Paralegals promote access to justice at regional forum in Nairobi
Over 30 paralegals from Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda as well as various community justice experts convened to advocate for the critical role and contribution that paralegal support networks play in raising legal awareness and supporting access to justice for all, at a regional forum held in Nairobi on July 22-25, 2019.
Global RECAP: Capacity building to prevent NCDs
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 15 million people between the ages of 30 and 69, and over 86 per cent of these "premature" deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.The economic impact, including loss of income by people harmed by NCDs, the costs of treatment, and the impacts on families threaten international development. Through regulation and fiscal reforms, countries can promote healthy diets, physical activity, and other initiatives reducing the prevalence and harms of NCDs.
Women judges in Africa join forces to combat GBV
Over 50 women judges, representing chapters of the International Association of Women Judges across the African continent, convened to discuss the critical role and contribution women justice professionals play in adjudicating cases of gender-based violence at a regional conference in Nairobi from November 29 to December 1, 2018.
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Key Initiatives
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Like other countries on the African continent, the Ugandan justice sector faces many challenges. Citizens demonstrate a widespread distrust towards formal justice institutions, which are perceived as corrupt, removed from the communities, expensive and slow to resolve disputes. This lack of confidence in the formal system leads people to resort to other means to seek recourse, and may also increase the likelihood of violence and further corruption. -
Promoting Healthy Diets and Physical Activity in Uganda -
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 15 million people between the ages of 30 and 69, and over 86 per cent of these "premature" deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.The economic impact, including loss of income by people harmed by NCDs, the costs of treatment, and the impacts on families threaten international development. Through regulation and fiscal reforms, countries can promote healthy diets, physical activity, and other initiatives reducing the prevalence and harms of NCDs. -
One of the challenges in scaling up HIV-related legal services is the limited number of knowledgeable, skilled and committed lawyers to provide such services. Part of the solution therefore lies in building the capacity of law schools to ensure law graduates are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to support human rights-based approaches to HIV. Many universities, including in East Africa, offer clinical legal education programs to give students direct experience of providing legal information to clients. -
Adolescent girls and young women account for 71 percent of new HIV infections among young people in sub-Saharan Africa. They are more vulnerable to HIV because they are often subjected to a range of gender and age based biases, discrimination and violence, including sexual assault, forced marriage and trafficking. Despite growing HIV-related responses, they and their communities most often do not have the capacity, voice and power to hold these service providers accountable for improved delivery of quality HIV-related services. -
The full report on “Strengthening the Legal Environment for the Elimination of Falsified and Substandard Medicines” is now available. The report is the third product of the pilot and preliminary phase of a larger initiative to build a knowledge base and collection of tools to support a whole-of-government approach to manage the public health problem of falsified and substandard (FS) medicines in any country. See also the executive summary from the beginning stages -
Rates of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) remain high in Uganda due to cultural practices, continued internal displacement, and low capacity of the justice system. IDLO is working to advance accountability for SGBV crimes committed in times of or after armed conflict in Uganda.
