I missed the commemoration of the International Human Rights day on December 10 simply because I was in detention for reasons I cannot delve into now.

While December 10 was International Human Rights day, December 9 was Human Rights Defenders day and a number of human rights defenders (and those that label themselves as such) gathered at Hotel Africana in Kampala to deliberate on the situation of human rights defenders. Ironically, on December 9, I was in handcuffs at Kira Road police station cells where I was gravely tortured, never mind that I am a human rights defender.

For more than a decade that I have spent as an active human rights defender, I have learnt one thing: genuine human rights defenders enjoy no rights at all. Since 2008, I have been subjected to all forms of torture ranging from physical, to psychological to mental and pharmacological.

We have failed to identify the cause for the continued violation of human rights. And here it is. Nondiscrimination and equality are key principles of human rights stressed, among others, in Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). I am pretty sure that all of you agree that just like the Bible is to Christianity, when it comes to human rights, the UDHR is an indispensible tool.

The right to equality and nondiscrimination is stressed in key human rights instruments – UDHR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers (CMW) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), among others. 

As long as there is blatant discrimination and nefarious inequality, we should all forget about human rights. The core human right is human dignity and it is impossible to attain human dignity in the midst of wayward discrimination and inequality.

Inequality is socially and individually constructed. God never created inequality. He created equality. That’s why all of us are born naked and without any physical property. Just like we are equal at birth, God intended that we live equally and equally benefit from the heritage that He bequeathed to us.

All of us were created to be equal in dignity and worth and earthly things were created to benefit humanity equally and sustainably. Sadly, our bequest has been disproportionately distributed so much that while some people eat too much to the extent of suffering indigestion, majority others are deprived of what to eat.

The rate at which our heritage from God is abused is a recipe for disaster. Land, for instance, is not meant to be a commodity to be bought and sold, but to be used for the benefit of all humanity.  The Lord says in Leviticus 25:23: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.”

Imagine if a trillionaire bought the whole of Ankole and Kigezi or Buganda and put a farm! Where would the citizens go? They would work on the farm and he would pay them whatever amount he wills. Remember capitalism is underpinned by exploitation and selfishness. Capitalism is the highest form of oppression because it dispossesses, deprives, dehumanizes, exploits, extorts and alienates the worker from their production.

I know that our national human rights institution, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, is incapable of handling human rights concerns where the state is an aggressor. I have personally been deprived of my rights by the police and the commission and nothing has been done.

There is no hangman who can put in place a system that will hang him. Like prophet Amos says: “Let justice flow like a mighty river and righteousness like a stream that never runs dry.” (Amos 5:24)

If we are to enjoy human rights, we must all crusade for justice and equality and if we are to attain justice and equality, God has already provided the formula:

“Do unto others, as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31). Personally, I am very just. In this world, I do not unfairly occupy anybody’s space; let nobody encroach on my territory either.

To those who usurp the power to lead you have three options. You either lead justly and fairly by serving us, your masters, follow (in which case you become masters) or get out of the way.

vnuwagaba@gmail.com

The author is a human rights defender, socialist, social justice crusader and a PhD fellow at Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR).