Abstract
The right to health, which includes the right to maternal health, is an internationally guaranteed right. One of the treaties entrenching this right, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), has been ratified by Uganda. By virtue of ratification, Uganda is expected to enforce the right to health in good faith. It is notable, however, that despite this obligation, preventable maternal mortality remains unacceptably high among Ugandan women. For refugee women, the situation is much worse because of the humanitarian circumstances they are confronted with. Unfortunately, the right to health is not explicitly guaranteed under Uganda’s Bill of Rights. Failure to make explicit provision for this right has for so long suggested that this right is not justiciable for women, including refugee women. This notwithstanding, in August 2020, the Constitutional Court of Uganda, in the landmark case of Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) v Attorney General (CEHURD case), held, amongst other things, that the Ugandan government was in violation of the right to life, the right to health and women’s rights in its omission to make adequate provision for services including emergency obstetric care and basic maternal healthcare. This chapter demonstrates how this decision impacts on the maternal health rights of refugee women in Uganda particularly when applied through an intersectionality lens. The chapter locates maternal health rights of refugees within the broader international human rights law framework and then proceeds to identify key rulings within this decision that can be used as tools to judicially enforce the maternal health rights of refugee women in Uganda.
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Notes
- 1.
Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) v Attorney General (Constitutional Petition 16 of 2011) [2020] UGCC 12 (19 August 2020) 1–88 (CEHURD case).
- 2.
WHO ‘Maternal health’ (2022) https://www.who.int/health-topics/maternal-health (accessed 5 April 2022); see also BK Twinomugisha ‘Maternal health rights, politics and the law: Professorial Inaugural Lecture’ (2016) 13 https://law.mak.ac.ug/news/maternal-health-rights-politics-and-law-professorial-inaugural-lecture (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 3.
CEHURD case, 16.
- 4.
UNHCR ‘Refugee Health Report Uganda’ (May 2019) 1–8.
- 5.
UNHCR (n 4). Primary postpartum haemorrhage PPH is defined as ‘blood loss from the genital tract of 500 ml or more following a normal vaginal delivery (NVD) or 1000 mL or more following a cesarean section within 24 hours of birth’. For the foregoing definition, see S Ngwenya ‘Postpartum hemorrhage: Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes in a low-resource setting’ (2016) 8 International Journal of Women’s Health 647.
- 6.
UNHCR ‘Uganda’ (2021) https://www.unhcr.org/uganda.html (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 7.
As above.
- 8.
United Nations Development Programme Uganda’s contribution to refugee protection and management (2017) 1–15; Africa Renewal ‘Uganda stands out in refugee’s hospitality’ (2019) https://www.un.org (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 9.
The Forced Migration Research Network, University of New South Wales (Australia) ‘The world’s biggest minority? Refugee women and girls in the global compact on refugees’ (2017) 1–2 https://www.unhcr.org/events/conferences/59e5f4447/worlds-largest-minority-women-girls-global-compact-refugees-extended.html (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 10.
UNHCR ‘Uganda: Refugee statistics April 2020’ (2020) 1.
- 11.
HRW ‘Human Rights Watch submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women’ (22 May 2020) https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/22/human-rights-watch-submission-un-special-rapporteur-violence-against-women (accessed 20 May 2021); WHO Changing cultural and social norms that support violence (2009) 1–18.
- 12.
See, for example, H Mwenyango & G Palattiyil ‘Health needs and challenges of women and children in Uganda’s refugee settlements: Conceptualising a role for social work’ (2019) 62 International Social Work 1535 https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872819865010 (accessed 21 June 2022).
- 13.
See, for example, JN Hakim, A Lansink & EC Lubaale ‘The right to maternal healthcare of migrant and refugee women in South Africa and Uganda: Criminal accountability as a tool to addressing violation’ in A Budoo-Scholtz & EC Lubaale (eds) Violence against women and criminal justice: Sexual violence and vulnerability (2021).
- 14.
See, for example, TS Mashanguri Realising the right of access to maternal health care services for refugee women in South Africa, LLM thesis, University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2015.
- 15.
See, for example, Twinomugisha (n 2) 15; BK Twinomugisha ‘Exploring judicial strategies to protect the right of access to emergency obstetric care in Uganda’ (2007) 7 African Human Rights Law Journal 283.
- 16.
See, for example, Ngwenya (n 5) 15.
- 17.
CEHURD case at 16.
- 18.
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995.
- 19.
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, para IX and XIV DPSP.
- 20.
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, Para I DPSP.
- 21.
British American Tobacco (BAT) v The Environment Action Network (TEAN) Civil Application 27/2003
- 22.
UN Committee of Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 3 The Nature of States Parties Obligations UN doc E/1991/23 (1990) para 9.
- 23.
As above.
- 24.
L Chenwi, ‘Unpacking “progressive realisation”, its relation to resources, minimum core and reasonableness, and some methodological considerations for assessing compliance’ (2013) De Jure 743.
- 25.
CEHURD case at 55.
- 26.
UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 993, p 3.
- 27.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (art 12 of the Covenant), 11 August 2000, E/C.12/2000/4.
- 28.
As above.
- 29.
As above.
- 30.
As above.
- 31.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art 2, para 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 2 July 2009, E/C.12/GC/20 para 30.
- 32.
As above.
- 33.
UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 1249, p 13.
- 34.
UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 1577, p 3.
- 35.
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation 24: Article 12 of the Convention (Women and Health), 1999, A/54/38/Rev.1, chap I.
- 36.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), General Comment 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art 24), 17 April 2013, CRC/C/GC/15.
- 37.
Article 5(e)(iv) of the UN General Assembly, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 21 December 1965, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 660, p 195.
- 38.
Articles 25(1)(a), 28, 43(1)(e) and 70 of the UN General Assembly, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 18 December 1990, A/RES/45/158.
- 39.
Article 25(2) of the UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217 A (III).
- 40.
Article 16 of the OAU, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter), 27 June 1981, CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 ILM 58 (1982).
- 41.
African Union, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 11 July 2003.
- 42.
‘Uganda government takes Shs1.7 trillion for jet fighters’ Monitor 26 March 2011 https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/uganda-government-takes-shs1-7-trillion-for-jet-fighters-1488866 (accessed 20 May 2021); Twinomugisha (n 2) 31.
- 43.
WHO ‘Public financing for health in Africa: From Abuja to the SDGs’ (2016) 8; F Castrol-Leal et al. ‘Public spending on health care in Africa: Do the poor benefit?’ (2000) 78 Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 66.
- 44.
Paragraph 62. See also African Union’s 2001 Abuja Declaration on funding national health budgets. In this Declaration, heads of state in Africa pledged to allocate at least 15 per cent of annual expenditure to health.
- 45.
HRC ‘Technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal morbidity and mortality: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ UN Doc A/HRC/21/22 (2 July 2012).
- 46.
HRC (n 44) para 52.
- 47.
CH Logie et al. ‘Exploring resource scarcity and contextual influences on wellbeing among young refugees in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Uganda: Findings from a qualitative study’ (2021) 15 Conflict and Health 3 https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-020-00336-3 (accessed 21 June 2022).
- 48.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The Commission) Principles and Guidelines on the Implementation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2010).
- 49.
African Union, Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (2009).
- 50.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa (2004).
- 51.
OAU, Resolution on the programme of essential medicines for children and their mothers, CM/Res. 1164 (XLVIII) (1988).
- 52.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Resolution on Maternal Mortality Rate in Africa, ACHPR/Res.135(XXXXIV)08 (2008).
- 53.
UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol 189, p 137.
- 54.
OAU, Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (OAU Convention), 10 September 1969, 1001 UNTS 45.
- 55.
Article 3 of the UN Refugee Convention (n 54); art 4 of the OAU Convention (n 55).
- 56.
Article 5 of the UN Refugee Convention (n 54).
- 57.
See for example the wide catalogue of rights guaranteed under the ACHPR, ICESCR and the ICCPR.
- 58.
Paragraph 5 of the UN General Assembly, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 July 1993, A/CONF.157/23.
- 59.
Uganda v Thomas Kwoyelo, Constitutional Appeal 1 of 2012.
- 60.
Under Uganda’s Constitution, mention of health is in a section referred to as National Objectives and Directive Principles on State Policy (NDSP) rather than the section on guaranteed rights. In terms of NDSP XX, ‘The State shall take all practical measures to ensure the provision of basic medical services to the population’.
- 61.
In Serac v Nigeria AHRLR 20 (ACHPR 2001), The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights observed that the right to health and other rights are inseparably linked.
- 62.
Objective XX and XXII of the NODPSP.
- 63.
Article 33(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995.
- 64.
Section 33 of the Refugees Act 2006.
- 65.
CEHURD case, at 16.
- 66.
CEHURD case at 16.
- 67.
Rustad et al. ‘Maternal health care among refugees and host communities in Northern Uganda: Access, quality, and discrimination’ (2021) Frontiers in Global Women’s Health https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2021.626002 (accessed 21 June 2022).
- 68.
As above.
- 69.
As above.
- 70.
As above.
- 71.
H Mwenyango et al. ‘Health needs and challenges of women and children in Uganda’s refugee settlements: Conceptualising a role for social work’ (2021) International Social Work, https://doi.org/10.1177/002087281986501
- 72.
R Nara et al. ‘A Multi-Methods Qualitative Study of the Delivery Care Experiences of Congolese Refugees in Uganda’ (2020)4 Maternal Child Health Journal 1073–1082. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-020-02951-1.
- 73.
Refugee Law Project, ‘Psychosocial Challenges among Refugee Women and Girls in Nakivale Refugee Settlement’ (2015) Research Report 38 & 43.
- 74.
As above.
- 75.
Refugee Law Project (n 74) 40.
- 76.
Refugee Law Project (n 74) 41.
- 77.
Refugee Law Project (n 74) 42.
- 78.
As above.
- 79.
Twinomugisha (n 2) 1–55.
- 80.
See, for example, A Whelani et al. ‘Evaluation of quality, access to and use of reproductive health services for refugees and internally displaced persons’ (2004) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and United Nations Population Fund.
- 81.
Twinomugisha (n 2) at 20–21.
- 82.
As above.
- 83.
Twinomugisha (n 2) at 20.
- 84.
As above.
- 85.
Twinomugisha (n 2) at 25.
- 86.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Uganda ‘Women and girls Fact Sheet - Southwest Uganda’ (2014) 1–4; World Bank ‘Uganda refugee and host communities’ (2018) http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/571081569598919068/pdf/Informing-the-Refugee-Policy-Response-in-Uganda-Results-from-the-Uganda-Refugee-and-Host-Communities-2018-Household-Survey.pdf (accessed 20 May 2021); Logie et al. (n 46).
- 87.
OCHA ‘CERF: Providing maternal health care in a refugee camp in Uganda’ (2012) https://www.unocha.org/story/cerf-providing-maternal-health-care-refugee-camp-uganda (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 88.
J Kasozi et al. ‘Access to health care by urban refugees and surrounding host population in Uganda’ (2018) 3 World Journal of Public Health 32. According to the study by Kasozi et al., only a minority of refugees reside in rural areas (about 34,000 of the 1.4 million refugees in Uganda). While they have access to equipped health facilities compared to their counterparts in rural areas, they are constrained by the financial cost that comes with accessing these facilities. The situation is much worse in rural areas because there is a lack of access to the good quality facilities. This challenge is coupled with the price that sometimes comes with the price attached to the service in these rural facilities.
- 89.
G Babughirana et al. ‘Maternal and newborn healthcare practices: Assessment of the uptake of lifesaving services in Hoima District, Uganda’ (2020) 20 BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 686 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03385-x
- 90.
CEHURD case, at 15–21.
- 91.
As above.
- 92.
As above.
- 93.
R Tweheyo et al. ‘I have no love for such people, because they leave us to suffer’: a qualitative study of health workers’ responses and institutional adaptations to absenteeism in rural Uganda’ (2019) BMJ Global Health, https://gh.bmj.com/content/4/3/e001376
- 94.
Twinomugisha (n 2) at 27.
- 95.
See, for example, sec 42 of the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Act Cap 272 Laws of Uganda; and sec 49 of the Nurses and Midwives Act Cap 274 Laws of Uganda.
- 96.
Twinomugisha (n 2) at 20.
- 97.
In Asero v Attorney General HCCC Petition 409 of 2009 (20 April 2012). the High Court at Nairobi ruled that the obligation of the state regarding rights does not merely entail refraining from violating a right in issue, but also, protecting individuals from violations by non-state actors.
- 98.
Ministry of Health Uganda ‘The Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2018/2019’ (2019) http://library.health.go.ug/publications/performance-management/annual-health-sector-performance-report-20182019 (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 99.
K Singh & SS Ratnam ‘The influence of abortion legislation on maternal mortality’ (1998) 5 International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics S123 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0020-7292(98)00194-5; E Koch et al. ‘Abortion legislation, maternal healthcare, fertility, female literacy, sanitation, violence against women and maternal deaths: a natural experiment in 32 Mexican states’ (2015) 5 BMJ Open e006013; FE Okonofua ‘Contribution of anti-abortion laws to maternal mortality in developing countries’ (2008) 3 Expert Review of Expert Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology 147.
- 100.
J Nteziyaremye ‘Abortion, maternal mortality and the law in Uganda: Mini-review’ (2020) 10 Primary Health Care 343.
- 101.
International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics ‘End preventable deaths and disability from unsafe abortion’ (2020) https://www.figo.org/news/end-preventable-deaths-and-disability-unsafe-abortion (accessed 20 May 2021). Interview with Dr. Kiggundu.
- 102.
UNHCR Uganda ‘Women and girls Fact Sheet - Southwest Uganda’ (2014) 1–4.
- 103.
Whelani et al. (n 76).
- 104.
M Tanabe et al. ‘Intersecting sexual and reproductive health and disability in humanitarian settings: Risks, needs, and capacities of refugees with disabilities in Kenya, Nepal, and Uganda’ (2015) 33 Sexuality & Disability 411.
- 105.
As above.
- 106.
UNHCR Uganda, Fact Sheet (n 102).
- 107.
M Addaney ‘A step forward in the protection of urban refugees: The legal protection of the rights of urban refugees in Uganda’ (2017) 17 African Human Rights Law Journal 218.
- 108.
See, for example, the discussion by L Hanmer & M Elefante ‘Refugee women face complex barriers to proving identity’ (2020) https://blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/refugee-women-face-complex-barriers-proving-identity (accessed 20 May 2020).
- 109.
‘Language barrier hindering refugee access to health services’ Monitor 11 July 2018 https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/special-reports/language-barrier-hindering-refugee-access-to-health-services-1767568 (accessed 20 May 2021); A Walnycki et al. Towards more inclusive urban health systems for refugee wellbeing (2019) 1–21; J Jesuthasan et al. ‘Health-related needs and barriers for forcibly displaced women: A systematic review’ (2019) 3 Gender and the Genome 1.
- 110.
Kimberle Crenshaw, ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’ (1989) The University Of Chicago Legal Forum 139–167.
- 111.
On Policies, see for example, Ministry of Health ‘Roadmap for accelerating maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rate in Uganda’ (2007); Ministry of Health ‘Reproductive maternal new born and child health sharpened plan for Uganda’ (2013).
- 112.
CEHURD case, at 7–11.
- 113.
As above.
- 114.
As above.
- 115.
Center for Health, Human Rights and Development v Attorney General (2015), Constitutional Appeal 01 of 2013 Uganda, Supreme Court.
- 116.
As above.
- 117.
CEHURD case, at 24–28.
- 118.
As above.
- 119.
As above.
- 120.
As above.
- 121.
Monitor (n 42).
- 122.
Twinomugisha (n 2) 31.
- 123.
‘Museveni spent Shs773b on 2016 campaign – Report’ Monitor 9 July 2016 https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/museveni-spent-shs773b-on-2016-campaign-report%2D%2D1657050 (accessed 20 May 2021).
- 124.
See, for example, the state submission in CEHURD case.
- 125.
For example, in terms of article 26 of the Maputo Protocol: ‘States Parties undertake to adopt all necessary measures and in particular shall provide budgetary and other resources for the full and effective implementation of the rights herein recognised’.
- 126.
See African Union’s 2001 Abuja Declaration on funding national health budgets. In this Declaration, heads of state in Africa pledged to allocate at least 15 per cent of annual expenditure to health.
- 127.
See the UN Refugee Convention generally.
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African Union 2001 Abuja Declaration on funding national health budgets
African Union, Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa, 2009
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Acknowledgment
The author would like to acknowledge funding from the National Research Foundation (Funding to EC Lubaale, Grant No: 127504) towards the funding of a writing retreat that informed the conceptual development and writing of this chapter.
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Lubaale, E.C. (2023). Maternal Health Rights of Refugee Women in Uganda: Confronting the Multiple Layers of Vulnerability. In: Durojaye, E., Nanima, R.D., Idowu-Ojo, A., Mirugi-Mukundi, G. (eds) Realising Socio-Economic Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Africa. Politics of Citizenship and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16548-1_9
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