Activists want govt to retract endorsement on document affecting women’s reproductive health

A group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), are demanding that health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng retracts a signature that she signed on behalf of Uganda on what they call, retrogressive sexual and reproductive health rights that they say, will greatly affect women.

The activists claim that the minister by signing on Geneva Consensus Declaration on October 22, 2020, negatively affects the sexual rights of women as government will abandon them.

“We the Uganda civil society groups petitioned the foreign affairs ministry and her Geneva Mission representatives condemning the plan by government to sign and co-sponsor the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a proclamation developed by the US government that is part of a right wing fundamentalist strategy aimed at eroding internationally recognised human rights on sexual and reproductive health rights of women,” the CSOs demanded on Friday in Kampala.

“The same equally seeks to remove the obligation of the state to fund the sexual and reproductive health rights of women. Whereas this declaration is seen as a move to restrict the practice of abortion, it has a contrary and dire effect of driving the practice underground by making it more deadly including by increasing abortion stigma,” they added.

The activists add that, this move by government, will in turn, contribute to high rates of preventable morbidity and mortality in Uganda contrary to projections made under Vision 2040- which prioritised that maternal health must be improved if Uganda is to meet its development targets.

“Pregnant girls need to be supported and not shunned by society, otherwise, we make them more vulnerable to the ills of society,” said Ms Annah Kukundakwe, the program officer with Center for Health, Human Rights and Development.

Likewise, Ms Primah Kwagala, the executive director of the Women’s Pro Bono Initiative said: “Our government is playing with the lives and health of Ugandan women and girls by cozying up to extremist agenda.”

According to the CSOs, core to the Geneva Consensus Declaration is that it doesn’t recognize sexual and gender diversity as well as human rights related to sexual orientation and gender identities.

Efforts to reach out to the health minister were futile as our call went answered at press time.