Rights activism to blame for child indiscipline - leaders

Mr Kamadi Byonabye,  the director of research, education and documentation at Uganda Human Rights Commission, addresses Lango clan leaders during the training workshop in Lira City on November 15, 2022. PHOTO/ BILL OKETCH 

Clan leaders from Lango Sub-region have attributed children’s bad behaviour in society to the notion of human rights.

They argue that societal norms have been ignored at the expense of protecting human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Mr Patrick Abal, the minister for culture, heritage, and tourism in Lango Cultural Foundation, noted that in the past, tough punishments such as banishments often helped to keep bad behaviour in check.

“As clan leaders, we are now worried about the kind of reckless living among the youth,” he said.

“We are breeding a community whose level of discipline is gone. There is no morality in human beings. In fact, somebody grows up almost like an animal and can do things, which even animals would not do. Very strange things! ” Mr Abal added.

He was speaking in Lira City on Tuesday during a two-day training for representatives of traditional justice institutions in Lango Sub-region on how to integrate human rights in their work.

Ms Judy Adoko, the executive secretary of Lango Cultural Foundation (LCF), said: “The problem comes when it [UDHR] is lifted wholesale and applied universally, and if we are not following it, then the blame is thrown at you.”

“For example, in my area, we might not be able to eat three meals a day. So, the human rights there should be may be one meal a day. Yes, because that is the context rather than to expect everyone to be eating three meals a day. If not, then your culture is bad, you’re mistreating children,” he added.

Dr Laury Lawrence Ocen, the clan head of Okarowok Wibye acel, agreed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the beginning of the problem. UDHR, which is a global road map for freedom and equality, was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. 

“People worship differently, and the way particular people worship they violate the way other people worship. Now when you say it is universal –meaning that it is applicable to everybody by equal standards,” Dr Ocen said.

Mr Emmanuel Otim, the Atek Odyek Anyanga clan chief, said the bracket of human rights has been so expanded to the extent that it now includes same sex marriages.

“You must have read the literature about how our children are being lured into homosexuality in schools. So, the expansion has caused what we are calling damage,” he said.

The training, which ended yesterday, was organised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Uganda in conjunction with the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC).

The director of research, education and documentation at UHRC, Mr Kamadi Byonabye, said everybody does not need children that are spoiled but it’s the methodology that matters.

“Protection of human rights requires mindset change. It starts with the mind to protect the rights of people, not a PhD. We need to have behavioural change to realise human rights,” Mr Byonabye said.