A report by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and partners shows that malnutrition remains a challenge in many parts of Uganda partly because the people’s right to adequate food has not been observed. The situation is worse in vulnerable communities affected by natural shocks and disasters.

Ruth Ssekindi, the Director of Monitoring and Inspection at the Commission, announced that the second national conference on Implementation of the Rights to Adequate Food will run from 18th – 19th April 2023. The discussions will focus on positioning human rights to adequate food as a lever for harnessing inclusivity in the transformation of food systems in Uganda. She addressed journalists at Uganda Media Centre.

Some of the challenges to Uganda’s food systems include unhealthy food environments and inadequate consumer protection laws. But human behaviors regarding food, for instance, unhealthy eating, have seen a rise in cases of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

In areas like the Karamoja sub-region, people have died of hunger due to dysfunctional food distribution systems and practices such as nomadic pastoralism and weak government support systems for food cultivation.

Ruth Ssekindi, the Director of Monitoring and Inspection at the Uganda Human Rights Commission said that despite Uganda’s commitment to transform its food systems, challenges including poverty and the pending Food and Nutrition bill, are hindering the observance of the right to adequate food.

Poverty which affects 20.3% of the population, a subsistence economy standing at 39% of households and the persistent hunger and starvation in the Karamoja sub-region are witnessed on an annual cyclic basis. Ssekindi speaks of the consequences of food inadequacy.

A recent joint report by UN Agencies; FAO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO, and IFAD in 2022, indicated that (1) one out of 10 people are suffering from hunger while up to three (3) billion, people could not afford healthy diets across the world.

The most recent study, the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey showed that stunting levels, an indication of chronic under-nutrition in children 6-59 months old, affect 29% of this vulnerable population equivalent to nearly two million children.

Ssekindi stressed the need for effective law structures to sustain good health.

20 years later, the second national cross-disciplinary conference on the Implementation of the Rights to adequate food conference will be held at Makerere University, Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility (CTF) Auditorium, from 18th – 19th April 2023. The conference is expected to have International, regional, and national experts on the right to adequate food as well as the local leaders from districts/regions that are most vulnerable to the derogation of this right.

It will also focus on positioning human rights to adequate food as a lever for harnessing inclusivity in the food systems transformation agenda of Uganda.

Mary Prima Awor