The Roles of Ngos in the Promotion and Protection of Women's Rights in Gulu District. A Case Study of Holy Rosary Parish, Laroo Division, Gulu Municipality

ABSTRACT The research is about the roles of NGOs in the promotion and protection of women's rights, the causes of women's rights violations, effects of violations of the women's rights, the state of laws concerning rights of women and the roles and procedures played by the NGOs towards the promotion and protection of women's rights in Gulu, particularly in Holy Rosary Parish, Laroo Division. The idea of Human Rights is proclaimed long time ago and the same were incmporated in the African Charter. Documents such as the International Covenants on Human Rights set out what governments and other NonGovernmental Organizations must do and also what must not do to respect the rights of their citizens. Many countries in Africa including Uganda have also included reference to respect and protection of women's human rights in their constitutions. It's a fact that some societies in Gulu and Uganda in general are still ignorant about the rights of women. The research endeavours to uncover ways and methods to reverse this situation. The main objective of this research was to establish the roles played by NGOs in the promotion and protection of women's rights in Gulu district. The respondents that were used for the study included; formerly abducted children, child-mothers, victims of sexual assaults and domestic violence, NGOs operating in Gulu district and community leaders. The findings were that of cultural, social and economic set up of the community in the area of study does not favour the rights of women and prove the competence of the NGOs in delivering towards the promotion and protection of the rights of women as per the state of the law and it is recommended that both the government and NGOs should sensitize women on their rights and about enforcement mechanisms that victims of rights violations can explore such as judicial remedies.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS 

DECLARATION .................................................................................................................... i 

APPROVAL ......................................................................................................................... ii 

DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................... iii 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................... .iv 

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... v 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ viii 

STATUTES AND INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS .................................................. .ix 

LIST OF CASES .................................................................................................................... x 

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... xi 

CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................................. 1 

1.0. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... ! 

1.1. Background of the study ................................................................................................. ! 

1.2. Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 5 

1.3. The Objective of the Study ............................................................................................. 5 

1.4. Hypothesis ....................................................................................................................... 5 

1.5. Scope of the Study .......................................................................................................... 6 

1.6. Methodology of the Research ......................................................................................... 6 

1. 7. Significance of the Study ................................................................................................ 7 

1.8. The Synopsis ................................................................................................................... 7 

1.9. Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 7 

v 

CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................... 12 

2.0. The Causes and effects of violations of women's rights .............................................. 12 

2.1 General concepts of human rights .................................................................................. 12 

2.2. The Causes of Violations of Women's Human Rights ................................................. 13 

2.3. Violations at law ........................................................................................................... 21 

2.4. Violations in custody .................................................................................................... 22 

2.5. The Effects of Women's Rights Violations in Holy Rosary Parish, Laroo Division, 

Gulu District. ........................................................................................................................ 23 

CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................... 27 

3.0 LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMWORK ......................................................... 27 

3.1. The rights under the 1995 Constitution of the Republic ofUganda ............................. 27 

CHAPTER FO UR .............................................................................................................. 37 

4.0. The Roles OfNGOs In The Promotion & Protection Of Women's Human Rights In 

Holy Rosary, Laroo Division - Gulu District... .................................................................... 37 

4.1. Procedures In Enforcement Of Women's Human RigHts ........................................... .42 

4.2. Limitations/Problems/Obstacles NGOs are Facing ..................................................... .43 

4.3. The Way Forward ........................................................................................................ .45 

4.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 46 

CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................... 47 

5.1. Recommendations AND FINDINGS .......................................................................... .47 

5.2 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 50 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 53 

APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESEARCH FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE 

AT KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ......................................................... 54