Hon James Mwandha (Member of Parliament of Uganda)

Uganda has made significant strides in the collection and use of legal resource on disability in the last ten years. This began with the Constitutional making process prior to the 1995 Constitution, in which several public hearings were held for the purpose. Interest groups of Persons with disabilities were able to emich the human rights discourses through their perspectives and experiences. In turn, the Constitutional Commission then had the opportunity to collect, comb through and critically analyze several disability related studies and legislation of several countries in a bid to adopt emerging best practices. The Commission also looked at existing human rights norms captured in several international and regional instruments. Thus the current Constitution of Uganda recognizes the human rights of Persons with disabilities, their marginalisation and the viability of affirmative action measures to ensure that they attain their full status as individuals. Subsequent Commissions such as the Uganda Human Rights Commission and the Constitutional Review Constitution have in the recent past engaged in similar data collection processes.

Several national laws have been passed that protect and promote in principle the rights of
Persons with disabilities. These include Health laws, Education laws, and Voter laws among others. Laws are initiated by relevant line ministries who collect data and analyze the issues prior to drafting of bills, which are then passed on to Parliament for debate. The Parliament of Uganda has 5 representatives of Persons with disability, who have formed an association to mobilize other Parliamentarians with or without disability to engage human rights issues regarding the rights of Persons with disabilities. A research assistant/clerk has been assigned specifically to assist in disability related research who carries out comparative analysis on several issues that are to be debated. At this level, comparative legislation, practice and jurisprudence of other countries is relied on to inform the discourses. At this level as well, comparative studies are undertaken too on disability jurisprudence in order.

The Department of Disability in the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development has been at the forefront of conducting baseline surveys at the national level to verify the situation of Persons with disabilities in various aspects. This Ministry is also co-headed by the Minister of State for Persons with Disabilities and the elderly. The studies carried out by this Ministry are crucial in the drafting of user fTIendly and customized laws, but which must reflect accepted standards in'disability. The use of international legal resource is practically indispensable to this process and has been relied on to develop a Disability Policy and Bill, both of which are to be publicly disseminated and debated shortly.

The keen interest that Government of Uganda has displayed in the current ongoing process of the Ad Hoc Committee's work on the Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of
Persons with Disabilities is an express commitment to engaging in disability rights discourse and share as well as receive crucial information. The process has been enriched at the national level by debates with key partners in service delivery, academia,

civil society, politicians, Persons with disabilities and the public at large. This has generated extensive debate on the collection, appropriateness and use of legal resource and,has resulted in the actors availing important information in order to add value to the process. Government has allocated resources to facilitationg these public debates as a forum for information sharing and debate and is developing a resource pool of legal resourc'e specialists.

To this end, Government has relied on collecting information from, countries or organizations that can avail such legal resource. Recourse to the Internet is inevitable and viable, due to its ease of reference and availability. However, in the Uganda context, it is not always easy to collect studies using this method, or to purchase the required information over the Internet due to certain intricacies relating to e-commerce. Connectivity is also not a given in every government department and can be a deterrent to effective research. However, the improvement of ICT is an area that Government is prioritizing in recognition of the need to access existing resources.

Gaps have been noted in the efforts of different actors and stakeholders to collect and utilise relevant information from various countries' disability related legislation, studies and debates. These include
. Statistics and data on the situation of Persons with disabilities, especially in Africa. Most data available has a decidedly non African thrust, and it is important for countries like Uganda to carry out their own evidence based studies on which to base credible analyses and recommendations.
. The limited reflection on the plight of women and children with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups such as migrant workers, refugees and internally displaced persons.
. Comparative legal analyses of situations that are similar to those faced by countries of a similar socio - economic nature. It is easy to fall into the trap of adopting tailor made prescriptions that are right for certain conditions and yet all wrong for a country like Uganda. This is not however, to deny that human rights are universal.
. There is a need to improve the skills of those engaging in research in order to enable them shift away from mostly quantitative research to analytical researc.h ie issues based research as opposed to baseline surveys.
. Very little jurisprudence on disability issues has been developed at the national level as there are few academics or practitioners interested in the issues. The thrust of the work in the area of disability is carried out by Non governmental organization who are more usually involved in service delivery. Courts of law have also not developed jurisprudence in this area due to the near absence of disability related litigation.

Despite the limitations noted, Uganda has made important strides in improving its collection and use of legal resource on disability. Having noted the advantages that comparative collaborations have to offer to the process, there is no doubt that the best perspectives and experiences of other countries in the area of disability will continue to be sought out through improved and efficient mechanisms of information access and exchange.