Every 20 June, the world celebrates World Refugee Day to honor refugees worldwide for their strength and resilience. This year, the commemoration focuses on the right to seek safety. Every person has the right to seek safety – whoever they are, wherever they come from, and whenever they are forced to flee. Uganda remains a generous country with a long history of over 60 years of hosting refugees. It currently hosts over 1.5 million refugees, making it a top African refugee-hosting country and among the top five countries worldwide. Every migrant is entitled to safe and dignified treatment like any other human being as they seek asylum.

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Eliminating Harmful Practices against Children: A Call for a Renewed Commitment to Promoting the Inclusion of Children with Special Needs.

Today marks 31 years since the African Union declared 16 June the Day of the African Child. The day was first observed in 1991 to remember the lives of over 1,000 innocent children who rose up to protest the discriminatory practices and poor quality of education orchestrated by the apartheid regime in South Africa. It is now commemorated annually to raise awareness of the plight of vulnerable children in Africa and across the globe.

World Environment Day is always commemorated every 5th of June. This year the theme is “Only One Earth”, which was the motto for the 1972 Stockholm conference. It reminds us of actions we can take to sustainably use the earth given the rising impact of climate change that is affecting every living organism on the planet. Scientists estimate that there are at least 8 million species of plants and animals living on the earth today, including humans. These species live together in what we call an ecosystem. An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or as small as a pond, containing both living and non-living things like rocks, sand, and humidity. All of these depend on each other like a jigsaw puzzle. For instance, a change in temperature will have an effect on both animals and plants.

It’s 21 March 2022, and it’s International Day of Forests (IDF). How about a glimpse of uncomfortable reminders! Whereas forests cover 31 per cent of the earth’s surface, 32 million acres of forest are lost annually (almost the size of England). And yet; over 300 million people live in forests, 80 per cent of the planet’s terrestrial species live in forests,1 25 per cent of world’s medicine - including cancer-fighting drugs - comes from tropical forest plants, over 70 per cent of world’s total economy is directly or indirectly dependent on trees, and over 40 per cent of the world’s total renewable energy is from wood fuel.

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It is 8 March 2022, and it is International Women’s Day. First commemorated by Uganda in 1984, IWD garners support for women’s rights and re-affirms the country’s commitments to ensuring that all women and girls within its borders lead dignified lives. Uganda’s commendable milestones in advancing women’s rights politically, socially, and economically include the Parish Development Model, which ring-fenced 30 per cent of resources towards women’s enterprises. But as we commemorate IWD 2022, it is important to recognise several dynamics that must be addressed to achieve the much-desired sustainable tomorrow.

National Theme: Rebuilding Better: Resilient Institutions Key to Covid-19 Recovery.

The COVID 19 Pandemic has affected everyone but disproportionately. The Pandemic exposed the ugly fault lines within our societies and thus reinforced the importance of strong public health services to deliver equitable healthcare. Inequality, marginalization, poverty and other human rights barriers to healthcare dictate who gets infected and who dies and have a devastating impact on vulnerable communities. Limited information on the pandemic and how it evolves among refugee communities in appropriate languages and a weakened legal framework where abuse and discrimination against such vulnerable communities go unpunished is more of condemning marginalized communities to become easy victims of a virus.

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