• Introduction and Overview
• Government Agencies
• Non-Government Organizations
• Demographic Profile
• Social Protection
• Child, Youth and Family Policy Regimes
• Status of Children
• Maternity Benefits
• Early Childhood Education
• Child Education
• Child Health
• Special Groups of Children
• Child Labor
• Child Trafficking and Prostitution
• Children in Armed Conflict
• Notes
• References

(Last updated December 2007)

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a country in East Africa, bordered on the east by Kenya, the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.

Uganda is an ethnically diverse nation with a deeply ingrained intellectual and artistic culture. Poor but developing, Uganda’s economy is predominantly agricultural. Uganda was the site of several powerful kingdoms, most notably Buganda and Bunyoro, before the arrival of European colonists in the late 19th century. Uganda became a British protectorate in 1894, and its present borders were established in 1926. It gained independence from British rule in 1962. In the 1970s and early 1980s the nation suffered two bloody dictatorial regimes, under Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and two wars. In 1986 Uganda came under the control of the current president Yoweri Museveni, who introduced democratic and economic reforms. Kampala is Uganda’s capital and largest city. [Microsoft Encarta, 2007]

Administrative Divisions

 Uganda is divided into eighty districts, spread across four administrative regions: Northern, Eastern, Central and Western. The districts are subdivided into counties and, sub-counties. Most districts are named after their main commercial and administrative towns.  A process of decentralization was started in Uganda in 1993. This has placed some of the responsibilities like taxation, mobilization and management of district economies at the local level.

Politics

The President of Uganda is both head of state and head of government. The president appoints a prime minister who aids him in his tasks. The parliament is formed by the National Assembly, which has 303 members. About 30 percent are nominated by interest groups, including women and the army. The remaining members are elected for five-year terms during general elections.

The last presidential election was held in February 2006.  Despite technically democratic elections, harassment of the opposition had started months earlier in the form of  detention of activists, rape and other criminal allegations against the opposition candidate,  and use of state funds for electoral campaigning. Museveni's tenure in office (the current president)  has been marred by massive corruption and embezzlement of public funds by a small section of the population.

The conflict between the Government of Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been described by the UN as the ‘world’s most neglected crisis’. The conflict has resulted in the displacement of 1.7 million people from their homes into camps in the north and north-east. These are frequently overcrowded, with poor water and sanitation facilities and difficulty getting food. During 2006, the situation showed signs of improvement with 300,000 people returning home. The Government of South Sudan has been facilitating peace talks between representatives from the LRA and the Government of Uganda. As a result, there have been fewer reported cases of atrocities and abductions and the security situation appears to have greatly improved.

Economy

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force, with coffee accounting for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government (with the support of foreign countries and international agencies) has acted to rehabilitate an economy decimated during the regime of Idi Amin and subsequent civil war.

During 1990-2001, the economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. Ongoing Ugandan involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption within the government, and slippage in the government's determination to press reforms raise doubts about the continuation of strong growth. In 2000, Uganda qualified for the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001-02 was solid despite continued decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export. According to IMF statistics, in 2004 Uganda's GDP per-capita reached 300 dollars, a much higher level than in the 1980s but still at half of Sub-Saharan African average income of 600 dollars per year. Total GDP crossed the 8 billion dollar mark in the same year.

In 2006, services contributed 48.5% to the GDP, agriculture contributed 29.4% and industry 22.1%. In 2003, 69 percent of Ugandan workers were engaged in agriculture, 8 percent in industry, and 23 percent in services. Only a small fraction of the workforce is engaged in paid employment, and the largest wage employer is the government. Since the 1970s wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living, forcing those receiving salaries to supplement their income through farming or business. In addition, inadequate wages lead to widespread corruption in most government services.

Poverty

At independence in 1962, Uganda showed prospects for sustainable development with high growth and savings rates, and a well-developed education system. The country was running a trade surplus, primarily through agricultural, textile, and copper exports. It was  self-sufficient  in  terms  of  food,  and  small-scale  industry  supplied  the  domestic market with basic inputs. Uganda suffered, however, from political turmoil and economic mismanagement from the early 1970s until the mid-1980s. Many skilled workers fled the country, leading to a rapid deterioration of human capital and managerial skills. Industry was nationalized and placed under state control. Rampant inefficiency led to a collapse of the economy, and agricultural output plummeted because of insecurity and war in rural areas.   

Uganda  has  made  great  strides  toward  economic  growth  and  poverty  reduction since the  late  1980s.  In  the  1990s  annual  GDP  growth  climbed  steadily  to  6.9  percent  from only 3 percent per annum during the 1980s. As a result, the share of the population below the poverty line (poverty head count index) fell from 56 percent in 1992 to 44 percent in 1997 and then to 35 percent in 2000 (a decline of 38 percent since 1992).  (IMF, 2001This rapid poverty reduction over such a short period is rare, not only in Sub-Saharan African countries but across the developing world. This success, however, was not equally distributed among regions or between rural and urban areas. Poverty is regionally concentrated, with the north and east having the largest proportions of poor populations. In particular, the poverty situation in the north, which continues to suffer from civil conflict, has worsened since 1997, while poverty has declined in all other regions. The rural-urban gap has also widened. Poverty in Uganda continues to be a rural phenomenon, with 96 percent of the poor living in rural areas in 2000. Poverty in rural areas was estimated at 39 percent in rural areas and only 10 percent in urban areas in 2000.  [IMF, 2001]

Economic growth and income distribution are the fundamental forces driving poverty reduction in Uganda. Government polices play a crucial role in promoting both economic growth  and  better  income  distribution. In 1997, the government initiated the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) to address the issues of poverty, and improve the health, education, and economic status of the people and country. Since its inception, the PEAP has guided the formulation of government policy in Uganda. 

Most people in Uganda live simple, rural lives, feeding themselves through farming. There are very few opportunities for them to earn money and improve their economic situation. As a result, nearly ten million people or 55% of the population were considered to be living in poverty in 2006, and about two thirds of these people are below the age of eighteen (about 6.6 million). Poverty has a direct effect on people’s lives, as poor people have little access to health services, education, clean water and many other very important things. To address these issues, the PEAP established four major pillars: creating a framework for economic growth and transformation; ensuring good governance and security; directly increasing the ability of the poor to raise their incomes; and directly increasing the quality of the life of the poor.  

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Government Agencies

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In Uganda, the growth of the Non-Governmental Sector (NGO) sector goes back to the 1970.s and 1980.s, when many NGOs came in to fill the gap left by the collapse of government. The movement was first initiated by faith-based organizations, principally large established churches. This movement was subsequently reinforced by international NGOs, before being relayed by governmental donors and, more recently, by the Ugandan government itself. The Ugandan government is now considering relying more heavily on the NGO sector for a variety of welfare and development objectives. In particular, it is considering subcontracting the delivery of certain services to NGOs which would receive public funding to accomplish their task.  

Most NGOs in Uganda are private charities. They attract many educated Ugandans who wish to help poorer members of society. Most are involved in educating and awareness building related activities on issues such as AIDS, hygiene, nutrition and domestic violence. Other common activities include mobilizing local communities to deal with their own problems and to be heard by local and national authorities. This is done through advocacy and capacity building activities. Few Ugandan NGOs, however, go beyond these two basic activities, and work towards a larger concern. Nor do they provide  a specific service. All have a generalist approach, which gives them more flexibility to respond to the perceived needs of the population they serve.  

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In 2006, the estimated population of Uganda was 28 million, of which nearly half were between the ages of 0-14. 47.8% were between 15-64 years and 2.2% wee 65 years and over. Uganda has a very young population with a median age of 15 years. The estimated population growth rate was 3.37%. The total fertility rate was 7.1 in 2005 up from 6.8 in 1995; and the death rate 12 per 1,000.

The life expectancy at birth was 52 years in 2006 (51 years for males and 53 years for females). Estimates of the literacy rate of the population showed that in 2003 69.9% of the population over 15 years of age could read and write (79.5% for males and 60.4% for females). [CIA World Fact Book, 2007]

Uganda’s population is predominantly rural and is concentrated in the south, particularly in the crescent at the edge of Lake Victoria and in the southwest. Almost all Ugandans are black Africans. Foreign residents make up less than 4 percent of the population and come mostly from neighboring states.

Only 12 percent of Uganda’s population lives in urban areas. Kampala, near Lake Victoria, is Uganda’s intellectual and business center and its only large city. Jinja, the most important industrial center, is located on the Nile at Lake Victoria. [Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, 2007]

Uganda is home to many different ethnic groups, none of whom form a majority of the population.  Although English became the official language of Uganda after independence , around forty different languages are regularly and currently in use in the country.

The most widely spoken language in Uganda is Luganda, spoken predominantly in the urban concentrations of Kampala, the capital city, and in towns and localities in the Buganda region of Uganda which encompasses Kampala. This is also the primary language through which commercial transactions are coordinated, in large part because over 50% of Ugandan commerce is transacted in Kampala. The Ateso language follows, spoken by about 4.2 million people covering seven Districts in the Eastern part of the country. Swahili, a widely used language throughout eastern and central Africa, has had little relevance in Uganda where it has been used primarily in military circles and in the police.

According to the 2002 National Census, Christians of all denominations made up 85.1% of Uganda’s population. The second most population religion of Uganda is Islam, with Muslims representing 12.1% of the population. The census lists 1% of Uganda’s population as following traditional religions, and 0.7% are classified as ‘other non-Christians’, including Hindus. Judaism is also practiced in Uganda by a small number of native Ugandans known ad Abayudaya. The regime of Idi Amin favored Islam, and expelled many of the Asian-Ugandans who practiced Hinduism and persecuted the Abayudaya. A significant number of Hindus returned after Museveni came to power.

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The social security structure in Uganda has four schemes: the National Social Security Fund that caters to employees in the private sector, the civil service pension scheme covering government employees, the Urban and Local Authority Scheme for local authorities, and the Teaching Service Scheme for teachers. With the exception of the NSSF, government employee schemes are not contributory. The NSSF contribution rate is 20 percent of the insured person’s earnings, shared between the employee and the employer at a rate of 5 percent and 15 percent respectively.

Total coverage of social security schemes is limited to only 2% of the total labor force. Contingencies covered and benefits paid are in respect of:

• Old Age Benefit, for those aged 55 years or older;
• Survivors Benefit, for surviving spouse or children under the age of 18 years;
•  Invalidity or Disability Benefit, that precludes work;
• Withdrawal Benefit, for those age 50 and above and unemployed for at least one year;
• Emigration Grant, for any member who emigrates permanently from Uganda to a country with which no reciprocal arrangement has been made.

Qualifying members under the NSSF are entitled to lump sum payments, i.e. total contributions plus accrued interest for the period, while those in government schemes are entitled to pensions.

Due to its limited coverage (2% of the total labor force), the social security system in Uganda has remained restricted to the few employed by the organized sector in the country. There are no child cash or in-kind benefits available under the program. The Social Security Act of 1961 and its Amendment in 1972 are the main laws that govern social protection in the country. [Dau, 2003]

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Significant investments in children and women in recent years have led to developmental successes in Uganda, notably in primary education and in the fight against HIV/AIDS. However, in the north, nearly two decades of conflict between the Government and the LRA have spurred a severe humanitarian crisis marked by widespread insecurity and massive displacement. Uganda has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict. A Children’s Act, based on the CRC, was passed in 1996.

Status of Children

The government has demonstrated a commitment to improving children's welfare and education received the largest percentage of the national budget in 2006. The Two of the most important laws relating to children in Uganda are – The Children’s Statute/The Children Act, 1996 and the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Policy.

The Children’s Statute is a comprehensive law on care, protection, and maintenance of children. It makes provision for rights of the child, adoption, parentage of children, children charged with offences, and establishes a Family and Children Court. The law stipulates parents' responsibilities and provides extensive protection for children in a wide variety of areas, including financial support, foster care placement, adoption, determination of parentage, and treatment of children charged with offenses. The law also prohibits children from taking part in any activity likely to injure the child's health, education, or mental, physical, and moral development; however, the government often does not enforce these prohibitions. However, due to the large proportion of children in the population (56 percent of the population was under the age of 18), staffing and fiscal constraints on the judiciary, and cultural norms, the government has not been able to enforce the statute effectively.  

In 2003, the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development (MGLSD) set up the Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) Secretariat to provide guide the development and implementation of the National OVC Policy and the National Strategic Program Plan of Interventions for OVC (NSPPI). The government estimated that in 2004, 2 million orphans were living in Uganda, and 14% of all children in Uganda were orphans. An estimated 890,000 children were orphaned due to AIDS (45.6% of all orphans).

Some of the main issues facing children in Uganda include:

• Malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoea are the main causes of under-5 mortality.
• Nearly half of the estimated 2 million orphans are orphaned due to AIDS, with the total expected to rise to 3.5 million by 2010.
• Children and women comprise 80 per cent of the 1.4 million people forced to flee their homes due to conflict. They live in more than 200 camps, with limited services.
• The LRA has abducted more than 25,000 children since 1986.
• In the conflict-affected districts, around 40,000 unaccompanied children – the ‘night commuters’ – walk every night from their homes in outlying villages to urban centers, in search of protection from the threat of LRA abductions and attacks.[UNICEF,2006]
• Uganda recently initiated a new strategy or intervention in caring for the increasing numbers of orphaned children. The strategy involves working with orphaned children while they are still with their families or caregivers within the community. It combines standard reactive care with an economic empowerment component through Children Development Accounts (CDAs) for orphaned children and their families or caregivers. It is aimed at creating and broadening asset-ownership opportunities for orphaned children and their families.
• CDAs are savings and investment accounts established for children as early as at birth. They are typically restricted after age 18 for post-secondary education and training, buying a first home, starting a small business, and building up a nest-egg for retirement. The idea is to help build up savings and productive assets, promote financial know-how, engender a future orientation, and broaden economic opportunity - especially for children from low-income, low-wealth households.

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Under the Employment Decree, 1975, all employed women are entitled to 4 weeks of paid maternity leave and will received 100% of their wages from the employer. However, because of the low coverage of these programs, it is estimated that very few women in the labor force actually have access to this benefit.

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The beginning of pre-primary education in Uganda can be traced back to the 1930s initiated by the Europeans Missionaries, Goans and Asians who were already aware of the need and importance of preparing children early for formal education in their later years of education. The pre-schools were private, established exclusively for the use of their own communities but in later years the Africans within urban areas were also allowed to take their children to these schools. Most pre-schools were privately owned with the sole objective of preparing children for entrance into primary schools and overlooking the fundamental concept of childhood stimulation, psycho-social, mental and emotional development in ECCE.

Despite the recognized significance of ECCE as part of a comprehensive approach to achieving Education for All (EFA), the data on  ECCE in Uganda is still relatively unreliable. To gauge progress in ECCE in Uganda is not yet possible because of the wide variety in ECCE provision. ECCE in Uganda ranges from private kindergartens and other day-care centers where play and education or guidance go hand-in-hand, sometimes alongside or even inside the classrooms of older primary school-going age siblings, to more informal home-based activities.

With the priority in terms of resource allocation in Uganda given first to primary schooling under UPE, ECCE strategies often have resulted in informal ECCE activities that are often home-based and probably rooted in indigenous traditions of child raising. However, it is noteworthy that this pattern of provision of ECCE in Uganda is not merely a legacy of UPE policy. For a long time, formal ECCE was (and still is) mainly a privilege enjoyed by a minority of Ugandans living and holding better paying jobs in urban areas. The fact that private ECCE provision dominates in Uganda is clear testimony in this respect.

There is no single government or government-aided pre-school in Uganda, compared to 757 such privately run institutions. It is much easier to collect data on attendance in formal pre-schools than on participation in community-run or family-based arrangements, because information on the latter varies widely, and the home-based activities are almost impossible to monitor. Therefore, data about ECCE in Uganda are incomplete and not dependable. This hinders policy analysis and assessment of the progress towards achieving the ECCE goal by 2015.

Nevertheless, the limited data available on formal pre-school enrollment and policy suggest that by 2003 Uganda combines low enrolment rates with very limited progress and a lack of ECCE policy framework. But substantial progress. There is encouraging evidence that this may be beginning to happen or is already happening. For example, there has been a national curriculum for pre-primary schools published by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) since 1993, but very few pre-schools actually use it as teaching guide. There is also the ECD policy framework in the offing. [Okuni 2002]

With the introduction of the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), the government sought to integrate early childhood development with its poverty reduction goals. Uganda’s Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Project supports the government’s National Program of Action for Children, which aims to improve the health, nutritional, and cognitive status of children under eight. The project augments the ability of parents and communities to care for children by teaching new child care techniques and creating opportunities to raise incomes.

The $40 million community-based project is delivered through NGOs that are contracted by the government on a competitive basis and work as agents of change in collaboration with district governments. In its first phase, lasting five years (1998–2003), the project will be implemented in 25 of Uganda’s 45 districts.

The project has three components:

• An integrated child care intervention package that provides information on good child care practices, including nutrition counseling and monitoring and promotion of children’s growth. Interventions are promoted through community child workers and child fairs, and reinforced by a mass media communications program. In addition, mothers and caregivers who receive child care counseling are encouraged to form micro enterprise groups to help improve their livelihoods.
• Community support grants and innovation grants are provided to communities and women’s groups to foster activities that support children. Such activities may include the creation of center- or home-based child care centers, production of weaning foods, or formation of micro enterprises.
• National support for monitoring and evaluation is linked to the mass communications program. [World Bank, 1999]

In summary, the provision of early childhood care and education is a relatively new, little researched concept in Uganda, and little developed. Outside the home, education at this level is basically in the hands of private agencies and individuals. Most of the nursery schools and kindergartens are in urban areas. In the government’s education white paper in 1992, government looked at early childhood development as a responsibility of parents and local community leaders. Government limited its responsibilities to quality assurance, regulation of fees and teacher training. The ministry of education estimates that, only 2.8% of the 3-5 age group have access to nursery schools.

There is a growing concern why early childhood should not be part of Basic Education and thus placed into the mainstream UPE policy and practice. In order to streamline the program, the Ministry of Education and Sports developed a draft Early Childhood Development (ECD) policy. It has licensed and is monitoring private centers including Early Childhood Development instructional methods in the PTC curriculum. There are also concerns such as quality of the Early Childhood programs and their sustainability. There is as well a general lack of data, inadequate co-ordination amongst the existing players, and inadequate support for the informal home-based ECCE activities that constitute a significant component of ECCE in Uganda. This is vital because with the obvious resource constraints in Uganda likely to persist for the foreseeable future, it is in the informal sub-sector that the majority of eligible children, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged are most likely to   continue seeking ECCE. Thus, NGO-community partnership initiatives such as the long-running Aga Khan Foundation (AKF)’s Madrasa Resource Centre (MRC) projects in East Africa, including Uganda and the UNICEF-supported Child-Friendly Basic Education and Learning/School Sanitation, Hygiene and Water Program are good examples, and are evidence that this may be beginning to happen or is already happening.

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The government's Universal Primary Education (UPE) program provides free education through the seventh grade; however, education is not compulsory. The UPE program made education more accessible financially; however, parents still had to pay for school supplies and some school costs. The UPE increased funding for education, provided additional skills training for teachers, and reduced the student to textbook ratio. However, strained finances, corruption, instability, infrastructure problems, and inadequate teacher training have prevented full implementation.

Despite some progress over the late 1980s, the education system in Uganda was in a dismal state in the early 1990s. Gross primary enrollment ratio (GER) was only 87% and net primary enrollment ratio was only about 65% in 1992. At that time, South Africa had a primary GER of 123%, Zimbabwe of 113%, and Kenya of 85%.

The poor performance of the education system was owing to multiple reasons, the main one being the high private costs of schooling. A study in the mid-1990s found that parents financed about 60% of the direct costs of primary education. Annual fees and PTA dues averaged at that time $6-8 per child, a significant burden for many households in a country with an annual  GDP per capita of less than $300.

At the same time, public expenditure on primary education was also low. Although the Government was spending 2.6% of its GDP on education and the education budget occupied 21.4% of total government expenditure, only 43% of the education budget was devoted to primary education in 1996. The low share of public primary expenditure resulted in even lower absolute expenditure as a consequence of the low level of GDP income. 

In 1987, the government established the Education Policy Review Commission to evaluate the education system and identify areas and mechanisms for improvement. In its report, the commission It outlined several goals, among which was the achievement of Universal Primary Education (UPE) for all children in the primary school age range (6-12) by 2000. In 1996 President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy which mandated that the government was to provide ‘free’ education to a maximum of four children from each family.

Since the introduction of UPE, primary school coverage has increased dramatically. Total primary enrollment increased from 3.4 million in 1996 to an estimated 5.7 million in 1997. By 2001, there were almost 7 million primary school students in 12,280 primary schools. Primary enrollment ratios have also improved correspondingly. 1992 estimates indicate the primary NER and GER (Net enrollment ratio and Gross enrollment ratio) were 62 percent and 87 percent, respectively. By 1997, estimates showed an increase to 84 percent and 123 percent, respectively, indicating an enormous increase in overall  enrollment. The UNICEF estimated that between 2000 and 2005, net primary school enrollment and attendance was 87% and secondary school enrollment was 17%.

The UPE was also successful in virtually eliminating the wealth bias that had characterized access to primary education in Uganda. Evidence from a 1999 study concluded that the poorest 20% of Ugandan households had almost as high enrollment rates as the 20 percent of the richer households. Completion rates in primary education have also improved from 35% prior to the UPE policy to nearly 55% in 2000. The gap between male and female gross enrollment was 13 percent (female enrollment rate was 13 percent lower than that of male) in 1992. The UPE policy provided for up to 4 children per family, two of whom must be girls, and evidence shows that the gender gap has been reduced to somewhere between 8 and 10 percent.

In October 2006, the government launched Universal Secondary Education. However, Though the government is committed to supporting secondary education in the country so that gains from the UPE can be sustained, enrollment rates in secondary education are very low. Only 45 percent of primary graduates go on to enroll in secondary schools and of those who enroll, only about 15 percent go on to complete five years of secondary education. Gender disparity is not great at the secondary level; the net enrollment ratios are almost identical for males and females at about 12%. However, regional and income-based inequities are evident everywhere in the system. The top income quintile group occupies 63 percent of all secondary school places. In addition to participation, the inequity is manifest in the type of school attended, with the rich attending elite boarding schools and the poor resorting to low quality, poorly resourced community schools, when they can afford them. The high cost of secondary education is a major factor that has kept enrollment rates down and retention low.

Public expenditure on education in Uganda, as a whole plummeted from 4.1 percent of GDP to only 1.2 percent in 1980s But returned to almost 4.0 percent by 2000. slightly above the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 3.4 percent. In 2000/2001, the education budget reached 32 percent of total government discretionary recurrent budget. Primary education’s share of the recurrent budget increased from 43 percent of total education recurrent budget  in 1995/96 to an allocation of 69 percent of total education recurrent) in 2000/2001, compared to 18 percent to post primary and 13 percent to tertiary education. [World Bank, 2002]

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The health status of Uganda is poor even by regional standards; only 49% of households have access to health care facilities. One of the main drawbacks of the health system in Uganda is the poor infrastructure especially in the rural areas where the majority of the population lives.

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Child abuse remains a serious problem, particularly rape and other sexual abuse of girls known as "defilement." Defilement applies to all cases of sexual contact outside of marriage with girls younger than 18 years of age, regardless of consent or the age of the perpetrator. Defilement carries a maximum sentence of death; however, in practice defilement cases often are settled by a payment to the girl's parents. The perpetrators of defilement often are family members, neighbors, or teachers. A 2005 Save the Children survey of 1,400 children conducted during the year found that 46 percent of girls were sexually abused and 20 percent were raped.

There are also reports of the use of children in ritual sacrifice. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is performed on girls in the Sabiny and Pokot ethnic groups. There is no national law against FGM, however, since January 2006, some districts passed bylaws to make the practice of FGM illegal. The government, women's groups, and international organizations continue programs to combat the practice through education. These programs, which receive some support from local leaders, emphasize close cooperation with traditional authority figures and peer counseling.

The legal age for marriage is 18 years, but the marriage of young girls by parental arrangement is common, particularly in rural areas. Child prostitution, trafficking and child labor are also problems.

Improved security in the conflict-affected north has contributed to significant reductions in the number of children known as "night commuters" who travel from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers to avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army LRA. UNICEF reported that approximately 35,000 children were regular night commuters in 2005. A June UNICEF study indicated that children continue to commute due to reasons other than LRA activity, such as endemic poverty and domestic violence. In 2006,  the government cooperated with NGOs to operate shelters for such children in tented dormitories and other semi permanent structures; in other cases children slept under balconies or on the grounds of schools, churches, and hospitals. Conditions ranged from harsh to adequate. There are also credible reports that many displaced girls become involved in prostitution.

Child Labor

The law prohibits employees from hiring workers below the age of 18; however, statutory orders issued by the Ministry of Labor permit the employment of children under age 14 in "light work," provided it does not interfere with the child's education. Children under the age of 12 are prohibited from being employed in any business or workplace and all children are prohibited from being employed between the hours of 7 pm and 7 am. Nevertheless, child labor is common, especially in the informal sector. Demographics contribute to the problem of child labor; more than half of the population is under 18 years of age. Many children leave school and go into agricultural or domestic work to help meet expenses or perform the work of absent or infirm parents, a situation common throughout the country. The problem is particularly acute among the large orphan population. A joint International Labor Organization (ILO) and MGLSD survey, released in 2005, estimated that approximately 2.7 million children are employed as workers.

In urban areas children sell small items on the street, work in shops, beg for money, and are involved in the commercial sex industry. Children are also employed in the tea harvesting sector, sugarcane fields, and stone quarries. The MGLSD reports new incidents of the worst forms of child labor, including children involved in illicit activities such as cross border smuggling.

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, a lack of resources prevent the government from enforcing this prohibition effectively. There are reports that the UPDF uses former LRA child soldiers on reconnaissance and intelligence missions. The LRA often forces abducted children into virtual slavery as guards, laborers, soldiers, and sex slaves.

National level institutions that are responsible for child labor and abuse issues include the National Council of Children, the police force's Child and Family Protection Unit, the industrial court, and the MGLSD; however, financial constraints limited their efforts. In June 2005 the MGLSD launched the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Policy, which extended social services to children working in the worst forms of child labor and other target groups. The government also coordinates its efforts to stop child labor through the National Steering Committee on Child Labor, which include representatives of the MGLSD, the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Local Government, the Federation of Uganda Employers, the National Organization of Trade Unions, NGOs, journalists, and academics.

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The law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons; however, the law does prohibit trafficking related offenses. There are reports that persons are trafficked to, from, and within the country. There are no available statistics on the extent of trafficking in persons. The maximum penalty for the procurement of women for purposes of prostitution or detention with sexual intent is seven years' imprisonment; the maximum penalty for trading in slaves is 10 years' imprisonment.

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The law prohibits service in the military by persons under 18 years of age; however, there are reports that individuals under the age of 18 enlisted in the army and in local militias, sometimes in collusion with local officials. In June 2006, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict stated that an estimated 5,000 children were serving in the country's armed forces. The UPDF denied that it actively recruited child soldiers, but stated some might have joined through deception or oversight.

There continue to be reports that the UPDF detains some former LRA child combatants for long periods, and in some cases may have used them in intelligence and reconnaissance missions.

According to UNICEF the LRA has abducted approximately 12,000 children since 2002 and continues to abduct children. The LRA forces children into virtual slavery as laborers, soldiers, guards, and sex slaves. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children are forced to participate in the killing of other children who attempt to escape. More than 85 percent of LRA captives are made up of children whom the LRA abducts and forces to fight as rebels; most LRA rebels are between the ages of 11 and 16.

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* Research and Reported by Manita C. Rao
 

Aguti, Jessica Norah (2002); Facing up to the Challenge of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda through Distance Teacher Education Programs; Department of Distance Education, Makerere University; Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.dip.go.ug/english/education/upe/docs/upe_aguti_paper.pdf

AVERTing HIV and AIDS (2007); HIV and AIDS in Uganda; Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.avert.org/aidsuganda.htm

Barr, Abigail; Fafchamps, Marcel; and Owens, Trudy (2003); Non-Governmental Organizations in Uganda; Centre for the Study of African Economies, Department of Economics, Oxford University; Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/reports/pdfs/rep2003-01.pdf

Dau, Ramadani K. (2003); Trends in Social Security in East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda - Social Security in Africa; International Social Security Review, v.56; Retrieved from the World Wide Web here.

Fan, Shenggen; Zhang, Xiaobo; and Rao, Neetha (2004); Public Expenditure, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Rural Uganda; Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute; Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.ifpri.org/divs/dsgd/dp/papers/dsgdp04.pdf

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Okuni, Akim (2002); EFA policies, strategies and reforms in Uganda: assessment of the current potential for sustainable progress towards achieving the EFA goals by 2015; Aga Khan Foundation; Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001468/146832e.pdf

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