Human Rights Defender of the Month: Brenda Kugonza

November 2019
HRDs of the Month, News, Uganda

Brenda Kugonza has fought for women’s rights in Uganda for more than 13 years, and is currently the Executive Director of Women Human Rights Defenders Network-Uganda (WHRDN-U). As one of the network’s founding members, her goal is to raise awareness and knowledge about women’s struggles, especially sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).“As a defender, you lose friends and family members – they don’t want to be associated with someone who brings them shame. We are viewed as women with bad manners and I struggle daily with discrimination,” she affirms.

WHRDN-U was born from a call by women human rights defenders (WHRDs) who felt they needed their own network to articulate their needs and protection strategies. In coming together, they “created a sense of sisterhood,” Kugonza stress. WHRDN-U is key in “promoting a holistic feminist protection approach for at-risk WHRDs. The network has given us hope,” she continues. Due to lack of financial resources, however, she is at times forced to use her own money to ensure the women are protected.

Promoting a holistic feminist protection approach for at-risk WHRDs. The network has given us hope.

Brenda Kugonza Tweet

Born and raised in Uganda, Kugonza says she started defending human rights at the age of ten. Her zeal has seen her lead various women organisations and projects, including working with UN Women and the Council for Economic Empowerment for Women of Africa-Uganda. In 2007, while with the Forum for African Women Educationalist, she led a successful campaign to stop early marriages and school dropouts, in addition to being very vocal in the advocacy against the Anti-Homosexuality Act (2014) and the Anti-Pornography Act (2014).

Kugonza has not been immune to the challenges that come with being a WHRD and a feminist. As a young woman activist, her women’s rights advocacy, especially against SGBV, land rights, and anti-human trafficking, drew criticism from her family and community members. The first time she published a press statement on SGBV and LGBT+ rights, they attacked her and accused her of being a prostitute and a man-hater, she recalls. Further, “they threw insults at me, saying that by supporting women that were victims of SGBV, I would break their marriages. Relatives made comments like ‘we are all getting married and you will not get married because of the work you are doing.’ They also asked intimidating questions like ‘why are you involving yourself in the marriage affairs of others?’ At one point it got physical when a police officer assaulted me for demanding answers why a man had been released without formal charges, yet he had been arrested for assaulting his wife.”

they threw insults at me, saying that by supporting women that were victims of SGBV, I would break their marriages. Relatives made comments like ‘we are all getting married and you will not get married because of the work you are doing.’ They also asked intimidating questions like ‘why are you involving yourself in the marriage affairs of others?’ At one point it got physical when a police officer assaulted me for demanding answers why a man had been released without formal charges, yet he had been arrested for assaulting his wife

Brenda Kugonza Tweet

She stresses that more attention needs to be given to WHRDs, especially in light of the digital revolution. “At national level, we need solidarity! It shouldn’t only be the women organisations speaking out. National protection mechanisms need to do more. They can’t just sit in their office and define protection needs. They need to talk with women – they need to address the fact that we are attacked because we are women, including sexual harassment and sexual assault.”

“Women are organisers, women are doing a lot of work. We have contributed to the development of the country. We have helped the community and promoted education. We are honouring the women that never give up. The women are saying: we cannot sit back!” she adds.

See more HRDs of the Month

Human Rights Defender of the month:SHIMA BHARE

Shima Bhare Abdalla has never known the luxury and comfort

Human Rights Defender of the month: Martial Pa’nucci

Martial Pa’nucci is a child of what is fondly known as Africa’s second liberation. In 1990 when he was born, the Republic of Congo, like many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, was undergoing a transition from one-party rule to multi-party democracy, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Yet developments in ordinary people’s lives were not as optimistic. Pa’nucci was born in one of Brazzaville’s ghettos to a polygamous family of two mothers and 19 siblings, where survival was a daily exercise in courage. When he was two, his father died, followed in quick succession by many of his siblings. Pa’nucci did not start school until he was nine, and he had to do odd jobs – from barbering to plumbing to earn his stay there, lest he dropped out like many of his peers.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Veronica Almedom

Veronica Almedom is a poster child of successful immigration. A duo Eritrean and Swiss citizen, she was born in Italy, and grew up in Switzerland where she permanently resides. Her parents are some of the earliest victims of Eritrea’s cycles of violence. When Eritrea’s war of independence peaked in the early 1980s, they escaped the country as unaccompanied minors, wandering through Sudan, Saudi Arabia, before making the hazard journey across the Mediterranean into Europe. There, they crossed first to Italy, and finally, to Switzerland, where they settled first as refugees, and later, as permanent residents.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Omar Faruk Osman

Omar Faruk’s career, and the passion that drove it, were the product of his circumstances. He was born in 1976, in the first of strong man Mohamed Siad Barre’s two-decade rule over Somalia, which was characterized by gross rights abuses and barely existent civic space. He came of age in the 90s when those abuses and rights violations were peaking, as his country was engulfed by a ruinous civil war following the collapse of the Siad Barre dictatorship.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Rita Kahsay

When the Ethiopian Federal Government representatives and those of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed a peace agreement in Pretoria, in November last year, the two parties were hailed for ending arguably the deadliest conflict of the 21st century, in which over 600,000 people had died.
But long before the negotiators for peace got around to an agreement, there were many other unsung heroes, who, through individual and collective efforts helped sustain the world’s gaze on the dire situation in Tigray, despite the Ethiopian Government’s determined efforts to hush it up.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Godfrey Kagaayi

Born 33 years ago, in Bukoba, northern Tanzania, Godfrey Kagaayi did not have to look elsewhere for inspiration to tackle the daunting challenge of mental health. By his own admission, the family and community in which he was raised were fertile grounds for the same.
His family had crossed the border into Uganda when he was barely 5 months, settling into present day Rakai district. But the Rakai of the 90s was a difficult place for a child to make their earliest memories: In 1990, Uganda’s first ever case of HIV/AIDs was reported in the district, setting off a decade of suffering and anguish for many of its residents. Taking advantage of the Rakai’s fishing and polygamous lifestyle, the novel virus spread like wildfire, killing people in droves and leaving untold heartache in its wake.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid

Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid is one of the lucky survivors of Sudan’s latest conflict.

He was born 36 years ago, in Almalha locality, North Darfur state, the third born in a family of 10. Then, Darfur was not the hot bed of war and conflict it has since become infamous for. Although the region, predominantly inhabited by Sudan’s black population remained segregated by the predominantly Arab government in Khartoum, its people co-existed in thriving, predominantly subsistence communities. In Almalha, people reared camels and cattle, while others tended crops. The community was also famed for its hospitality to strangers, welcoming outsiders who ended up staying, owning land, and intermarrying with their hosts.

Human Rights Defender of the month:Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo

In personality, Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo could not be more different. Where the former is loud, if free-spirited, and mischievous, the latter is quiet, reticent, and predominantly solitary. Together though, they are the quiet champions behind DefendDefenders’ digital skilling programs, equipping (women) human rights defenders with critically transformative – and sometimes, life-saving digital tools and skills.
“You’ll be surprised how many people out there, including the literate are not exposed to the idea of digital safety. And as technology gets more advanced, it is getting ever more lucrative for hackers and other malign actors, which means that the urgency of the need for digital security skills for everyone cannot be over-stated,” says Daphne.

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