As those who know me well enough will know, I’m an aspiring human rights and immigration lawyer. This is largely due to how much I enjoyed writing my bachelor’s thesis on the extent to which the Eritrean State can be held legally responsible for the Sinai Trafficking of it’s citizens under international law. I wrote this under the supervision of Prof. Dr. van Reisen, who is the person who invited Sacha and I to Uganda to continue research on Eritrean asylum seekers. However, through other contacts I have also got to know X. X is a practicing family and immigration lawyer who also works on cases with Eritrean refugees. Furthermore, as luck would have it, he also does some voluntary work in Uganda with an English charity looking to promote the rule of law in 25 priority countries. Luckier still is that X and I happen to be in Uganda at the same time, and so he has invited me to shadow him for the day. On a typical trip X and his colleague Y would be training Ugandan judges and lawyers on how to best uphold the rule of law and achieve outcomes in the best interest of the child in cases of family law. However, this is Africa, and some important stakeholders pulled out at the last minute. Thankfully for me, however, the charity was still keen on X and Y to come to Kampala so that they can meet with various actors and work out how they can run the training programmes in the future.

I am due to meet X and Y at 8.15am in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel, but due to Kampala’s hectic nightlife I am awake at around 6.30 having never gotten to sleep. I would like to say this is because Sacha and I were out partying, but in fact we were in bed by 10pm like the little old women we have become and our sleepless night was down to the sheer noise of the street below us. So, resigned to the fact I’m probably going to spend the day exhausted, I get up, put on a work appropriate dress (thanks mum), bid farewell to Sacha, and head up to the Sheraton early, assuming that the internet there must be better than the internet at Hotel City Square.

Well for once I have assumed right and not only is Internet at the Sheraton is fantastic, but the surroundings are too. This is practically a miracle as since we’ve been here Sacha and I have learned not to assume anything due to the amount of times it has come back and bitten us in the arse. I immediately get onto my ma at home, forgetting all about the time difference (sorry!), to let her know all is good and I’m back in my rightful place of 5* luxury living. With that important task then done I check my emails to ascertain my schedule for the day and see if there’s anyone I should be Googling. If Mr Pemberton taught me anything in Year 12 it was never to forget the importance of Googling.

I am now extremely excited for the day ahead, not only am I going to be meeting a number of high court and supreme court judges, I am also going to be meeting a human rights lawyer. This lawyer grew up in Northern Uganda around the time that the LRA was at large, whilst he managed to escape capture his sister wasn’t so fortunate and was enslaved by the LRA for a number of years. During that time he fled to Kampala and studied to become a human rights lawyer with the aspiration that he could help prevent the LRA or similar groups from committing such atrocities again. He has been incredibly successful as not only was he the key leader in drafting and advocating for Uganda’s anti-torture law, but he has also been the leader in the opposition to Uganda’s controversial anti-gay laws. To say that I am excited to meet him would be a massive understatement.

X and Y join me around 8.15 and kindly treat me to a breakfast croissant, before we head off for our first meeting of the day at the Judicial Studies Institute.

Meeting One – Judicial Studies Institute
This meeting provided me with some real insight into some of the problems Uganda is facing at the moment in regards to how children’s rights are upheld. There is currently a huge problem of child trafficking via corrupt orphanages, which conduct international adoptions when the child may have some family members that are able to look after it within Uganda itself. On this matter it is agreed that best interest decision training is paramount.

With the first meeting over, and commemorative photographs taken, it is time to head to Uganda’s Supreme Court.

Meeting Two – Uganda’s Supreme Court & Children’s Rights Advocacy and Lobby Mission
The Ugandan Supreme Court is unlike any Supreme Court I have ever laid eyes on before. It is an extremely modern building, which apparently is on loan, so the Supreme Court moves around a bit! I would attach a photo here but pictures without permission are banned and I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the security guards here…

Probably the most interesting topic in this meeting was about Uganda’s problem of child-headed households. During the AIDs epidemic many children became orphaned as they lost their parents to the disease. It is widely believed that, with progress being made in HIV/AIDs treatment, the problem of child-headed households is becoming much less serious in Uganda. However, this is not necessarily the case and this view can discourage parents from making wills, meaning that when a child’s parents die he/she is left without any rights to their estate. The making of wills also carries a huge social taboo in Uganda. It is a common belief here that when you make a will it is like tempting fate into taking you before your time. It is for this reason most Ugandan’s don’t make wills, which is a problem if you consider the typical lifespan for people here, combined with the average number of children in a family. Children’s Rights Advocacy and Lobby Mission Africa, therefore, is trying to de-stigmatise the practice of making a will so that children are able to access their rightful inheritance without legal battles.

Meetings Three and Four – Legal Aid Service Provider’s Network, and Uganda Law Society
These meetings were more logistical, and therefore slightly more over my head. However, both organisations raised the important point of making the legal system more accessible to Ugandans if the rule of law is going to be successfully promoted. Pro-bono is only four years old in Uganda, and many lawyers have not received pro-bono training. This means that indigents and Uganda’s poor are at a disadvantage when it comes to ensuring that their rights are protected. It is agreed that building the capacity of pro-bono lawyers is where training programmes set up by the charity could make a positive impact.

We now have a small break before our last two meetings of the day, I can tell by this point that it’s going to be a long one! However I decline the offer to go back to my hotel, preferring instead to sponge some more of the Sheraton’s amazing Internet and lounge in their 5* luxury chairs.

Once X and Y return it’s time to hit the bar for a well-deserved glass of wine before the lawyer joins us. I opt for a small one; due to Mbarara’s not exactly booming social scene I’ve barely touched alcohol in weeks and there’s not been a lot of time to eat today!

Meeting Five – Human Rights Lawyer
As previously mentioned, this lawyer well known and has some really interesting insights into the current workings of Uganda and how their human rights situation is progressing.

By the time we’re finished, our tummies rumbling quite significantly. We decide to go to the Serena hotel (Kampala’s fanciest hotel) first so that I can experience some true luxury (it’ll probably be the only taste of it I get here so I’m more than keen!). However, this means we don’t eat dinner until around 10pm and I’m not back at my hotel until 11.30pm, only to find the lights out, no sign of life whatsoever, and the key missing. Also, when I finally get I find that our mosquito nets have been removed. Oh joy, I wonder if they still have rooms at the Sheraton?

Now many of you may be wondering what Sacha got up to with her day, as for most it’ll be far more interesting than my day! She went to Jinja, and her pictures look gorge. I’m trying to make her write a blog post about it but at this moment in time she’s committed to being a woman of mystery, so I guess it’ll take some lobbying on the part of her many fans.

Exhausted after a long day lawyering!