NRU :: Browsing by Author "Oloka-Onyango, J."

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Equal Opportunity, Age-Based Discrimination and the Rights of Elderly Persons in Uganda
(Human Rights and Peace Centre, 2008) Oloka-Onyango, J.
Average life expectancy for Ugandans is currently estimated at 50 years for both men and women. Nonetheless, with developed healthcare systems and social conditions, there are telling indicators that a signiicant number of Ugandans live and will continue to live well beyond this age. By 2002, older persons constituted 4.6% of the total population. Whereas older persons are recognized among the category of marginalized groups in Uganda, they continue to receive minimal attention in comparison to others such as women, children, people with disabilities and the youth. Advocacy of the rights of older persons in Uganda is lackluster. Most support offered to them is largely paternalistic. Social security also remains elusive, given that the majority of them do not actually qualify for such schemes having been mainly employed in the informal sector. For these reasons, older persons are regarded as unproductive and helpless and yet recent studies reveal that they are a major resource on history, traditional knowledge, health and culture. Older persons have also played an important role as the mediators of conlicts and disputes. Most importantly, older persons have been crucial in addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, protecting orphans and caring for those infected and affected.