Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum

About HRAPF
Founded in August 2008, HRAPF uses the law as an entry point to contribute to a better legal and policy environment for LGBTI persons and other marginalised groups. We do this through enhanced access to justice, advocacy, research, strategic litigation, knowledge development, capacity enhancement and strategic litigation and strategic partnerships within Uganda. We are also actively engaged in the East African, Pan African and International human rights mechanisms, processes and movements.

Our vision
A society where the human rights of all persons including marginalised persons and key populations are valued and respected.

Our Mission
To promote respect and protection of the human rights of marginalised persons and key populations through enhanced access to justice, advocacy and influencing, research, strategic litigation and knowledge development, and capacity enhancement.

Our Slogan
“Taking Human Rights to All”

Our target constituencies

1. LGBTQ+ persons
2. Intersex persons
3. Sex workers
4. Persons who use and inject drugs (PWUIDs)
5. Refugees facing gender-based violence issues
6. Women and health workers in conflict with the laws on abortion
7. Vulnerable women, girls and the elderly facing land justice concerns
8. Women living with HIV/AIDS

Theory of change
HRAPF believes that increasing access to inclusive legal services, effectively advocating and influencing legal and policy reform, increased evidence and joint strategising, strategic engagement of duty bearers at local, national and regional levels and greater investment in strengthening capacities of marginalised groups and Key Populations to challenge oppressive norms, power structures and legal systems that normalize discrimination, will enable for marginalised groups and Key Populations to be fully afforded their rights and create a world where rights of all persons including marginalised persons and key populations are valued, respected and protected is built.

Our outcome areas
What we do
HRAPF has five major goals (outcome areas)

1. Sustained access to justice for marginalised persons and key populations
   HRAPF champions equality and non-discrimination for marginalised persons and key populations by promoting and facilitating access to justice. A team of lawyers and a network of paralegals is always on standby to respond to emerging cases in order to redress violations that marginalised persons and key populations continue to face. We engage law enforcement agencies on violations of rights of our constituencies and document all violations and initiate interventions that seek to hold perpetrators of these violations accountable. We support the training and facilitation of community paralegals across the country and all our target constituencies to continue providing legal aid services through their structures.

2. Development of knowledge and jurisprudence for the promotion and protection of human rights of marginalised persons and Key Populations
   We continue to be a key leader in the generation of knowledge on various dimensions of human rights of marginalised persons and key populations. Having merged some components of access to justice and research and advocacy, HRAPF is set to build a Centre for Law and Marginalisation to champion research and strategic litigation and provide robust legal solutions to violations of rights of marginalised groups and key populations.

3. Inclusive laws and policies promoting and protecting rights and the well-being of marginalised persons and key populations
   We speak out and amplify the voices of marginalised persons and KPs in policy and legal development processes as well as challenge discriminatory practices and systemic and institutionalised marginalisation through advocacy and influencing strategies. We create, nurture, and or strengthen partnerships on the one hand with national bodies that are concerned with human rights. Through these partnerships, we will seek to influence the agenda on non-discrimination and equality at district, national, regional (East African and Continental) and international levels.

4. Transformed knowledge, skills and attitudes of marginalised persons and KPs and duty bearers leading to the promotion, respect and protection of the human rights of marginalised persons and Key populations
   We consolidate all empowerment and capacity-building efforts through organising and conducting issue-based human rights training workshops and meetings targeting marginalised persons, key populations ((LGBTI persons; sex workers; women, girls and service providers in conflict with abortion laws; drug users; people living with HIV and; refugees) and duty bearers (police officers, media, judicial officers (specifically magistrates), parents, local leaders and health providers as well as state prosecutors and prison warders) to champion non - discrimination and reduce the marginalisation of key populations.

5. Strong and sustainable human rights organisation
   HRAPF continues to strengthen its operational efficiency and financial independence buttressed by effective governance, sustainability, prudent risk management, internal development and a clear staffing structure that suits the organisation for sustainability, transparency, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency in delivering on our mandate.

Major Strategies
HRAPF’s five outcome areas are achieved through the following major strategies:

1) Legal aid service provision: HRAPF facilitates access to justice in respect of violations of the rights of LGBTI persons and other marginalised persons and key Populations and health service providers through legal representation, mobile legal aid camps, alternative dispute resolution/mediation, community paralegals and documenting violations of the rights of marginalised persons and Key Populations.

2) Advocacy and influencing: HRAPF challenges laws, policies, regulations, guidelines and practices that curtail and violate the rights of marginalised persons and Key Populations and proposes other possibilities. We also advocate for the integration of human rights in policies, laws, operational guidelines, frameworks and regulations and the application of constitutional values and principles and the rights-based approaches in the implementation of services. We do this through dialogues, public education, coalition building, and engaging with national, regional and international human rights spaces and mechanisms.

3) Building and Strengthening Capacities: Using legal and human rights frameworks, HRAPF develops human rights awareness, promotion and advocacy capacities of CBO’s, NGOs and networks of marginalised persons and Key Populations groups and NGOs working on human rights issues. HRAPF also develops the capacities of duty bearers (including: political leaders, law and policy makers and implementers, law enforcement officers, judicial officers, local councils, families and communities and health service providers), prison warders on the rights of marginalised persons and Key Populations and their duties in the promotion and safeguarding these rights. We build capacities of rights holders, duty bearers, communities and key stakeholders to enable them pursue greater rights for marginalised persons and Key Populations. We do this through: training, tailor-made technical support, internships and mentorship, and legal awareness outreach sessions.

4) Knowledge Development: HRAPF invests itself in expanding the pool of knowledge and encouraging debate through regularly undertaking legal analyses, simplifying and translating and disseminating knowledge resources such as: laws, policies and bills; position papers; human rights violations reports; research and baselines.

5) Strategic Litigation: HRAPF challenges laws, practices and actions that violate the rights of marginalised persons and Key populations through the filing of cases before courts of law and tribunals. These are reinforced through research and documentation of human rights thereby enriching jurisprudence for the rights of a marginalised persons and key populations.

6) Partnership Development: Nurturing and participating in strategic partnerships at the national, sub-regional, Pan African and global levels for the strengthening of the rights-based approaches and utilisation of legal and human rights mechanisms. This we do through coalitions and alliances, lobby meetings, engaging at regional and international human rights mechanisms and strategic interest litigation at national, EAC sub-regional and Pan-African regional levels.

7) Programme Support: Building a sustainable organization that operates in an effective, efficient, professional and accountable manner. This we do through: prudent corporate governance; attracting and retaining a competent staff team; robust monitoring, evaluation and learning; resource mobilisation and risk management.

Website: www.hrapf.org
Twitter: @hrapf-Uganda