STUDENTS’ COVER PAGE

UNIVERSITY OF LUSAKA

School: ……School of law…………………………..……………..

Degree Programme: ………Bachelor of laws……………………….
Course name and Code ……Human Rights (L212).

Student’s Surname: ……Mtonga……………………………

Student’s First name: ……Chimwemwe…………………………

Student number: …LLB19217306……….………………………..

Mode of Study: …Full time …………………………………..

E-mail Address: …cmtonga443@gmail.com…………………….

Phone Number: ……0965468808…………………..

Lecturer’s name: …Mrs Lumbama…Kaputo…………………..

Due Date: …Friday, 10th September 2021.

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Human rights can be defined as a form of entitlement by virtue of being a human being1 . Article
1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2 stipulates that human beings are born free in
equal dignity and rights; they are granted with reason and conscience and should act in a manner
of brotherhood towards each other. The act further describes the categories of human rights.
Those being, Civil and Political rights found in Article 3 to 21 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights 3, Economic Social and cultural Rights found in Article 22 to 27 and lastly ,
Group rights also known as collective rights that apply to women , children, ethnic groups and
the disabled members of society. The main focus of this essay would be based on Group Rights,
the importance, challenges faced by these groups and ways to mitigate the issues faced by them.

Collective Rights are rights which cannot be given only to an individual but a group as a whole
such as the right to peace, religion, self-determination, development and so on and so forth4.
The first group rights to be discussed are the women’s rights. Generally, the United Nations
(UN) established a convention that protects women’s rights which is known as the Convention
on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) also known as a
bill of rights for women.5 It was adopted to promote equality for women to ensure leveled
opportunities in political, public life as well as access to education fight discrimination in health
care and also imposes a duty on member states to make it their mandate to protect their rights
and that they are not hindered6. It also insures that women are protected from gender based
violence in marriages and prejudice in customary practices .Article 2 of the convention on the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women 7 states that all women must be treated
equally and fairly and not disadvantaged. The conventions articles protects women from acts
such as prostitution as seen in article 6, grants the right to vote and practice in political affairs .

https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/
2
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
3
The United Nations , 1948
4
ibid
5
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
6
https://www.ohchr.org/documents/proffesionalinterest/cedaw.pdf
7
ibid

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Women’s rights should be observed because they are also human and deserve to have
entitlements like any other human beings. Women’s rights are important because it creates a
balance in society in that men and women can have a chance to have equal opportunities which
the convention helps to maintain and the United nations further addressed that women and girls
rights are not only a goal but sustain economic growth.8 In Zambia, provisions have been
included in the Gender and Equality Act9 the elimination of discrimination in economic and
social life found in section 27 and section 23 that requires that benefits and opportunities in
entrepreneurship in trade should benefit both sexes and empower women.

Women’s rights have contributed largely in participation for example Saudi Arabia’s females in
2015 were able to vote in an election for the first time and also were allowed to be standing
candidates. Furthermore, they were permitted to drive by law which was not allowed and they
had to be represented by a man10. Despite all these developments to include women in society
many women still face challenges especially in third world countries. For example in Zambia,
only 31% of Zambian women have completed primary education and 8% secondary education.11
Health issues such as the Human Immune Virus (HIV) are still a challenge because they do not
have the knowledge to protect themselves and healthcare being far from where they live in some
parts of Zambia12. Cultural norms are still applicable in the rural areas because they believe a
woman should take care of the household.13 Women in countries such as Pakistan still face
sexual harassment because of a belief that a working woman is public property and girls are not
able to access higher education because they believe that is the age to be married.14

In the instance of children, who also fall in the category of group rights the United Nations
developed the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to mitigate the injustices that
children go through as well as their special needs and care. Article 1 on the convention of the
8
https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/womens-rights
9
No. 22 of 2015
10
https://www.google.com/amps/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35075702
11
Gender Equality in Zambia Journey of Girl Impact <https://africanimpact.com/journey-of-girl-impact-zambia>
th
accessed 19 August, 2021.
12
ibid
13
ibid
14
https://www.worldpulse.com/community/users/talaal/post/09370

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rights of the child15 recognizes a child as any human being below the age 18 Article 3 of the
Convention of the Rights of the Child16, also stipulates that whenever decisions have to be
made regarding a child, the best interest principal must prevail. We see this being applicable in
custody procedures in Zambia which can be found in section 72 of the Matrimonial Causes Act
17
.The convention goes further to state that children must be allowed to develop and grow with
integrity. It contains rights such as health care, nutrition and also protects them from exploitation
and violence.18 Children’s rights are important because they are vulnerable human beings that
need to be taken care of in that they have no knowledge of what happens in the world and cannot
be expected to provide their own basic needs such as good water and sanitation, a good home
and environment as well as food for good nutrition and to be protected from undeserved child
labor. Article 24 of the Constitution19 protects young people especially children from
exploitation.

Challenges faced by children are physical abuse, child neglect from parents who do not exercise
a level of care as prescribed by the convention, female children are forced into early child
marriages and some are discriminated due to their disabilities and some experience stress due to
traumatic experiences such as being in a violent home, wars, natural disasters such as
earthquakes or tsunamis. Some children having inconsistency at home which then disturbs their
ability to learn in schools and adapt to their environment 20

The last group right to be discussed is the disability rights The United Nations Convention of
Persons with Disabilities, places duties on the state to make suitable environments for the
enjoyment of rights for those with disabilities.21 Article 1 of the United Nations Convention of
22
Persons with Disabilities Act states that the purpose of the convention is to and see to it that
there is total enjoyment of all human rights by all persons with disabilities. Disabilities include
15
https://www.ohchr.org/documents/professionalinterest/crc.pdf
16
ibid
17
No. 20 of 2007
18
https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/what-is-the-convention
19
No. 2 of 2016 (amended)
20
https://thierworld.org/news/challenges-children-face-just-to-go-to-school
21
https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/conventions/convoptprot-e.pdf
22
ibid

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those who are suffering long term physical, mental impairments which inhibit them from fully
participating in the society. Rights of the disabled are important because these people normally
suffer from stigmatization from the society and are excluded leaving them in poorer condition
which then affects their well-being. Their rights are just important as other rights because
despite their disabilities, it does not make them less of a human and should be respected and
treated equally.

While section 37 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 23 promotes the acceptance of these people
to be employed and enjoy full rights enjoyed by the employee, they still face challenges in the
working environment due the presumption that there are not able to carry out the work so most
of them either do not get promotions because of it or are not hired at all and then find themselves
living on the street begging to make ends meet. Most Financial institutions are hesitant to grant
loans to the disabled because of fear that they will never pay it back.24In Zambia, it was found
that some buildings lack structural provisions for the disabled in that some still have staircases
hindering wheelchair users and no accommodation for sanitary usage25. Social care providers
tend to group them in one category without knowing the kind of deniability each person has
leading to only one specific method of care in which cannot be applicable to every individual.
Individuals such as, women, children and the elderly need a lot care therefore, grouping them in
one category would not help in the improvement of their health rather deteriorating it26 .There
was also a recorded poor access to education in terms of the special needs schools in that some
provinces had only one special needs school meanwhile the majority of the people were blind.
Teachers skilled in dealing with special needs students were not paid adequately which made
them move from teaching these children who need special attention to those who were not
disabled. 27

23
No. 6 of 2012
24
‘’The Plight of persons with disabilities in Zambia’’ Kangwa Poniso and Geoffrey Chongo page 5 and 6 <
https://repository.jctr.org.zm/bitsream/handle/123456789/15/plight_of_the_persons_with_disabilities_in_zambi
a.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
25
Ibid
26
ibid
27
ibid

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In conclusion, for equal of observance of these in society, government institutions and other
stakeholders need to ensure strict observance of policies that have been created by statute,
Implementation of these policies must be in line with the current needs of these collective and
proper funding of organizations to help the state achieve its objective,.

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BIBLILOGRAHPHY

STATUES

Gender and Equality Act No 22 of 2015

The Constitution Act No. 2 of 2016 (amended)

The Matrimonial causes Act No 20 of 2007

Persons with Disabilities Act No 6 of 2012

The United Nations (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights

INTERNET SOURCES

https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/womens-rights
Gender Equality in Zambia Journey of Girl Impact <https://africanimpact.com/journey-of-girl-
impact-zambia> accessed 19th August, 2021.
https://www.google.com/amps/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35075702
https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/
https://www.ohchr.org/documents/proffesionalinterest/cedaw.pdf
’The Plight of persons with disabilities in Zambia’’ Poniso K and Congo G page 5 and 6 <
https://repository.jctr.org.zm/bitsream/handle/123456789/15/plight_of_the_persons_with_disabil
ities_in_zambia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://thierworld.org/news/challenges-children-face-just-to-go-to-school
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/what-is-the-convention
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

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