Bride Wealth (Price) and Women’s Marriage – Related Rights in Uganda: A Historical Constitutional Perspective and Currentn Developments

摘要

This article deals with the background to the inclusion of women's marriage – related rights in the constitution of Uganda, especially the issues around bride wealth, and against that backdrop the author highlights the issues in and the holding of the recent Constitutional Court judgement of Mifumi(U) Ltd and 12 others v the Attorney–General and another1 in which the Court by majority held that most of the elements of bride wealth were constitutional. Finally, the article critically analyses the Court's judgement in the context of the drafting history of the Constitution on the issues of bride wealth and women's rights in general and also in the light of international human rights law or practice. The main argument is that had the Court considered international law, especially the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women's concluding observation on Uganda's 2002 report and Uganda's May 2009 report to the same Committee, it would probably have concluded that the practice of bride wealth is against Uganda's international human rights obligations.