exclusion from health or social security is a complete obstruction to their right to a remedy. Finally, the Ugandan approach to national digital ID is at odds with the respect for human dignity that forms the basis for international human rights law and the Ugandan Constitution. The endless smaller and bigger indignities that people in Uganda have had to endure to obtain a Ndaga Muntu or when being chased away from health centres or social security payment points are an affront to this fundamental principle of dignity. As one midwife in Buliisa told us: I think when a citizen of Uganda comes expecting a service and they are not served, it’s quite unfair, in fact an embarrassment, that makes a person lose their dignity or public service they are entitled to by law. These are only some of the many human rights concerns associated with the national digital ID, which obviously implicates further questions on rights to citizenship, privacy, education, and doubtless numerous other rights. The suffering of people in Uganda as a result of the national digital ID system should not and cannot be treated as the cost of progress. Individual human beings should not be sacrificed at the altar of digital transformation. Such an approach is not merely inherently wrong, as a violation of human rights and an unacceptable treatment of those who need the government’s care and assistance, it is also based on the mistaken assumption that social and economic development is a trade-off between technological innovation and individual suffering. As we will expand on below in our recommendations, Uganda can have both progress and respect for the human rights and dignity of those who live on its territory. How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons 63

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