Walking the Talk: Are Land Evictions in Uganda in Line with Human Rights Standards?

Abstract

In Uganda there has been evidence of land evictions over the past years which has left many people landless and homeless. This study sets out the national standards with the major emphasis on the some of the provisions of the 1995 Constitution that deal with land rights and the 1998 land Act. In addition to the above, it tackles some international standards found under ICESCR, ICCPR and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and Displacement that have to be followed either before or after land evictions. Despite the fact that Uganda is a dualist State, there is need for it to take into consideration international standards that cater for land evictions since it is a member State to both ICESCR and ICCPR. Furthermore, the study discusses only three cases among others of land evictions that have occurred in Uganda and it analyses them against the national and international human rights standards. This study is of the view that most of the land evictions that are carried out in the country are not in line with national and international human rights standards. Therefore, there is need to ensure that people’s human rights are protected through the implementation of the existing national and international human rights standards.