Margaret A Rugadya

It has long been recognised that the ownership of a resource largely influences the way that the resource is used and managed for future use. The definition of property rights as "the capacity to call upon the collective to stand behind one's claim to a benefit stream ” emphasizes quality of the relationship between the right holder and the institution that backs the claim. Regardless of legal and institutional form for decentralization, a primary trend at present in natural resource management is to reconcile legality provided by the state with the legitimacy provided by local institutions for the administration of resource tenure – as a yardstick for genuine subsidiarity. Whereas collective action (or at least organizations) for resource management have been recognized as important in many devolution programs, the role of “property rights ” per se has often not been given the same attention, yet ownership (tenure) is a common avenue to authority over resources. 2 1.

Abstract This paper offers insight on the missed narrative of land and resource conflict beneath the reality of gemstones and ores in the inchoate industry of limestone, marble and gold mining by communities in Karamoja – Uganda. Land tenure is often overlooked as a cause of tension or driver of conflicts especially in the design of responses to conflict situations in mining areas. Land tenure is considered to be an intricate, historical and perplexing factor in conflict, and the response to its manifestation is often limited to the formalization of land rights. This paper describes the forms of land tenure induced conflicts in mining communities. It articulates the need to address such land-resource conflicts by applying responses based on property rights recognition to that capture the full bundle of rights especially on customary land and improve the leverage of communities in claiming benefits from mining actions. The paper is arranged in six sections; a short introduction, background, and methods, women in mining, description of conflicts due to land-resource tenure and property rights recognition as a response to conflict. It concludes that property rights are essential in supporting claims to entitlement and benefits for communities, as they improve the bargaining power of communities while avoiding the coalescing ability of land grievances in driving mining communities into conflict. Under customary-communal tenure, surface rights are well defined but rarely are sub-surface rights. Legal and formal instruments to guarantee economic value and costs, transmitted in compensation payments, royalty fees and in benefits to communities are necessary to lessen the frictions about quantifications and measures.

Uganda is undertaking far-reaching policy, legal and institutional transformations in the environment and natural resources sector. These changes permit the formation and use of new strategies to manage resources. The use of Communal Land Associations as Community Forest Management schemes is an innovation. The Communal Land Association model is intended to respond to group land tenure interests in general; the extrapolation to forestry is the subject of this study.

This paper highlights the conceptual linkages between HIV/AIDS, productivity and land tenure security; it points out the transitional effects of the epidemic on household asset endowment. A checklist of issues and considerations for ex-ante, mid-term and ex-post analysis of HIV/AIDS on land tenure and land use in PSIA undertakings based on evidence from the Gender Baseline Survey by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and a specific site study on systematic demarcation in Rukarango, Ntungamo District

Overview: This paper is a product of extensive literature rev iew and the findings of various research undertakings in which I have worked as a Researcher for a number of clients, but more specifically TROCAIRE Uganda -2008, Alert Internati onal – Uganda 2008 and World Bank – in a series of studies from 2006-2008. The paper r eviews, key gender issues that need to be addressed in relation to IDP return and the resumpt ion of livelihoods, but specifically singles gender issues as they present themselves in the rec overy of northern Uganda. In the first part, the key issues on gender and tenure security in nor thern Uganda are defined, the second part articulates how land administration and management is affected and shows the inadequacies in policy and law, in addressing gender and land in po st c nflict. The conclusion is drawn that the root causes of vulnerability that ultimately lead t o livelihood insecurity revolve around; tenure and property rights; rights administration and ma...

Despite progress made to address land-related legis lative issues, the land sector in Uganda faces several challenges that include insecurity of tenur , overlapping and conflicting land rights, and glaring inequity in access to and ownership of land . Conflicts that are a consequence of colonial legacy are exacerbated in the majority of cases by competition over access, use and transfer of scarce land and natural resources, ever increasing population densities, largely driven by the high population growth rate, unsustainable agricultural p ctices, and policy and institutional weaknesses. Possibility of increasing conflict is l argely driven by competition for influence and power which comes with demonstrated control over la nd matters such as ownership, allocation and access especially as regards overlapping land r ights. Structurally, Uganda’s population is growing at a high rate of 3.2 per cent and is proje cted to shoot up to 39.3 million in the year 2015 and 54.9 million in 2025...

This paper highlights the conceptual linkages between HIV/AIDS, productivity and land tenure security; it points out the transitional effects of the epidemic on household asset endowment. A checklist of issues and considerations for ex-ante, mid-term and ex-post analysis of HIV/AIDS on land tenure and land use in PSIA undertakings based on evidence from the Gender Baseline Survey by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and a specific site study on systematic demarcation in Rukarango, Ntungamo District 1 Research Manager, Associates Research Uganda, an organization devoted to capacity building and research on land and natural resources, email: Herbert.Kamusiime@yahoo.com 2 Manager, Policy Analysis Associates Research Uganda, an organization devoted to capacity building and research on land and natural resources, Email: afdresearch@yahoo.com, Tel. 041-4541988 HIV/AIDS in the National Land Policy Kamusiime and Rugadya, 2007

It has long been recognised that the ownership of a resource largely influences the way that the resource is used and managed for future use. The de finition of property rights as "the capacity to call upon the collective to stand behind one's clai m to a benefit stream” emphasizes quality of the relationship between the right holder and the insti tution that backs the claim. Regardless of legal and institutional form for decentralization, a prim ary trend at present in natural resource management is to reconcile legality provided by the state with the legitimacy provided by local institutions for the administration of resource ten ure – as a yardstick for genuine subsidiarity. Whereas collective action (or at least organization s) for resource management have been recognized as important in many devolution programs , the role of “property rights” per se has often not been given the same attention, yet owners hip (tenure) is a common avenue to authority over resources.

The main thrust of this paper is that titling is inept at safeguarding women's land rights on customary tenure. Intentionally or unintentionally, titling is unable to uphold favorable pre-existing claims and 'rights' of women on customary tenure, that are already socially recognized by traditional norms. These are often lost, modified, or erased as customary tenure gains formality. Neither the replacement theorists nor the adaptation or the hybrid theories favors women's land rights, as none anticipate the existence of embedded and functional women's role-related, legitimate social 'rights or claims as part of the bundle of rights under customary tenure. It is, therefore, illusionary to expect titling to advance women's land rights, since none of its processes or tools are cognizant of this distinct category of rights on customary. Instead, the titling process formalizes inequity in land rights, by creating new rights for men at the expense of women by worsening existing vulnerabilities of and creating 'new additional conditions' that intensify the loss of rights for women, hence deteriorating tenure relations that previously held limited favor for women on customary tenure. Review of seven pilot projects shows, that women's land rights are best negotiated at individual households with partners within a family or homestead, even though agreements to restructure such rights are often reached between partners at this stage, they easily crumble under peer pressure from males in extended families and clans and intimidation or threats meted out to women. Innovation, awareness creation, exchange, and learning ameliorate the situation. However, the challenge is the majority of the titling projects do not anticipate the embedded nature of social rights in land accorded to women under customary, hence an absence of methods and tools to capture them. Accepting that form (non-absolute) and function (use for household welfare) is the basis for the definition of tenure rights for women in a socio-cultural and ecological mode, is part of the solution for a more inclusive titling process on customary tenure.

As a way of life and economic activity pastoralism is one of the oldest, most resilient and most adaptive livelihoods strategy that is adaptive to arid and semi-arid environments. To date, it is a significant contributor to agricultural GDP, self-sufficiency in meat and dairy production, and support the value chain of animal product / markets as well as foreign exchange earnings for most countries in Eastern in Africa. For productivity of livestock to be sustained in pastoral areas, land tenure arrangements, among other things, must support the mobility of their herds for efficient utilization of the range. It is essential that mobile livestock production systems are recognized as economically and ecologically efficient in pastoral areas, and as such land use and land tenure must be developed to support mobility that ensures access, especially for dry season grazing and water resources, including harmonization in cross-border pastoral areas to support the seasonal cross-border movement of people and livestock through regional and/or bilateral legislation and procedures. However, the formal and informal policies, institutions and processes that affect the way in which people are able to protect and develop their land or assets, basically governance is critical, especially traditional institutions that are involved in natural resource planning and management.

This paper offers insight on the missed narrative of land and resource conflict beneath the reality of gemstones and ores in the inchoate industry of limestone, marble and gold mining by communities in Karamoja – Uganda. Land tenure is often overlooked as a cause of tension or driver of conflicts especially in the design of responses to conflict situations in mining areas. Land tenure is considered to be an intricate, historical and perplexing factor in conflict, and the response to its manifestation is often limited to the formalization of land rights. This paper describes the forms of land tenure induced conflicts in mining communities. It articulates the need to address such land-resource conflicts by applying responses based on property rights recognition to that capture the full bundle of rights especially on customary land and improve the leverage of communities in claiming benefits from mining actions.

The paper is arranged in six sections; a short introduction, background and methods, women in mining, description of conflicts due to land-resource tenure and property rights recognition as a response to conflict. It concludes that property rights are essential in supporting claims to entitlement and benefits for communities, as they improve the bargaining power of communities while avoiding the coalescing ability of land grievances in driving mining communities into conflict. Under customary-communal tenure, surface rights are well defined but rarely are sub-surface rights. Legal and formal instruments to guarantee economic value and costs, transmitted in compensation payments, royalty fees and in benefits to communities are necessary to lessen the frictions about quantifications and measures.

Despite progress made to address land-related legislative issues, the land sector in Uganda faces several challenges that include insecurity of tenure, overlapping and conflicting land rights, and glaring inequity in access to and ownership of land. Conflicts that are a consequence of colonial legacy are exacerbated in the majority of cases by competition over access, use and transfer of scarce land and natural resources, ever increasing population densities, largely driven by the high population growth rate, unsustainable agricultural practices, and policy and institutional weaknesses. Possibility of increasing conflict is largely driven by competition for influence and power which comes with demonstrated control over land matters such as ownership, allocation and access especially as regards overlapping land rights. Structurally, Uganda's population is growing at a high rate of 3.2 per cent and is projected to shoot up to 39.3 million in the year 2015 and 54.9 million in 2025 due to high fertility rate, set next to deficits in land governance, corruption and ignorance of the law, the automatic escalation of land conflict to phenomenal levels, is not only well deserved but is clearly foretold.

In the 1960s, 94.6 per cent of the region of Karamoja was allocated to wildlife conservation. In 2002, the Ugandan Parliament approved the change in status of land use and tenure of about half of that land. More than a decade later, the local communities remain very little the wiser about the changed status of their land rights. People find their access to land is blocked and feel powerless against suspected land grabbing. Decisions on land – for conservation or for exploitation of natural resources – are being taken over the heads of the communities who live and work there and no adequate information is passed down to them. This article collates information on land given over to conservation, forestry and mining to provide a factual basis for interventions regarding communal tenure. Findings show that communities are vulnerable to internal and external loss of land and its resources – they do not have the information that would otherwise empower them to protect, negotiate and participate in ownership, use and management of their land.

Land is a vital resource for individual survival and economic development in Uganda. Yet, Uganda has never had a consolidated policy to guide land ownership, management, development, and governance. Beginning in 2005, the Republic of Uganda embarked on developing a National Land Policy, employing a consultative and inclusive process. The policy, which provides a framework for sustainable and optimal use of land resources for Ugandan society and the Ugandan economy, was ultimately approved for presentation to Parliament in 2010, was adopted and then gazetted in August 2013.
This paper details and assesses National Land Policy development process in Uganda, and in so doing, examines its potential to be the source of lessons for other countries developing politically sensitive policy reforms

Pastoralism is the finely honed symbiotic relationship between local ecology,
domesticated livestock, and people in resource-scarce and highly variable regions, often
at the threshold of human survival. It represents a complex form of natural resource
management, involving the direct interaction between three systems in which pastoral
people operate, i.e. the natural resource system, the resource users system and the larger
geo-political system. It is most often an adaptation to semi-arid climatic conditions in
which farming cannot be easily sustained, making the best use of biodiversity in harsh
conditions through exploiting different ecological and landscape niches in different
seasons with different species of livestock. In Uganda, pastoralists range from agropastoralists,
who are largely sedentary, combining livestock and crop production to
transhumants who maintain and a home base and a satellite herd in search for water and
pasture depending on the harshness of the environment and as need arises.
Recent work in the “new” rangeland ecology suggests that the remarkable long-term
success of pastoral systems is predicated less on the establishment of an equilibrium with
nature through the imposition of systemic behavioural and cultural constraints that the
conservationist model seems to imply than on the interaction of a highly dynamic
process of animal production and husbandry with a highly resilient dry land ecosystem
that is capable of absorbing periodic, short-term grazing pressure when rainfall is low
because of its remarkable powers of recuperation when rains return. This has discerned
theories such as the “Cattle Complex” by Hertovitz’s and “Tragedy of the Commons”
by Garret Hardin, the former perceived pastoralism to be a social problem, whereas the
latter considered it to be an ecological problem, raising the inevitable question as to
whether the concept of the pastoralist being conservationists is a myth or reality.
It is often argued that indigenous peoples live in balance with their environment and,
more generally, in harmony with nature. Considerable ecological knowledge and wisdom
is held by pastoralists emphasizing food self-sufficiency and local resource conservation.
Lacking the myth of superabundance, these communities traditionally see themselves as
part of the community of nature, realizing that persistent violation of its ecological roles
will inevitably reverberate and destroy their own culture. Yet, in recent decades, attempts
at promoting economic production have tended to follow the patterns divorced from
indigenous knowledge and practices. What is clear is that there is a strong nexus between
environmental care and maintenance of indigenous people’s culture. The crucial elements
of how pastoralists do actually conserve the resources on which they depend subsists on
the conception that they live in “harmony with nature” without driving the exploited
natural resources into extinction. When indigenous people do not wipe out the resources
they exploit they are believed to be living in harmony with nature and practicing
conservation.
The question of whether a group of people is “truly conservationist” requires attention
to a complex of historical and cultural factors—the broader question of the relation of
ideology to adaptations. Conservation outcomes observed among pastoralists are largely
the epiphenomenal consequence of high mobility, low population, dispersed water
sources, disease avoidance, and security issues. Pastoralists here are unlikely to favor
exclusive rights; for them territorial boundaries should remain fuzzy and negotiation over
access should remain a permanent process in which individuals or user groups reevaluate
their share

The core objective of this study is to provide an input into the design of the Northern
Uganda PRDP and National Land policy with respect to post-conflict land policy and
administration framework. This study was undertaken in two phases; One: Literature
Review which involved review of policy and law on IDPs in Uganda, highlighting issues
and gaps; review of existing Studies on Land and IDPs in Uganda; Issues emerging
from International best practice; lessons and experiences from Great Lakes region
(Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo) and International experience
(from Cambodia, El Salvador and Bosnia). Two: Reconnaissance survey of One
village in Teso (Soroti District, Orieta B Village, Tubur Sub County) for returned IDPs,
Obuku Camp and Nakatunya in Soroti Municipality (for those still in displacement and
urban resettled); Nyorobe Olio sub county to cater for rural resettled IDPs and Katakwi
district for comparative purposes and capturing variations within Teso itself. The
purpose was to identify: types of land conflicts and claims on return; their prevention,
resolution and adjudication mechanisms including legal provisions, formal and informal
institutions; gaps in policy and administrative framework for handling potential conflicts
and claims; options for filling them and ; resources needed to undertake corrective
actions

This is the second in a series of land studies for northern Uganda, whose core objective
is to inform the Plan for Recovery and Development of Northern Uganda (PRDP) and
the National Land Policy. It builds on the work of the first phase conducted in Teso
region to present a more quantitative analysis of trends on disputes and claims on land
before displacement, during displacement and emerging trends or occurrences on
return for Acholi and Lango sub-regions.
The key findings in the Teso study are that there is a high level of distrust towards the
Central Government’s intentions toward land; customary tenure has evolved and
adapted to changing circumstances but remains to be seen as a legitimate form of
tenure; there was not a high prevalence of land disputes; the statutory and customary
institutional framework for land administration and justice has been severely weakened;
and vulnerable groups such as women and children have been marginalized during the
return process. However, the Teso region has been one of the most secure regions
during the conflict and has experienced very short periods of displacement and as such
does not provide a good marker for the situation in the rest of northern Uganda. This is
exemplified by the fact that though land conflict prevalence was extremely low in Teso
region, it is high in the Lango and Acholi regions.
The study is premised on the fact that the issue of land in return (restitution and
resettlement) processes has not been adequately dealt with in the National Land Policy
and various policies regarding IDP return in Northern Uganda. Land is a critical element
in peace building and economic reconstruction in post- conflict situations; relevant
issues must be understood and given appropriate priority for stabilization. The PRDP
should prioritise the protection of land rights and re-establishment of production
relations on land to bridge the poverty gap, which has been widening since 1997,
between war-affected areas (northern Uganda) and the rest of the country.

Land is a natural resource that is limited and finite but with immense commercial (as an asset and factor of production), social-cultural, spiritual, and aesthetic value. On the
other hand, a family particularly in the context of Uganda is a fluid social construct
deriving its strict definition from a particular social-cultural context. Land and family
conflicts have been shown by various studies 1 to be the most prevalent form of
livelihood disruption to many households and individuals. The Justice Law and Order
Sector (JLOS) has adopted a holistic approach to the administration of justice, ensuring actions that translate into improved institutional service delivery, human rights observance, enhanced access to justice for all and poverty reduction in all areas in Uganda including the conflict-affected regions, this implies a recognition that peoples’ needs and aspirations of the justice system are closely intertwined with their livelihood opportunities. The (JLOS) Strategic Investment Plan (SIP II) aims at enabling all people in Uganda to live in a safe and just society has extended its priority focus to two additional areas of Land and Family Justice in addition to Commercial and Criminal Justice.

This report is prepared as a reference document for the National Land Policy. It gives the context for understanding key reforms and the process by which policy statements and strategies were arrived at by presenting the alternative views and options that the drafters and the national land policy working group dealt with in prescribing solutions.

In the first chapter, the process for formulation and development of the national land policy for Uganda is detailed, highlighting the key milestones and issues that influenced the pace and content. Stakeholder involvement, consultations and participation and the values that were added as result of these processes are also covered in this chapter. 

In the second chapter, the background for land policy reform in Uganda is meticulously put across and an elaboration of the key aspects of the land question in Uganda, as envisaged at the start of the policy making process, including the location of the land sector in national development as land development and land use take centre stage in reform processes.

The third chapter concentrates summarises the views and recommendations that emerged from regional consultations, the fourth chapter captures the views that emerged from the national land conference in the respective framework of the national land policy draft.

The fifth Chapter which is also the last chapter of this process report, on key reform issues that provoked intense public debate across the country during the formulation process, giving prominence to areas of contention or points of departure and contradictions in policy solutions. Justification is offered for policy choice made by rationalising the various views from the public or on the basis of expert opinion, the technical views of experts, government ministries, agencies and departments or cabinet that emerged.

This report is invaluable to understanding rational choices in made the various policy statements and strategies articulated in the national land policy

Land use changed from human settlement to a conservation sanctuary in 1912, altered ancestral claims to the plains between Murchison Falls National Park and East Madi Game Reserve, only to be reversed by degazettement in 1972, reverting customary rights to the communities except for those alienated into private registered tenure. Whereas earlier land use change was prompted by entomological threats due to tsetse flies and official gazettement, the most recent changes arose out of human evacuation to IDP camps courtesy of the LRA war, which allowed extensive regeneration of the ecological environment and growth in wildlife species and numbers. Since time immemorial, this area has been pivotal to supporting seasonal migration patterns (between Murchison Falls National Park and East Madi Game reserve), notwithstanding the human changes. The re-growth has therefore raised fresh conservation concerns resurrecting the need for a formal migratory route in the area. This assessment finds that re-establishment of the migratory route is possible so long as it is not perceived to stretch to community and individual lands, and it is negotiated with the communities. Community opinion is that, re-establishing the “wildlife migratory route” will resolve the human wildlife conflict for (38.4%) of households in the survey, over 70% are willing to give up their land on condition of being compensated (57.9%) and the benefits from this route supporting / contributing to community development (42.1%). Majority of the elders (particularly in Amuru sub-county) were not in support of the migratory route and only considered it a possibility, if it is set outside the current settlement areas and limited to not more than 20 km from the banks of river Nile.

The living conditions in slums represent the worst of urban poverty. Individuals
and communities living in slums face serious challenges in their efforts to
survive. Depending on their particular circumstances, the lives of slum dwellers may be
threatened by floods, landslides, diseases, exposure to toxic industrial waste, and
indoor air pollution. The lack of access to roads, footpaths, street lighting,
drainage, electricity, garbage collection, and socio-economic assistance – also
contributes significantly to the vulnerability of slum dwellers. Women and
children are especially affected by poor sanitation, indoor air pollution, and the
burden of excessive time spent on collecting water and fuel. The list of
challenges faced by slum dwellers is long, and many of these disadvantages
reinforce each other in a vicious cycle....

In this paper, the context within which the National Land Policy ascribes to tackle gender issues and especially provide for entrenchment, opportunity, and strengthening of women’s land rights is analyzed. In the first part acknowledgment of influencing context conditions that refine gender issues are detailed these include; the nature of women’s rights, position of women given their transient rights, the consequences of gender inequality on land, and the effect of dispute resolution on land matters. The economic efficiency and equity theory together with the human rights discourse have provided a firm foundation for negotiating and demanding for women’s rights in national policy, which has either had to make choice between options or promote concurrent ideologies to accommodate evidence-based demands to tackle two key issues; access to land and control of land (including its outputs) through adaptation of tenure and legal dualism, making a choice between representation, participant or professionalism in land management and purchase or inheritance under customary or registered tenure. This paper concludes by outlining the key implications of gender
for PSIA data collection and ex-post analysis, as well as implications for systematic
demarcation projects.

Land in Uganda is the core factor of production and one of the three basic
resources, next to people and time. It is the backbone of our agriculture-based
economy, and as such a sensitive matter. Women’s struggle for gender balance
with particular regard to land is a direct result of the fact that whereas women
have played the central role in agriculture and food production, history,
tradition and customs (such as polygamy, bridewealth, and succession) have
deprived them of actual ownership of land.

Uganda has made great progress in recent years, from the perspective of poverty
reduction; absolute poverty fell steadily and significantly during the 1990s, from 56% in
1992 to 44% in 1997, to 35% in 2000 and to 31.5% in 2006, however, it remains
indisputably high in rural areas (especially amongst ethnic minority groups). The
Constitution of Uganda recognizes and protects the rights of minorities to participate in
decision-making; it ensures the equal representation of marginalized groups and protects
ethnic diversity and cultural rights. The Constitution also prescribes affirmative action in
favour of marginalized groups and special interest groups. Despite this, no affirmative
action has been taken to ensure the equal participation of ethnic minority groups in
national policies and programmes; in addition, they are nowhere classified as vulnerable
in Uganda’s national development framework. Instead, a lot of attention has focused on a
set of conventional ‘vulnerable groups’ including orphans, people living with AIDS
(PLWA), people with disabilities (PWD), internally displaced persons (IDP), widows
children and the elderly, leaving ethnic minority groups on the margins and unattended to.
A key characteristic of most ethnic minority groups is their dependence on traditional
ancestral lands and the natural resources for survival or way of life in symbiosis with their
environment; increasingly they are being dispossessed of their lands, this trend was
inevitably set into motion by a regime of dominating development paradigms favouring
settled agriculture over other modes of production; establishment of national parks and
conservation areas and large scale commercial enterprises such as mining, logging,
commercial plantations, oil exploration, dam construction etc, at the expense of their
rights. It is important to understand that the demand for equality and non-discrimination
involves not only the equal treatment of individuals and their protection from
discrimination on account of their minority status but also such issues as recognition as
citizens, freedom from domination by other groups, marginalization from economic and
social development.
This position paper1 seeks to recognize and put to the fore key issues for rights of ethnic
minorities as enshrined in international, regional and national legal instruments within the
overarching national development framework (Poverty Eradication Action Plan), to make
government policies and programmes increasingly responsive to their needs and
demands. Policy makers need to be informed about the current status of ethnic minority
groups in Uganda and the need for favourable policy, legal and regulatory framework
that on international standards and practice to the rights of ethnic minority groups as
recognized under international law.
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the norms developed to explain the
basis for recognizing and protecting rights of ethnic minority groups, including land rights
and rights to natural and cultural resources, consulting them on processes that affect
them and finally providing room for their participation in processes that affect them.
Recommendations in this paper emphasize the need to accommodate ethnic diversity, to
eliminate political, economic and social exclusion or marginalization and to protect the
rights of minorities in development matters, of particular importance, is national integration
in ways that ameliorate or eliminate ethnic grievances and tensions.

Uganda has made great progress in recent years, from the perspective of poverty
reduction; absolute poverty fell steadily and significantly during the 1990s, from 56% in
1992 to 44% in 1997, to 35% in 2000 and to 31.5% in 2006, however, it remains
indisputably high in rural areas (especially amongst ethnic minority groups). The
Constitution of Uganda recognizes and protects the rights of minorities to participate in
decision-making; it ensures the equal representation of marginalized groups and protects
ethnic diversity and cultural rights. The Constitution also prescribes affirmative action in
favour of marginalized groups and special interest groups. Despite this, no affirmative
action has been taken to ensure the equal participation of ethnic minority groups in
national policies and programmes; in addition, they are nowhere classified as vulnerable
in Uganda’s national development framework. Instead, a lot of attention has focused on a
set of conventional ‘vulnerable groups’ including orphans, people living with AIDS
(PLWA), people with disabilities (PWD), internally displaced persons (IDP), widows
children and the elderly, leaving ethnic minority groups on the margins and unattended to.
A key characteristic of most ethnic minority groups is their dependence on traditional
ancestral lands and the natural resources for survival or way of life in symbiosis with their
environment; increasingly they are being dispossessed of their lands, this trend was
inevitably set into motion by a regime of dominating development paradigms favouring
settled agriculture over other modes of production; establishment of national parks and
conservation areas and large scale commercial enterprises such as mining, logging,
commercial plantations, oil exploration, dam construction etc, at the expense of their
rights. It is important to understand that the demand for equality and non-discrimination
involves not only the equal treatment of individuals and their protection from
discrimination on account of their minority status but also such issues as recognition as
citizens, freedom from domination by other groups, marginalization from economic and
social development.
This position paper1 seeks to recognize and put to the fore key issues for rights of ethnic
minorities as enshrined in international, regional and national legal instruments within the
overarching national development framework (Poverty Eradication Action Plan), to make
government policies and programmes increasingly responsive to their needs and
demands. Policy makers need to be informed about the current status of ethnic minority
groups in Uganda and the need for a favourable policy, legal and regulatory framework
that on international standards and practice to the rights of ethnic minority groups as
recognized under international law.
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the norms developed to explain the
basis for recognizing and protecting rights of ethnic minority groups, including land rights
and rights to natural and cultural resources, consulting them on processes that affect
them and finally providing room for their participation in processes that affect them.
Recommendations in this paper emphasize the need to accommodate ethnic diversity, to
eliminate political, economic and social exclusion or marginalization and to protect the
rights of minorities in development matters, of particular importance is national integration
in ways that ameliorate or eliminate ethnic grievances and tensions.

It has long been recognised that the ownership of a resource largely influences the way that the resource is used and managed for future use. The de finition of property rights as "the capacity to call upon the collective to stand behind one's clai m to a benefit stream" emphasizes quality of the relationship between the right holder and the insti tution that backs the claim. Regardless of legal and institutional form for decentralization, a prim ary trend at present in natural resource management is to reconcile legality provided by the state with the legitimacy provided by local institutions for the administration of resource ten ure - as a yardstick for genuine subsidiarity. Whereas collective action (or at least organization s) for resource management have been recognized as important in many devolution programs, the role of "property rights" per se has often not been given the same attention, yet owners hip (tenure) is a common avenue to authority over resources.

The report; “Pastoralism on the Margin”3 doubts whether the upsurge of development interest in pastoralism will result in any concentrate deliverables to meet pastoralists’ needs, despite the huge sums of money devoted to this end. This is so because the material base of pastoralism in the four countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda has been thoroughly eroded, the erosion being an act not in isolation but in tandem with climatic change, conflict, disease, drought, and famine. Markakis, the author of the report analyzes contemporary issues pertinent to pastoralism
with varying degrees of detail and content. In the first instance, he acknowledges that pastoralism is a culture, way of life, and the ancient mode of mobile livestock production in the rangelands of Eastern Africa and the Horn. He notes that this culture, form of production, and way of life has reached a critical point due to the effects of colonialism and independence struggles, balancing conservation and pastoralism (often pastoralism loses out), politics, conflict, belated recognition, dispossession of land and the promotion of agriculture. My task in this paper is to review, discuss, and point issues relating to land tenure in this report and their relevance to policy and legal reform in Uganda. The fundamental argument on land tenure in this report is that pastoral production is determined by land-use patterns which in turn determine
whether the herders are mobile or not; elaborated under four major issues:
• Land is a factor that is not controlled by pastoralists; since no system of land tenure recognizes pastoral rights; existing land law does not recognize or understand pastoral tenure.
• Changes that stifle pastoral rights in land originate from the external;
• There is no political will to deal with pastoral land tenure issues since they are a minority.
• Plans to grant pastoral land rights seem to be in inertia and gender issue ought to be tackled through. we have little understanding of such dynamics in pastoral societies.
In conclusion, I will make arguments for land policy and law reform to address pastoral concerns by stating the major steps, or issues and imperatives that are pertinent to government, private sector and civil society organizations.

Uganda has a rich legal and regulatory environment hailed for its outstanding recognition
of women’s rights. Policy and legal frameworks for redressing gender imbalances,
harmonizing, and streamlining the complex tenure regimes for equitable access to land and
security of tenure exist. However, the presence of such impressive frameworks on the
gender equality has not curtailed gender disparities. Even though Uganda’s economy has
been steadily growing in the past 25 years and a significant reduction in poverty has been
recorded, over 7 million Ugandans are still trapped in chronic poverty.
In the first chapter of this report, an overview of the status of women is shown in the various sectors that are pivotal to women’s rights over land. Women are involved in elective politics at the highest level filling more than 30% of the elective posts in the country, which is above the internationally recommended quota of 1/3. In all land tenure systems of women are excluded from owning land and only retain secondary rights. In the agricultural sector, women contribute 83% of the labor force, and yet few of them own land. For example, women are not able to access mortgage financing. Women’s ownership of housing is very limited as the housing finance sector lacks long-term funding schemes within the domestic banking system, which can assist women, acquire land and houses. In the second chapter, an analysis of the legal and policy framework undertaken with a view to locating the premise on which women’s land rights hinge and the effectiveness that such recognition places in the hands of women. The 1998 Uganda Constitution protects women against historical discrimination and, guarantees women equal rights with men. Uganda is a signatory to international level agreements, declarations, and protocols, which promote gender equity. Succession laws recognize a women’s right to inherit from their husbands and fathers, though directly and indirectly, women’s inheritance rights in the succession laws are not equal with those of men. In chapter three, the reality of delivering rights within a socio-economic context is dealt with and shows, that despite the progressive legal and policy dispensation, the cultural context and the economic reality deal a blow to much of the anticipated gains, articulated in the legal and policy framework. It is therefore the conclusion of this study, that a clear gap exists between what is in law and policy, and what is practiced, mainly because, the implementers are not able to enforce values ascribed to in the laws, policies, and instruments are limited by capacity or political will. In such a vacuum culture and custom has thrived as the de facto norms to the detriment of statutory provisions that support the right of women over land.