The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD) in partnership with the District Local Governments, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Uganda,

Civil Society Land Actors and other Non-State Actors is organizing the sixth (6th) Land Awareness Week-(LAW) 2022 to be in five (5) South Western Region districts of Kabale, Rubanda, Rukiga, Kisoro and Kanungu under the theme” Promoting Land Rights for Inclusive and Sustainable Development”.

The main LAW 2022 event shall be held in the five (5) selected districts with other LAW side events held in other target districts where respective CSOs/Land Actors may choose to support. The LAW 2022 will further engage critical Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies that include among others the National Forestry Authority (NFA), Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). Selected Private Sector players/companies/businesses shall also be targeted.
The LAW 2022 is aimed at strengthening the capacity of farming communities (women, men, youth, Persons with Disabilities-PWDs, and other vulnerable groups) and their organizations; Local Governments (LGs); formal and customary Land Management (LM) and Land Administration (LA) bodies/structures; the Civil Society Fraternity and other relevant State and Non state Land Actors1 for effective engagement in Land Governance (land administration and land management) and environmental conservation at local and national levels. This will be achieved through information dissemination of the policy and regulatory frameworks on land; awareness raising, consciousness building and dialogues on the regional and national specific issues impacting on land rights and environmental conservation.
The LAW 2022 shall further provide strategic platform for documentation of issues to inform policy review relating to the National Land Policy, 2013, the Land Act CAP. 227, the Land Acquisition Act-1965 and the Physical Planning Act-2010 among others. Community voices shall be documented and consolidated into the “LAW 2022 Asks/memorandum” which will then be presented to government for subsequent action.
Specific components/delivery vehicles for the LAW 2022 include; community dialogues, mobile legal aid clinics, radio and Television (TV) talk shows, music exhibition, youth debates and poems, social media engagements and tree planting among other innovations.
Aware of the COVID-19 situation, intended interventions shall be executed within the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines from the Ministry of Health (MoH). The community dialogues shall be conducted within controlled and demarcated locations.
2.0 Background of Land Awareness Week (LAW) and Achievements.
The Concept of Land Awareness Week (LAW) is an innovation of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban development (MLHUD) and the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on Land Rights. LAW was first implemented nationally under the organizational leadership of PELUM Uganda, Oxfam, FRA, LANDnet, ActionAid, Trocaire, ESAFF and MLHUD in 2017 in Amuru district. Subsequently, other national events followed in Teso region in 2018, Karamoja region in 2019, West Nile region in 2020, Central region in 2021 and the current one to be held in South Western region 2022.

The key achievements of the LAW include but not limited to the following;
LAW 2017: Held in Amuru district, covered 12 locations and reached over 1,200 stakeholders; issues picked were on Apaa land conflict, Compensation in the Amuru Sugar Project (Madvhani), harassment, intimidation and threats of massive land eviction of Atoro Community by an army general and Cultural Chief, and issue of low capacity of land management bodies (ALCs and DLBs). Subsequently, Apaa land issue was fast tracked by both government and CSOs, brought to the floor of Parliament and a Parliamentary Committee appointed to investigate and come up with sustainable recommendations to resolve this conflict. Compensation was handled directly by Minister of lands. The Army general and traditional Chief were cautioned by local leaders and Minister of lands which ended their continued threats to the community of Atoro.

LAW 2018: Held in Soroti, covered 7 other districts of Teso and reached over 4,700 stakeholders. Issues picked included the compensation for power line in Gweri Sub County, need for customary land registration using CCOs, Soroti University land conflict among others. Guidance was provided and compensation was followed by Sub County where over 20 people received their compensation. MLHUD engaged the Development partners and CSOs which led to establishment of strong CCO program in Teso, under GIZ. Soroti University land conflict was escalated to the attention of the District Council of Soroti.

LAW 2019: This was held in the eight (8) districts of Karamoja reaching over 4,800 stakeholders. Specific issue raised was on mining certificates; inter district boundaries between Napak, Abim, Kaabong, Kotido and Moroto among others. A team of Surveyors from the MLHUD was dispatched on instructions of the Minister of Lands to resolve this boundary issues. Issuance of mining certificates was escalated for attention of Ministry of energy especially where the UPDF were allegedly involved in escorting trucks. This was openly discussed and the practice condemned by local leaders. This ended the open practice.

LAW 2020: In the West Nile seven (7) districts, the LAW reached over 4,200 stakeholders with the major issue escalated being on alleged witchcraft where women are dispossessed of their deceased spouses land on allegations of witchcraft. This was openly discussed at various community dialogues and clarification made by legal experts. To date, we have received feedback of reduced reported incidences of such cases especially in Erussi, Nebbi, Ndhew Sub Counties among others. The Land issue of Nebbi Municipal that had recurred for over five years was also tackled through legal guidance and counseling. All through the LAW, over 1,300 land owners who had potential conflicts for litigation were reached through legal aid (guidance, counseling and mediation). These cases were resolved by a team of CSO lawyers attached to FIDA, LASPNET, ActionAid, LANDnet and UCLF, Justice Centres and Land Justice Network without reaching the courts of law.
LAW 2021: In the four (4) Central region districts of Mityana, Mubende, Kassanda and Kyankwanzi, the LAW 2021 reached over 4,200 stakeholders with the major issue escalated being on Unlawful Land evictions, forced Land transactions and eviction threats; Massive destruction of property, economic livelihoods and social rights; Illegal land transactions by LC1 leaders; Information gap and Low approved Busuulu rates affecting the landlord/tenant relationship; The threat of investors who are searching for underground minerals towards the peaceful settlement of tenants; and A concern about the controversial Kyabego forest among others. They implored government to take on the following actions; opening up Busuulu accounts at sub county level where tenants can deposit busuulu in regard to their bibanja especially where the land lords are not known or are unwilling to receive the busuulu for some reasons; government to strengthen