The Historical Injustices Issues Paper seeks to present the various historical land claims issues and perspective related to them and consequently proffer policy statements for their redress.
For historical reasons, Kenya inherited a highly skewed system of land ownership at independence in 1963. British colonialism in Kenya was not merely administrative. Rather, it was accompanied by massive and widespread land alienation for the benefit of settler agriculture. As a result the best agricultural land-the White Highlands and the adjacent rangelands were taken from the Africans, without compensation, and parceled out to white settlers. Colonial legislation was enacted to legalize this process.
From July 17 to August 7, 2019, the Land Portal Foundation, the African Land Policy Center, GIZ and Transparency International Chapters in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda co-facilitated the dialogue Land Corruption in Africa addressing the role of traditional leaders in customary land administration, forced evictions as a form of land corruption and its Impact on women’s land rights and an analysis of alternative dispute resolution systems in addressing land corruption.
Forced evictions are widespread in Kenyan cities and are, on the surface, caused by conflicts in land rights, non–payment of excessive land and house rents, and urban redevelopment. But, more fundamentally, evictions are due to factors embedded in the country’s political economy, in particular, the grossly inequitable land ownership structure which makes it difficult for the poor to access land and decent shelter. Evictions cause significant socioeconomic hardship to individuals, affecting cities and whole nations.
The protection given to the land rights of women, orphans and any other vulnerable groups in Northern and Eastern Uganda is probably as good as can be found anywhere in the world. Customary land law is based on three main principles. First, everyone is entitled to land, and no-one can ever be denied land rights. A second principle is that all inherited land is family land, never individual property.
This research forms part of a larger study on large-scale land acquisition in Uganda. There are three main components of this study: (1) a “risk map” that identifies areas “at risk” for land acquisition due to their high suitability for biofuel crop production; (2) a due diligence report on the existing land uses and users of land identified as “at risk” in the first activity; and (3) an assessment of the land acquisition process, including applicable social and environmental safeguards.
This report investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. It assesses the impacts on rural communities and on the local environment, and questions who benefits from these projects.
This report is in relation to a study on the Land Tenure and Livelihood Issues in the Albertine Graben Region. The study was carried out in three districts of Amuru Buliisa and Hoima. The study specifically focused on tenurial arrangements and land transactions in the region. The ultimate outcome of this study will be drawing of policy issues for policy engagement and dialogue towards a comprehensive policy direction to land governance in the Albertine Graben.
Internal displacement in Kenya is a complex and multi-faceted social problem that revolves around and reflects unresolved issues of land and property, as well as the struggle for the control of political and economic resources. (...)
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Pastoralists in Tanzania are suffering from many human rights violations, including forced evictions from their lands. This report gives a comprehensive analysis of the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in Tanzania, and documents cases of human rights violations against Maasai pastoralists during 2011.
The information contained in this report is a result of a comprehensive survey and human rights analysis, which used both primary and secondary data collection methodologies covering a total of 10 districts and 18 villages.
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