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Action Case Uganda - Mubende: Evictees struggle to get access to justice and land
Statement by FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) regarding the closure of the Mubende-Neumann case by the National Contact Point (NCP) for OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
uganda
10 years of "Coffee to go"
FIAN criticizes premature closure of case against Neumann Kaffee Gruppe
"Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) violates OECD-guidelines"
Uganda: Victims of forcible eviction still struggling to obtain justice against violations of their right to adequate food in Mubende District
Eviction and labour exploitation on the coffee plantation threatens the right to food of peasants, Mubende District, Uganda
Forcible eviction from their land of abode and labor exploitation due to a coffee plantation in Naluwondwa-Madudu, Mubende District, Uganda
Background
In August 2001, the government of Uganda brutally evicted 392 peasant families (approximately 2041 persons) from their land in Mubende District in central Uganda. The land was then given to a German coffee company for the purpose of establishing a coffee plantation under its local subsidiary, Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd.. While some of the victims have found shelter on the neighbouring land and are conducting temporary small-scale farming, others were employed by the plantation as casual workers. The eviction has deeply jeopardized the livelihoods of the affected families. After years of struggle, the legal action to reclaim their land and properties is still being obstructed and delayed. The government, represented by the attorney general, continues to impede the due course of the trial.
FIAN has been supporting the victims of the illegal eviction from the beginning of their struggle in 2001 until now. FIAN has intervened several times in this case and has accompanied the victims in their national and international work. As a result of the first interventions, a better access to clean water has been achieved and the position of the victims has been strengthened in the legal action they have taken. Nevertheless, neither land nor properties lost during the eviction have been returned to these peasant families till today.
By evicting the peasant community without proper rehabilitation and compensation, Uganda violated their human right to feed themselves and related human rights. The legal basis of their displacement is questionable. Moreover, undue violence and destruction were used in the eviction.
The state of Uganda should thus provide proper rehabilitation and compensation and ensure the right to effective remedy for the peasants affected by the human rights violations mentioned.
Read a background article from the Right to Food Quarterly, Vol.6-No.1 2011 on the Mubende case (download below)
Read a background article from the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2011, p.88-89
