New film recalls forced eviction benefitting German coffee plantation in Uganda
Heidelberg - August 20, 2012. A film released last week, "Coffee to go - with the taste of eviction" gives a voice to Ugandan people affected by a violent eviction for the benefit of a German coffee company.
On 19 August 2001, the Ugandan army forcefully evicted the population of several villages near Mubende from their land to make way for a coffee plantation. The Ugandan government leased the land to Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd., a subsidiary of the German company Neumann Kaffee Gruppe.
Ingabire Betty was left an orphan by the eviction. The small scale farmer Kasoma Aminadabu has lost one child. Soldiers burnt down houses, coffee- and banana plants. More than 2000 people had to leave behind all their belongings.
“To date, none of the evictees have been compensated, neither for their loss of land, nor for the extreme state of emergency under which they have lived from the day the eviction took place,” said Gertrud Falk, FIAN Germany.
FIAN has supported the peaceful struggle of the evictees for justice since 2002, assisting them in their lawsuit against the Ugandan government and Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd. The process, however, has been delayed on numerous occasions, sometimes because of dubious legal maneuvers.
It is also difficult to hold the German parent company accountable. “Within the German legal system, it is still virtually impossible to sue German companies for human rights violations abroad. “The German legal system is lagging behind, not taking into account economic reality and the therewith interlinked human rights violations”, said Falk. “With accordingly adopted laws one could force companies such as Neumann to accept responsibility in cases like Mubende.”
“The evictees must be compensated and the land that was illegally taken must be given back to its owners. It simply is a scandal that eleven years after the evicttion took place neither Kaweri and Neumann, nor the Ugandan government has adjudicated any kind of compensation for the evictees”, concluded Falk.
FIAN will continue to bring attention to this injustice with yearly actions, until the evictees have been compensated.
Watch the film “Coffee to go” by German film maker Michael Enger here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InjgvSAcafc