Women's Land Rights in Uganda

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• Endnotes & Citations

Endnotes & Citations

¹  The World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Fund for Agricultural Development (2009) Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook, The World Bank: Washington, DC.

²  Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Population Secretariat website. Available at: http://www.popsec.org.   

³  Forum for Women and Democracy (2012) Gender Policy Brief for Uganda’s Agriculture Sector, accessed at http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/06/FOWODE-Gender-policy-brief-for-Ugandas-Agriculture-sector.pdf; Tripp, A. (2004), “Women’s Movements, Customary Law, and Land Rights in Africa: The Case of Uganda,” 7(4) African Studies Quarterly. Available at: http://asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Tripp-Vol-7-Issue-4.pdf

⁴  Amrita Kapur (2011) “Catch-22”: The Role of Development Institutions in Promoting Gender Equality in Land Law – Lessons Learned in Post-Conflict Pluralist Africa, 17 Buff. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 75.

⁵  Id.

⁶  The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995, Art 237(3).

⁷  Land Act (No. 16 of 1998), Part II.

⁸  Mailo tenure is a quasi-freehold tenure system established in 1900 by the British colonial government to reward colonial agents and remains a relatively secure system of tenure, particularly in the Central region. The Land Act 1998 treats mailo almost identically to freehold tenure, except that mailo tenants cannot use their rights to the detriment of customary tenants, bona fide or lawful occupants on that land (UN-Habitat (2007) A Guide to Property Law in Uganda, United Nations Human Settlements Programme: Nairobi).

⁹  Constitution, Art. 26(2)(b).

¹⁰  Land Act, Cap.227 (1998) (Uganda).

¹¹  The Land (Amendment) Act (2001) (Uganda). This amendment made minor changes to section 98 to allow an extended time limit for courts to dispose of land disputes pending before them prior to the entry into force of the 1998 act.

¹²  The Land (Amendment) Act (2004) (Uganda). This amendment introduced extensive changes to certain provisions of the Land Act (1998). Where relevant to this legal analysis, these changes are referenced in footnotes. The 2004 amendment changed, repealed, or added the following sections: 1, 3-9, 14, 28, 30-34, 37-41, 52, 57, 59, 63, 64, 68, 74-87, 89, 91, 93, 95, miscellaneous amendments, and amendments to the Registration of Titles Act (1924). 

¹³  The Land (Amendment) Act (2010) (Uganda). This amendment introduced extensive changes to certain provisions of the Land Act (1998). Where relevant to this legal analysis, these changes are referenced in footnotes. The 2010 amendment changed, repealed, or added the following sections: 31, 32A, 35, 59, and 92.

¹⁴  The Land (Amendment) Act (2004) sections 2 and 3.

¹⁵  Giovarelli, R. (2006), "Customary Law, Household Distribution of Wealth, and Women’s Rights to Land and Property," 4 Seattle J. for Soc. Jus. 801.

¹⁶  Asiimwe, J. (2001), "Making Women's Land Rights a Reality in Uganda: Advocacy for Co-Ownership by Spouses," 4(1) Yale Human Rights and Development Journal Article 8. 

¹⁷  Uganda Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, National Land Policy, Approved Draft February 2013.

¹⁸  Id., sec. 1.2.3, p.7; sec. 3.8, paras. 112 & 113, p.31; Sec. 4.2, para. 122, p.33; Sec. 4.9, p.41.  Section 4.9 is the major section confronting discrimination toward women in Ugandan land and succession law.

¹⁹  Registration of Titles Act 1924, sec. 9. Article 237(4)(a) of the Constitution provides all customary rights holder with the right to obtain a Certificate of Customary Ownership. Procedures for the issuance of such certificates for communal, individual, and family applicants are provided in the Land Act 1998, section 27. See also UN-Habitat, supra note 8, at 15.

²⁰  Khadiagala, L. (2002), "Negotiating Law and Custom: Judicial Doctrine and Women’s Property Rights in Uganda," 46 Journal of African Law 1–13.

²¹  Various laws apply to each type of marriage. These include: The Marriage Act 1904 (Cap. 211, Laws of Uganda); the Divorce Act 1904 (Cap. 249, Laws of Uganda). The Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act 1961 (Cap. 250, Laws of Uganda); the Marriage and Divorce of Mohammedans Act 1906 (Cap. 252, Laws of Uganda) governing all marriages and divorces between Muslims. The Customary Marriages (Cap. 248, Laws of Uganda) Act of 1973 recognizes customary marriage as a legal type of marriage, including polygamous marriages, and establishes a uniform system of registration of customary marriages.

²²  FIDH (2012), "Women’s rights in Uganda: gaps between policy and practice," available at https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/uganda582afinal.pdf.

²³  The Land (Amendment) Act (2004)(Uganda). Section 38A.

²⁴  Id. section 38A(3).

²⁵  Law Advocacy for Women in Uganda vs. Attorney General of Uganda, Constitutional Petitions Nos. 13 /05 /& 05 /06, [2007] UGCC 1, April 4, 2007. Available at http://www.law.georgetown.edu/rossrights/docs/cases/lawa.html

²⁶  Succession (Amendment) Decree 22/72, sec. 28.; see also Asiimwe, J. and O. Crankshaw (2011), "The impact of customary laws on inheritance: A case study of widows in Urban Uganda," 3(1) Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution 7-13.

²⁷  Asiimwe, F. (2009) Statutory Law, Patriarchy and Inheritance: Home ownership among widows in Uganda, African Sociological Review 12(1):124-142.

²⁸  Succession (Amendment) Decree 22/72, sec. 2(1).

²⁹  Asiimwe, supra note 27 at 4.

³⁰  Bennett, V., G. Faulk, A. Kovina, and T. Eres. (2006), "Inheritance Law in Uganda: the Plight of Widows and Children," 7 Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 451.

31  Succession (Amendment) Decree 22/72, sec. 46(B)(2) and 2(8)(a).

32  Bennett et al, supra note 30.

³³  Doss et al. (2009), "Women, Marriage, and Asset Inheritance in Uganda," Working Paper No. 184, Chronic Poverty Research Centre.

³⁴  Asiimwe, supra note 16.

³⁵  ICRW and ULA (2010) Property Rights and Gender A Training Toolkit: Property Rights in Marriage and Family.

³⁶  Id.

³⁷  In Uganda, it is customary for the family of the prospective husband to provide payment to the family of the prospective wife, or “bride price.”  In one study, bride price was commonly cited by individuals as the reason why women should not have property interests when married. (Giovarelli supra note 15).

³⁸  Adoko, J. and S. Levine (2005), "A Land Market for Poverty Eradication?: A Case Study of the Impact of Uganda’s Land Acts on Policy Hopes for Development and Poverty Eradication," LEMU, June 2005.

³⁹  UN Habitat, supra note 8 at 33.

⁴⁰  Land Act 1998 section 3.

⁴¹  Adoko and Levine supra note 38; UN-Habitat supra note 8.

42  Adoko and Levine, supra note 38.

⁴³  Id. In fact, some view this move towards privatization of customary tenure as a chief aim of the Land Act, which has been criticized as being hostile to customary tenure. However, section 39 of the National Land Policy deals with these criticisms directly, and lays out recommendations for strengthening customary tenure.

⁴⁴  Principles and Practices of Customary Tenure in Acholiland, Acholi and English version, June 2008.

⁴⁵  Id.

⁴⁶  UN-Habitat, supra note 8 at 40.

⁴⁷ Adoko et al (2011) Understanding and Strengthening Women’s Land Rights Under Customary Tenure in Uganda.

⁴⁸  Id.

⁴⁹  Bennett et al, supra note 30.

⁵⁰  Succession (Amendment) Decree 22/72 (1972), section 28.

⁵¹  Succession (Amendment) Act section 27(1)(B).