Uganda Local People’s Tribunal
We’re dedicated to social reparative justice and pushing grassroots. Our field work gathering testimonies for content exposes the effects of destructive projects on people, land, environment and climate, by corporate and government perpetrators.
The committee conducts field work to create content for mainstream media and social media – YouTube, Twitter, websites, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, podcast and radio talk shows – for visibility and enforceability of Tribunal Verdicts/rulings and the content is based on field meetings, field visits, Locus visits
Uganda Local People’s Tribunal Committee is a social justice forum of Ugandans working to gain social justice for victims from corporations and government. It comprises 12 members of different backgrounds and expertise in social justice promotion, including lawyers, religious leaders, elders, youth, representatives of oil-project-affected persons, and digital influencers.
Our work
- Demand for social justice and reparation.
- Demand for compensation for victims, clean-up of affected areas and an end to harmful practices
- Hold corporations and governments accountable for Human rights and environmental violations particularly those impacting public and collective Health.
- Provide platform for communities to share direct testimonies of harm to their health, communities and Land
- Educate the public and raise awareness on systematic injustices.
- Gather evidence through testimonies
Messages to the public
Testimony from Uganda
Human rights violations: Our land was compulsorily acquired for the oil projects. The compulsory land acquisition processes have led to the abuse of our rights. For instance, after cut-off dates were placed on our land, we were stopped from using it to grow perennial food and cash crops. We were stopped by the project developers from growing coffee, bananas, and other crops that we use to earn incomes and provide food for our families. These restrictions, which were placed in May/June 2019 for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, continue to date. They have resulted in food insecurity, income loss, and school drop-outs especially amongst girls.
Violation of land laws: The project developers have failed to pay prompt, fair and adequate compensation to us, contrary to Uganda’s 1995 Constitution as well as the IFC Performance Standard 5. The developers think that we are poor peasants who can do nothing if our rights are violated. This is why, for instance, those of us whose land is being acquired for EACOP have waited for compensation since 2019! Those of us whose land is being acquired for the Tilenga oil project have waited for compensation since 2019; 17% of us whose land is being acquired for the Tilenga project have not received compensation since 2019. Failure to pay our compensation promptly has made our households poorer.
Low compensation rates for land: We have consistently complained about the low compensation rates that are being used to compensate us and have not been helped. In some districts affected by EACOP in the Albertine region in Uganda, for instance, an acre of land is being compensated at UGX 6 million (USD 1,689.52) in Hoima district and UGX 3.7 million (USD 1,041.87) in Kikuube district. Yet the market value is up to UGX 50 million (USD 14,079.37) for areas near the airport in Hoima district and up to UGX 20 million (USD 5,631.75) in Kikuube district. In effect, we are set to receive only 12% and 18.5% respectively of our land value.
Low rates for crops: In southern Uganda, crops affected by the EACOP project have been under-valued, with cash crops such as coffee and bananas being valued at $9.29 and $7.04 respectively per plant. The compensation value that was provided for a banana plant is the same price that a single fruit from the plant goes for, or even more! Our requests to increase the compensation due to us have not yielded results.
Driving deforestation: Near villages around Bugoma forest now designated as National park, the forest, which is one of the few remaining tropical rainforests in Uganda, is being cut down following oil-induced land grabbing. Before oil was discovered in the Albertine Graben in Uganda, land in the region had low value. Since the commercial oil discoveries in 2006, however, land values appreciated and community as well as forest land started to be grabbed. Bugoma forest land was grabbed and today, 8,000 hectares of the forest is being destroyed. Communities have also been evicted from their land. These oil-induced impacts have not been mitigated, despite the project developers saying that they have the best environmental and social safeguards.
Cross-border impacts: The oil project impacts are not only felt in Uganda, but in the DRC as well. Lake Albert, which is Uganda’s second largest lake and Africa’s seventh largest, is shared between Uganda and the DRC – 46%of the lake is found in Uganda while 54% is found in the DRC. The lake provides employment to millions of fishers in Uganda and the DRC. Its important roles, including that of providing water to communities, stand to be compromised because of oil spills.
Wetlands and climate change: We are farmers and are worried that over five wetlands, Ramsar sites, have been affected by the oil projects. Some of these wetlands include the Murchison Falls–Albert Delta Wetland System, Sango Bay–Musambwa Island Wetland System, Nabajjuzi Wetland System and others. These wetlands are important for fishing, water access and our culture. We also need good climatic conditions to make a living.
