With inputs by the FAO Right to Food Unit and the Uganda Human Rights Commission, FIAN International informed and shared experience with national civil society on commitments undertaken by the state with regard to the Human Right to Adequate Food and how to these commitments can be better implemented.

In fact, like many countries in the world, Uganda has ratified all major humanitarian and human rights treaties and has made significant progress towards enshrining the corresponding rights and standards in its domestic legislation. Recently, Uganda has been active in supporting the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food under the auspices of the FAO. These Guidelines provide a practical guide for the implementation of the right to food within national food security efforts.

However, Uganda is also illustrative of the global trend that despite available resources and a well elaborated legal framework, a large number of people still go to bed hungry every night. In Uganda, 40 % of the households are food insecure.

Major obstacles and adverse trends were identified during the workshop, which impede any real progress in the realization of the right to adequate food especially for the most vulnerable groups of the population. These obstacles include, among others, corruption, lack of institutional efficiency and commitment, lack of education of the population and a very complex transition period towards the resettlement of internally displaced people, victims of the long lasting armed conflict in the North of the country.

In addition to these structural obstacles, new trends lead to severe violations of the right to food and other human rights. In particular, forced evictions are pushing entire rural communities into poverty and a precarious situation, destroying livelihoods and social networks without offering adequate compensation and alternatives. This is exactly so in the case of a community in Mubende which was forcibly evicted five years ago from the land on which they had been living for generations. The eviction, carried out at the request of the Ugandan government, has benefited a German investor, the Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd. Supported by FIAN from the very beginning, this case is a symbol of the struggle for the right to food and for human rights as a whole. It was discussed during the Workshop, thus gaining interest and support by additional NGOs. Interestingly, Mr. Peter Kayiira, leader of the affected Madudu group "Wake up and Fight for your Rights Mubende", shared his time in Kampala between the presentation of his case in the Workshop and the court hearing confronting the evictees with the Kaweri Coffee plantation and the Attorney General. "The court session of June 27 was a positive step in our peaceful legal struggle to claim our rights. It was the first time that all actors sat together in front of a judge. We have good hopes that the next hearing will be held in Mubende and not in Kampala so that the judge can fully weigh the magnitude of the catastrophe and that our people can participate" says Mr. Kayiira. FIAN will continue closely following and supporting the case by all legal and advocacy means at its disposal.

More information, please contact Gertrud Falk, 00256712374141