Gender and forum shopping in land conflict resolution in Northern Uganda

Irene Winnie Anying, Quentin Gausset

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Northern Uganda has been plagued by a long and violent civil war that lasted from 1996 to 2006, during which 2.5 million people were internally displaced and placed in camps. During the conflict, Uganda adopted a new constitution and a new land act that recognised customary land tenure and the role played by customary institutions in resolving land disputes. Following the cessation of hostilities in 2006, people began to go back “home”, and many land conflicts ensued. Because women are generally considered as particularly vulnerable in land conflicts, they have received much attention from the Ugandan government, international donors, and NGOs. This article focuses on how women make use of the existing legal pluralism in Uganda to defend their interests in land disputes. It argues that land conflicts are often proxies of social conflicts, which play a major role in women's opting for customary institutions to resolve their land conflicts
Original languageEnglish
JournalThe Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
Volume49
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)353–372
Number of pages20
ISSN0732-9113
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Sep 2017

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