Muhindo James & Others vs Attorney General

Nature of the Case

The High Court of Uganda found that the Ugandan Government’s failure to enact a comprehensive legal framework and procedure protecting those facing eviction to be a breach of the rights to life, dignity, and property under Articles 22, 24, 26, 27, and 45 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. The Court ordered the government to formulate eviction guidelines on an expedited basis, noting that even when evictions are inevitable, it is necessary to ensure that they are human rights compliant.

Enforcement of the Decision and Outcomes

The Court gave the government seven months to report back on its progress in complying with the order by developing a comprehensive legal framework to govern land evictions, ensuring their compliance with Uganda’s international human rights obligations and with the rights guaranteed by Uganda’s constitution.

Significance of the Case

For decades, many Ugandans have faced insecure tenure or forced eviction, often despite customary claims, as government agencies, transnational corporations and other powerful actors have engaged in land grabbing and dispossession. Protections against forced evictions are vital to curtailing such forces of marginalization, making the High Court’s decision an important step in that direction.

This ruling is notable for the structural nature of the remedies sought and ordered. Applicants successfully sought to declare a lack of adequate government procedural regulation of evictions as violative of the rights of those affected. In so doing, they opened the door for the Court to order the state to address the legal framework governing evictions comprehensively.

For their contributions, special thanks to ESCR-Net member: the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE) at Northeastern University.