Lira Central Police Station (CPS) received a complaint of violence arising out of a family dispute over customary land. Upon discovering the cause of this violence, Lira CPS contacted JCU Lira Centre for intervention in the matter. The JCU team along with the Police Officers headed to the Bardago Village, Apuce Parish to conduct a locus mediation. Upon interacting with the family members involved in the dispute, the team decided to adjourn the mediation to enable the parties involved to consult and seek more information from other family members. It was agreed that the JCU team would go back and mediate the land issue after the family held consultations.
The JCU team also took the opportunity to sensitize the eighty two community members in attendance on land and property rights. The team created awareness on the modes of land acquisition, the nature of customary tenure including rights of land owners, rights of women & children and dispute resolution. The community members asked questions related to family land & ownership and rights of women in cohabitation. Some of the community members were given legal advice on the various issues and five cases were registered to be taken on by Justice Centres Uganda.
Additionally, the team informed the gathering of JCU services and shared the Centre toll free line: 0800100212, for those that needed further legal support. The community leaders were grateful to JCU for their intervention, particularly, at a time when there’s increasing violence due to land disputes.
The leaders highlighted a land wrangle that led to the killing of a mother & child in the same Sub-County.
JCU legal officer offering basic legal advice and registering cases