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Report: March 2010
In December 2009, the Batwa community in south-west Uganda and their own representative organisation, the United Organisation of Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU), continued their efforts to secure their rights by holding a series of meetings with local and national level government representatives.
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Ugandan Batwa meeting with the Acting
Chairperson of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission in Kampala,
December 2009 © FPP
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In the last couple of years the Batwa in Uganda have been meeting
regularly in an attempt to gain control of the advocacy strategies
that are fought on their behalf and to ensure that they are the ones
to lead and direct such strategies. As a result, Batwa representatives
from every community in south-west Uganda are now in a position to
actively take hold of their own advocacy and have been working to
engage all stakeholders to raise awareness of their situation and
to begin dialogue with government representatives.
At the start of 2009, the Batwa produced a Declaration calling on
the government to address their dispossession of their ancestral lands.
To reinforce the demands of the Declaration and owing to the failure
of the government to provide a response, the Batwa decided to make
their demands in person and travel to the capital Kampala to meet
with government representatives.
Although in Kampala for only two days, the Batwa were able to meet
with representatives from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social
Development, the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Uganda Human Rights
Commission. The latter agreed to visit south-west Uganda to report
on the situation of the Batwa. These meetings were, in many cases,
the first opportunity for the Batwa to personally discuss their situation
with high-level members of government ministries and departments and
signalled their attempts to personally hold these offices to account.
It is hoped that in the coming months the Batwa will be able to maintain
this momentum and make regular visits back to the capital to continue
their advocacy at the highest levels.
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