National land policies should ensure respect of human rights through fair resolution of land conflicts and activities that improve livelihoods.

Ann Kairaba, head of RISD: ”Land disputes often doe not get solved because people do not know their rights.” (photo Timothy Kisambira)

In addition, they called for land policies that protect the rights of vulnerable people whose survival depends on the land they were cultivating. Participants also pointed out that human rights were often violated when it comes to settling land disputes, and that some governments fail to protect land rights.

According to Emmanuel Safari from CLADHO, an umbrella of human rights leagues and associations, slowness of court cases concerning land rights results in a delayed justice, thus a violation of human rights. Moreover, he said, corruption often leads to unfair.

“This is even made worse when the case is between family members, who regularly don’t even have legal documents to prove ownership,” Safari explained.

He also pointed out that expropriation exercises are often carried out poorly, resulting in human rights violations. He gave the example of the expropriation of lower Kiyovu residents, who claimed to have been poorly compensated, and were transferred to Batsida estate, which is situated far away from the city. ”This impacted negatively on people who had jobs at the city, since they are forced to spend more money on transport,” he remarked.

Deputy ombudsman Immaculee Mukarurangwa admitted that there is indeed some level of incompetence among people in charge of solving land disputes at the cell level, despite the establishment of a new land law that facilitates rapid resolution of land cases.

She attributed many land disputes to the fact that in 1994 many people fled the country, and on their return found their properties occupied by others. “Such cases are often hard to solve since some people don’t have legal documents, which results in long investigations,” Mukarurangwa said.

There are however also positive experiences, as Minister of Natural Resources Stanislas Kamanzi pointed out while referring to the ongoing land distribution program in both the eastern and western provinces.

“A good example can be seen in Gishwati forest, where vulnerable people were given equal shares of land,” Kamanzi remarked.

The head of the land commission, Peter Bazimya, added that some wealthy people had undermined the poor by owning large areas of lands, which often are unexploited. In addition, poor land policies in the past had resulted in allocating land to people without considering whether it was suitable – so people ended up with land in swamps, steep mountains or dense forests.

Bazimya further explained that the commission does not only assist in the investigation of land disputes, but also in conflict resolutions. ”We also form land policies that enabled fair ownership and better practices of maintaining land,” he said.

Ann Kairaba, who heads the Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), explained that her institution has been advocating for better land policies and supporting land dispute resolution.

She added that they also offer trainings based on income generating activities as a way to reduce, adding that awareness programs in the past have made it easier to solve cases.  “In most cases, the issue does not get solved because of lack of awareness on one’s right to own the land,” she said.

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