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ACCESS TO JUSTICE |
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Access to Justice Program Overview
The Access to Justice Program engages its mandate to increase access to justice for conflict-affected populations through increasing access to formal and informal justice mechanisms and focusing on interventions that address the contentious issue of land ownership and rights in northern Uganda. Access to Justice is a critical supporting theme of the Peace and Reconciliation component.
The Access to Justice Program specifically focuses on the following themes:
Land tenure security
SPRING uses the criteria outlined in section 3.1 to select implementing partners working on these themes and chose projects based on their ability to address areas of need identified by the criteria.
Land
As a cross-cutting theme for the SPRING project, the project is addressing the growing concern in northern Uganda that communities, especially vulnerable people like widows and child-headed households, are falling prey to increasing disputes around land. These disputes are increasing, because of multiple land tenure systems, long term displacement and uneasy speculation about impending investment and development. These issues naturally fall within the Access to Justice Program. In fact, a majority of its activities address land issues through both informal and formal land mechanisms. While many organizations focus on legal aid and/or advocacy, SPRING has several practical and innovative activities to address land issues while reducing the cause for violent dispute and unnecessary legal action.
Access to Justice Pilot Projects
The Access to Justice program has identified and supported projects that could be implemented within the narrow timeframe of the SPRING project and then be scaled up beyond the life of the SPRING project