Legal Class Creates Harmony Between Refugees And Their Hosts in Arua

It is a Monday here in Arua and Richard Bakata, 28 is preparing to attend a class in the city’s main town. 

As a community church leader at Unity Church, he attends these monthly to learn the law of Uganda, also sensitize his church community thereafter.

Like him, many other South Sudan community leaders gather monthly to learn about the laws of their newfound community and how to peacefully coexist with their host communities.

“Some of the things we have been taught are constitutional laws like the Landlords and Tenants Act, how many people we should stay in a house for example, and also how much landlords should charge us for rent”, Bakata says.

More of the things they are taught are understanding unwritten laws like societal norms and values, navigation of contracts, and the respectful offices to visit in need of services.

After the 2015 war in South Sudan, many moved to neighbouring countries, half of them in Uganda. Bakata is one of those who settled in Arua, one of the districts housing the highest number of South Sudanese. 

On settling in, he explains that many of them clashed and ended up in prison.

According to the Arua Police Spokesperson Josephine Angucia, there has been a reduction in the number of crimes committed by refugees, most of these today is committed by nationals. When the refugees had just come in, they registered an increase in crimes such as theft, murder, and idleness among others. 

Police attribute this change partly to the legal training migrants are undergoing because most of these were because many were ignorant about the law in Uganda.

While Migrants are often heavily facilitated with relief services upon finding a host community to settle, most of these usually and only cater for food, settlement in camps, and health among others.

Little attention has been invested in understanding constitutional law, rules of conduct, and navigation of the new environment, most of it is self-taught, highly including trial and error.

-LAW DIFFERENCE & IGNORANCE-

“For us South Sudanese, we do not know these laws of Uganda” explains Victoria Hannan, one of the law class members, expounding a number of things that are done differently in South Sudan.

Acts like fighting, which is forbidden and punishable in Uganda is often resorted to in times of conflict but with the training undergone, they have been taught to adopt things like peaceful dialogue.

With South Sudan having about 56 tribes and over 60 in Uganda, a great deal of cultural differences has also facilitated this conflict.

These community leaders have been mobilised since 2016 by a group of refugees under the South Sudanese Refugees Association (SSURA). After acquiring knowledge, they go on to impart the knowledge in their refugee communities on media platforms like WhatsApp but also gather at churches, youth groups, women’s saving groups, sports, and cultural events.

Classes have continued to take place with the support of partner organisations like the Uganda Law Society and Norwegian Refugee Council, Gabriel Batali, a trainer and the project officer for SSURA informs.

Bakata however says that at times, conflict still arises due to disagreement on the taught law with some members of the host communities. While they have been equipped with knowledge on how to peacefully coexist, some of the locals in the area are ignorant and often uncooperative.

“For example, in schools, you will find nationals paying 100,000 and Sudanese paying 150,000”, he says.

Hosting new people, most host communities around the world view refugees as an opportunity for exploitation, for example, landlords who charge them twice the normal price or more. Sometimes the police also see them as targets and opportunities for a bribe, their common resort to get away from charges and imprisonment.

-COLLECTIVE ACTION-

There is more effort required on how host communities are prepared to receive migrants. While the migration burden is only planned concerning migrants, host communities are to be involved.

When everyone has an understanding of the law, there is harmony.

With the increasing number of migrants in Arua, resources make it hard to reach every migrant in their community, especially for transport facilitation and feeding, with many coming in from far places.

Locals continue to testify on how migrants are cooperatively living with them in Arua’s communities, unlike in other regions, besides doing business together, they have also attracted a number of investors and opportunities which have created employment for them.