HIV-positive women want land rights respected

HIV-positive women not only have to contend with the impact of the virus, but also the threat of land grabbing by relatives, prompting activists to urge governments to adopt appropriate land policies. According to findings presented during a workshop on gender and land reform in Pretoria, South Africa this week, discrimination against women in terms of their rights to land was now well recognised. The critical challenge was to halt the "dispossession" which has been exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. "The need to look at HIV/AIDS as a serious policy issue, for land reform specifically, is just beginning to move onto research and policy agendas," a report commissioned by the Food and Agricultural Organisation noted. HIV/AIDS would "influence who gets land in the initial reform process, how the land is then used, and how it will be subsequently redistributed in future," the report added. This meant women had to be supported to prevent further abuse and exploitation. But for women like Constance Niwagaba, a member of the Bunono-Ihunga Group of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the impact of AIDS on land rights is more than an academic debate during a workshop - it is a reality she has experienced. "My husband died of HIV/AIDS in 1995. We had been married for 10 years at the time of his death. After [he] died, my in-laws demanded that I leave the home where I had lived with my husband. They claimed that the land and the property belonged to them. They took away my property and I had to flee from the house," Niwagaba told delegates at the workshop. After she was strong enough, Constance sought help from the local land council. The district court eventually ruled in her favour and she was permitted to return to her land. "I went back to my home and this is where I am still living," she told IRIN. Edvina Kyoheirwe was a farmer and businesswoman. "We had six acres of land near Kampala, where I used to grow food and supply to schools within the community. I was also raising pigs and rabbits," she said. When she discovered her husband was HIV-positive, he became hostile and accused her of having infected him. "He started selling off land, and when he tried to sell the land which I was using, I went to the local authorities. He said that he did not want to leave any property with his wife when he dies. "He became worse and started beating me and threatening to kill me. One day he got a panga (machete) and wanted to kill me. I ran away," she said. Edvina was advised to leave her land and is now renting a room in Kampala. But despite the many obstacles they face, some women in rural communities have found ways to cope. Constance and Edvina are both members of women's support groups in their area. In light of the recent upsurge in property grabbing, women in rural communities in Uganda are reactivating traditional social networks as a way of coping, Maude Mugisha, coordinator for the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support initiative for Advancement of Women, told IRIN. "In our women's group, which is based at parish level, we are now 25 members. Seven of our members have died since the group was established. When one of us falls ill, we look after her and even arrange for someone to accompany her to the hospital. We also look after her home and children when she in hospital," Constance said. "I am better off than most of the women because I have land. Although I am not able to do much work on it, I can hire out part of it and get some income, which I use to pay for labour to grow my own food," she added.