When Susan* fled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), she was seeking safety, stability and a better future for her children. In Uganda’s Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, she began rebuilding her life — creating a modest home with her husband and running a small shop that sustained their family.
That fragile stability was suddenly threatened in early 2025.
Following disputes with some members of the Refugee Welfare Council, a refugee-led leadership body, Susan’s husband decided to return to the DRC and demanded that she and their children go with him. Fearing the insecurity she had once escaped, Susan refused.
When she returned home at the refugee settlement, she found the house locked. Her husband had left the country, and his brother had taken over both the home and the family shop. Susan was left homeless, without income, and responsible for her children’s care.
Her situation reflects a wider reality. A 2024 study conducted by The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law found that 45 per cent of legal problems in Uganda remain unresolved, with family disputes and land issues among the most serious challenges. For individuals and families in low-income households, such unresolved legal problems can result in loss of housing, livelihood, and food insecurity.
Across Uganda, with funding from the Netherlands, IDLO supports seven legal aid clinics, with plans to support an additional 24 with funding from Sweden. Each clinic serves a dedicated district, offering free legal services including advice, representation and community outreach on land, commercial justice, juvenile, refugee protection, labour, family and gender-based violence.
Susan sought help from one such clinic, operated by Justice Centres Uganda, a government initiative that provides free legal services to people in hard-to-reach areas where courts and other formal justice institutions are harder to access.
Legal aid providers acted quickly, facilitating mediation and engaging community and protection structures, including the Refugee Welfare Council. They also worked closely with the Police Child and Family Protection Unit, to help prevent any risk of violence or harm to Susan and her children.
As Susan’s husband was no longer in Uganda, a virtual mediation was arranged, enabling his participation while allowing time for consultation with the extended family. After months of sustained engagement, a breakthrough was finally reached in November.
Susan’s husband signed a binding agreement recognizing her right to return to the family home, regain control of the shop, and continue caring for their children.
Today, Susan is back in her home in Kyaka II. The shop is open again, her children are in school, and the income she earns is once more her own. The agreement is the legal foundation on which she is rebuilding the life she came to Uganda to find.
Her case is one of more than 90,000 that IDLO and its partners have supported across Uganda, helping people living in poverty and displacement turn the protection of the law into a lived reality.
*Not her real name. The photo above depicts the transfer of shop keys to another beneficiary (not Susan), following a successful mediation.