ARUA CITY SUIDAC PROJECT TO EMPOWER LOCAL COURT SYSTEM
By Morish Dramadri
Arua city
Arua city has planned to empower around 100 local council ones and two across the city to strengthen the local court system and provide alternative dispute resolution and access to displacement affected communities so as to create harmony between the urban refugees and host community.
The initiative aimed at decongesting formal courts with cases between urban refugees and host communities, is a priority component of the sustainable Urban Integration of Displacement Affected Community SUIDAC project funded by European Union through Cities’ Alliance.
Denis Asiku the Ayivu division Data officer and focal person of the SUIDAC project revealed that the empowerment of the local court system shall help resolve conflicts among the refugees and host community.
“the persons who are displaced are sometimes ending in the wrong hands of the books, a wrangle may just start at water point most at times when they are not helped they end up in in the police and courts of law yet these are the thing which are supposed to be handled in lower courts, we are going to train L.1’S and L.C2’s on alternative conflict resolutions such that they can address some of these challenges,” Asiku disclosed.
Arua city currently has an urban refugee population of over 7,000 according to the report of the research contacted by VNG international.
Solomon Osakan the Regional Refugee Desk officer in the office of the prime minister termed this burdensome in dispute resolution.
“At OPM we do not issues documents to refugees anymore in the city, all refugees must get their documents in the settlement many of them they perceive they have a lot of income but when they get here the reverse occurs, OPM has to struggle to take these people back to the settlement and that is preoccupying most of our time,” Osakan lamented.
Meanwhile Arua resident city commissioner Salim Kumakech assured that they are doing what it takes to serve the refugees equally to heal their psychological torture.
“The refugee law we are implementing the only gap we so far have is that it does not favor refugees who will prefer having settlements in town, all people of the world should be treated with immense treatment our compatriots who are national feel that we treat the refugees more than we treat them as government, the refugees even if you are eating four meals in a day, you have that psychological limitation that you are free,” Salim revealed.
Among the causes of conflicts between the refugees and host communities include rent defaulting, scramble at water points among others.

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