Top Ugandan lawyer requests UK support for AIDS orphans

One of Uganda's leading woman lawyers this week visited Downing Street to draw attention to the lack of legal support for children orphaned by AIDS in her country.Irene Ovonji Odida, head of the Ugandan Women Lawyers Association and a leading human rights lawyer, came to the UK with development agency Plan to raise awareness and increase support for the agency's initiatives in Uganda.

'There are over a million and a half children in Uganda who have been orphaned by AIDS,' she told the Gazette.

'The majority of people who die from AIDS have not made a will, and their children are often left in poverty after their deaths.'She explained that the situation was particularly hard for women, as Ugandan intestacy laws and customs assume that males own the family property.

After a spouse's death, widows are entitled to just 15%.'Many people in Uganda are scared of writing wills, which means that there is no provision for the majority of families after a parent or spouse's death,' Ms Odida said.The Ugandan Women Lawyers Association works with Plan to educate people on legal rights and encourage them to plan for the future.

'People need to be aware of the implications of not planning for the future, and so we have a team of over 200 volunteer lawyers who go into communities and teach people how to write a will,' she said.

'We also run legal clinics where we educate the community about the law, show them it is nothing to be afraid of and try to replace traditional community systems of justice with modern and fair methods,' she said.

Ms Odida stressed that the organisation does not just work with women, and a substantial number of visitors to the legal clinics are men.

'We work for justice and equity in the community, but it simply happens that women and children are the groups most discriminated against in society and so much of our work concentrates on them.'Plan is holding a Mother's Day lunch to raise funds to support its work in Uganda.

For details, tel: 020 7485 6612Victoria MacCallum