Despite having been present in Uganda for over a century, Maragoli people are not recognized in the Ugandan constitution. They have been at risk of statelessness since 2015, when the National Identification and Registration Authority issued identification cards only to recognized “tribes”. Without identification cards, the Maragoli are unable to access education, healthcare, financial services, and legal documentation.
Furthermore, the Maragoli people have been subject to extensive human rights abuses on account of evictions pursued by three multinational agribusiness companies since 2017. Over 35,000 people have been displaced from the Kiryandongo District of Uganda, many of them members of the Maragoli community. Maragoli are especially vulnerable to these evictions due to their lack of legal identification, which makes it difficult to prove ownership of land and pursue legal recourse.