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Historical and contemporary land laws and their impact on indigenous peoples’ land rights in Uganda:The case of the Batwacommunity farmed, tended livestock, fished, hunted, or pursued a combination of these. 46Land also served an important social function in connecting people with their spirits. 47 Theland was communally owned and available to anyone, who was expected, in turn, to use it withcare and to protect it from being grabbed by strangers.In the pre-colonial era, the Batwa held their forest land communally. Each clan within theBatwa collectively owned an area of the forest. Although free movement from one area toanother was common, different clans always stayed in their own clan area. 48 The communitywas more important than the individual. The forest lands they occupied provided all theyneeded to survive as a community, from food to sacred places. Despite living in differentsettlements, the Batwa have strong social relations and recognise themselves as a community.They share close attachments to certain areas, with concomitant social formations that appearto derive directly from the ancient past. 49 They still practise social norms and customsnormally associated with clanship similar to other tribes in east and central Africa. The conceptof individualisation of land rights was and remains undesirable to the Batwa. 50Such was the arrangement of land relations on the eve of colonisation. The colonialists decidednot to maintain such systems and the rights to land inherent in them. They disregarded themand established a system alien to Ugandan communities.An important criticism influencing the decision of the colonialists was the mistakenassumption that land held commonly is prone to irresponsible use by the members of thecommunity holding it. This explains the biases in later colonial policies and legislation relatingto customary tenure, policies that had a direct impact on the Batwa’s land rights.46 Kenya Human Rights Commission (2000), p 1.47 The forests contained sacred sites, where the Batwa worshipped. They were mountains or streams where theBatwa felt connected to their gods.48 Lewis (2000), p 9.49 Tumushabe and Musiime (2006), p 7.50 Ibid., p 17.Nakayi 9January 2009