Ogiek Peoples win landmark reparations ruling
On 23 June 2022, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights delivered a pioneering reparation judgment concerning the rights of the Ogiek Peoples to their ancestral land in the Mau Forest in Kenya.
The African Court unanimously dismissed all the objections from the Government of Kenya and the court ordered and placed in writing the following:
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“Indeed it has been a journey but ultimately it has borne fruits: the two positive judgments of both 2017 and 2022, the restitution of Ogiek land and granting them a communal title tops it all. We can’t forget to thank our partners, the African Commission on Human peoples (ACHPR) and the legal team for their spirited work in the corridors of justice,’’ Ogiek Peoples' Development Program (OPDP) Executive Director Mr. Daniel Kobei said.
The Ogiek have been fighting for the legal recognition and protection of their ancestral lands for over a decade, including a long wait since 2017 when the African Court made a historic judgment in their favour acknowledging them as Indigenous, winning both compensation from the Government of Kenya and the right to stay in the Mau Forest. The court at that time found that the Kenyan government violated seven separate articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples´ Rights, with the violations amounting to a persistent denial of Ogiek land rights and their religious, cultural and hunter-gather practices.
However, the Government of Kenya has not implemented the 2017 ruling, setting up its own Task Force, which did not include a single Ogiek person, to study the ruling. And human rights violations have continued towards the Ogiek people also after the 2017 ruling was delivered.
Both the 2017 and 2022 rulings stipulate that the Ogiek people need to be consulted about all actions concerning development, conservation, or investment on their land, as the rightful protectors of their ancestral lands.
“The reparations judgement of the African Court is an important milestone for the Ogiek people who have fought hard for many years to have their rights protected, and it is now crucial that this judgment is implemented,” IWGIA Senior Advisor Marianne Wiben Jensen said. “The judgement also sets important precedence for indigenous peoples in other parts of the African continent who are suffering from human rights violations and dispossession of their ancestral lands.”
IWIGA has supported the Ogiek people for many years through their organisation the Ogiek Peoples' Development Programme (OPDP) enabling them to monitor, document and protest the human rights violations the Ogiek people have been suffering from – and to take legal action.
Photos: All images are credited to Daniel Kobei / Ogiek Peoples' Development Program (OPDP)
Tags: Land rights
