Nearly 40 years later, the Endorois have won a measure of justice. In a landmark decision just released, the continental body charged with promoting and protecting human rights has ruled that the failure to consult or compensate adequately the community violated the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The commission has called for the recognition of the Endorois’ ownership of their ancestral land, and its restitution.
Yet without implementation, the ruling means nothing. What needs to be done now is clear: the Kenyan authorities must demarcate the borders of the Endorois’ ancestral land and provide the community with a title that recognizes its ownership as a collective. While the judgment does not require the closure of the wildlife reserve, its future existence must be predicated on the consent of the Endorois and their full inclusion in its operation.
This ruling, and whether it is successfully implemented, will have a tremendous impact on how land disputes are settled in the future.
The case is the first to be decided by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights that expressly recognizes indigenousness — maintaining a traditional way of life that is dependent on ancestral land — in the African context. By taking into account rights flowing from an indigenous community’s deep cultural and historical connection to the land, the commission’s ruling sets an important precedent for respecting the claims of traditional herders and forest peoples.
Source: Allafrica