The Endorois of Kenya: a pastoralist community faces irreparable harm
The Endorois Community have lived for centuries around the Lake Bogoria region in the South Baringo and Koibatek Administrative Districts of Kenya. In the 1970s, the Government of Kenya, without effectively consulting the Community, gazetted the Community’s traditional lands for the purposes of creating a game reserve. The Community were told by the Government to vacate the land and were forced to move. In doing so, not only were the Community’s property rights violated, but spiritual, cultural and economic ties to the land were severed. The Endorois people’s health, livelihood, religion and culture are all intimately connected with their traditional land, as grazing lands, sacred religious sites and plants used for traditional medicine are all situated around the shores of Lake Bogoria. Under Kenyan Law, the region was designated Trust Land; land to be held for the benefit of the Community by local authorities. In the creation of the game reserve, the Government of Kenya, disregarded national law, Constitutional provisions and, most importantly, numerous African Charter Articles, including the right to property, free disposition of natural resources, the right to religion, the right to cultural life and the right to development.
At the present time the Community live in a number of locations on the periphery of the reserve, being forced from fertile lands to semi-arid areas, divided and displaced from their traditional lands. Access to the Lake Bogoria region is not of right for the Community and the Government continues to deny the Community effective participation in decisions affecting their land, in violation of their right to development.
Over the course of 30 years, the Community have brought the situation to the attention of the Government on numerous occasions, most importantly in a High Court Constitutional Case in the year 2000. In this case the Community argued that, by creating the game reserve, the County Council breached Trust Land provisions of the National Constitution. The High Court of Kenya in Nakuru ruled against the Community.
Despite these efforts at domestic recourse, the Community is still unable to access the land as of right and is denied effective participation in decisions affecting it. The Community has not even received adequate compensation, as required by both national and international law, from the Government for the loss of land.
Minority Rights Group International (MRG) are working closely with a Kenyan based NGO (the Centre for Minority Rights Development), and the community itself, in order to obtain justice for the Endorois. Restitution of land, encompassing the giving of effect to their traditional rights to dwell on, access and benefit from the land, is the priority for the Endorois community.
A communication was filed before the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights in August 2003. The communication was seized during the Commission’s 34th Ordinary Session in November 2003, and is now pending on admissibility. Under the Commission’s rules of procedure, it is empowered to take action in the form of Provisional Measures to avoid irreparable damage being caused to the victim of an alleged violation. In view of imminent mining activities that would cause irreversible damage to Endorois traditional land, MRG and the Centre for Minority Rights Development requested, during the Commission’s 35th Ordinary Session, that these measures be adopted. A favourable result is anticipated in view of the African Commission’s commitment to fully address the rights of indigenous communities such as the Endorois, as evidenced by the adoption of a Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa in 2003. This important report offers the Commission a valuable basis upon which to extend its understanding and treatment of indigenous and collective rights, including economic, social and cultural rights.
Notes for editors
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Endoroi wa Kenya: jamii ya wachungaji inakabiliwa na madhara yasiyoweza kurekebishwa Jamii ya Endoroi imeishi kwa karne nyingi karibu na eneo la Ziwa Bogoria katika Wilaya za Utawala za Kusini mwa Baringo na Koibatek nchini Kenya. Katika miaka ya 1970, Serikali ya Kenya, bila kushauriana na Jumuiya, ilitangaza ardhi ya jadi ya Jumuiya kwa madhumuni ya kuunda hifadhi ya mchezo. Jumuiya hiyo iliambiwa na Serikali kuondoka kwenye ardhi na ililazimika kuhamia. Kwa kufanya hivyo, si tu kwamba haki za mali za Jumuiya zilivunjwa, bali vifungo vya kiroho, kitamaduni na kiuchumi na ardhi vilikatwa. Afya, maisha, dini na utamaduni wa watu wa Endoroi wote unahusiana sana na ardhi yao ya jadi, kwani mashamba ya malisho, maeneo matakatifu ya kidini na mimea inayotumiwa kwa dawa ya jadi yote iko karibu na pwani ya Ziwa Bogoria. Chini ya Sheria ya Kenya, mkoa huo uliteuliwa kuwa Ardhi ya Uaminifu; ardhi inayoshikiliwa kwa faida ya Jumuiya na mamlaka za mitaa. "Katika kuunda hifadhi ya mchezo, Serikali ya Kenya, ilipuuza sheria ya kitaifa, masharti ya kikatiba na, muhimu zaidi, makala nyingi za Mkataba wa Afrika, ikiwa ni pamoja na haki ya mali, uhuru wa kuamua rasilimali za asili, haki ya dini, haki ya maisha ya kitamaduni na haki ya maendeleo. """ Kwa sasa jamii hiyo inaishi katika maeneo kadhaa kwenye mipaka ya hifadhi hiyo, ikilazimishwa kutoka maeneo yenye rutuba kwenda maeneo ya nusu kavu, ikigawanywa na kuhamishwa kutoka maeneo yao ya jadi. """Upatikanaji wa eneo la Ziwa Bogoria si haki ya jamii na serikali inaendelea kukataa ushiriki wa kweli wa jamii katika maamuzi yanayoathiri ardhi yao, kwa kukiuka haki yao ya maendeleo." Katika kipindi cha miaka 30 iliyopita, Jumuiya ya Madola imewasilisha hali hiyo kwa tahadhari nyingi kwa Serikali, muhimu zaidi katika kesi ya Katiba ya Mahakama Kuu mwaka 2000. Katika kesi hii Jumuiya alidai kwamba, kwa kuunda hifadhi ya mchezo, Halmashauri ya County kuvunja Trust Land masharti ya Katiba ya Taifa. Mahakama Kuu ya Kenya huko Nakuru ilitoa uamuzi dhidi ya Jumuiya hiyo. Licha ya juhudi hizi za kutafuta msaada wa ndani, Jumuiya bado haiwezi kupata ardhi kama haki na inakataliwa ushiriki halisi katika maamuzi yanayoathiri. Jumuiya hiyo haijapata hata fidia ya kutosha, kama inavyotakiwa na sheria ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa, kutoka kwa Serikali kwa hasara ya ardhi. Kikundi cha Haki za Wachache cha Kimataifa (MRG) kinafanya kazi kwa karibu na shirika lisilo la kiserikali la Kenya (Kituo cha Maendeleo ya Haki za Wachache) na jamii yenyewe, ili kupata haki kwa Endoroi. Kurudishwa kwa ardhi, ikiwemo kutoa athari kwa haki zao za jadi za kuishi, kupata na kufaidika na ardhi, ni kipaumbele kwa jamii ya Endorois. Ujumbe ulifanywa kwa Tume ya Afrika ya Haki za Binadamu na Watu mnamo Agosti 2003. Ujumbe huo ulichukuliwa wakati wa kikao cha kawaida cha 34 cha Tume mnamo Novemba 2003, na sasa unangojea kukubaliwa. Kulingana na sheria za utaratibu wa Tume, ina mamlaka ya kuchukua hatua katika fomu ya hatua za muda ili kuepuka uharibifu usioweza kurekebishwa unaosababishwa na mhasiriwa wa ukiukaji unaodhaniwa. Kwa kuzingatia shughuli za madini zinazokaribia ambazo zitasababisha uharibifu usioweza kurekebishwa kwa ardhi ya jadi ya Endorois, MRG na Kituo cha Maendeleo ya Haki za Wachache waliomba, wakati wa Mkutano wa kawaida wa 35 wa Tume, kwamba hatua hizi zipitwe. "Mafahamiko ya awali ya Umoja wa Afrika kuhusu haki za watu wa asili, kama vile Endoroi, ni kwamba ""mwisho wa miaka miwili"" umefika." Ripoti hii muhimu inatoa Tume msingi muhimu ambao juu yake kupanua uelewa wake na matibabu ya haki za asili na za pamoja, ikiwa ni pamoja na haki za kiuchumi, kijamii na kitamaduni. Kwa maelezo zaidi, wasiliana na Ofisi ya Habari ya MRG kwenye [email protected].