The forced eviction of the Ogieksindigenous people from their ancestral land in Kenya: the intervention of the African Court on Human and Peoples’Rights

The Application and the African Court’s judgement issued on 26 May 20171are in respect of the Ogieks, a historically disadvantaged indigenous community of the Mau forest, which in 2009 have been victim of an eviction and forced relocation perpetrated by the Republic of Kenya. The eviction act came as the last of a series of other similar actions undertaken by the Government since the colonialism period, as well as the lack of legal recognition of the Ogieks as indigenous group. Given the very close relationship between the Ogieks and their ancestral territories, the eviction resulted in a substantial violation of both their basic human right as to live in their homeland and to their cultural, religious, social and economic rights as indigenous people. These rights are protected under international human rights law instruments such as the UN Declaration on Indigenous People’s Rights and the African Charter of Indigenous People’s Rights