The Contribution of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to the Protection of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Abstract

On the 26th May 2017, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights rendered its first judgement on an indigenous peoples’ rights case, dealing with the forced eviction of the Ogieks, a Kenyan hunter-gatherer indigenous community of approximately 20.000 members, from their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest. The ruling, which has been extensively welcomed as a «huge victory» and a «landmark» for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights in Africa, touches on many complex and sensitive issues concerning the situation of indigenous peoples all over the continent. The aim of the present contribution is to use the Ogiek decision to study the Court’s approach to indigenous peoples’ rights and to examine more broadly, by juxtaposing it to the latest international legal practice concerning the protection of the indigenous peoples’ rights at both the African and global levels, the extent to which the Court’s determinations are in line with current relevant international standards and their potential significance for the progressive advancement of indigenous peoples’ rights.