GENEVA – A UN expert* today expressed grave concern over the ongoing land demarcation by the Government of Kenya in the Eastern Mau Complex, which threatens ancestral lands of the Ogiek Peoples and contravenes binding judgments of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR).
“These actions risk causing irreparable harm to the Ogiek’s land rights, which have been unequivocally upheld by the African Court,” said Albert K. Barume, Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. “I urge the Government of Kenya to immediately cease all activities that undermine the Ogiek’s rights and to fully comply with the Court’s rulings.”
Despite the AfCHPR’s 2017 and 2022 judgments affirming the Ogiek’s ownership of their ancestral lands and requiring their restitution, the Kenyan Government has yet to take any actions to return Ogiek lands. A hearing scheduled for November 2024 was postponed at the State’s request and is now set for June 2025.
In September 2024, Kenya’s Environment and Land Court in Nakuru dismissed the Ogiek’s claims to their ancestral lands in East Mau, contradicting the AfCHPR’s decisions. Meanwhile, from December 2024 to April 2025, the Government convened a series of public forums to discuss how to implement the Nakuru court ruling, criticised as exclusionary and politically driven. These culminated in a rushed demarcation process beginning on 25 April 2025, without the necessary consultations with Ogiek Peoples.
“The demarcation threatens the rights of more than 8,500 Ogiek people in Nessuit, Mariashoni, and Sururu, and endangers ecologically sensitive areas vital for water catchment sustainability,” Barume said.
On 6 May 2025, the President of Kenya issued a 250,000-acre land title deed for parts of the Maasai Mau Forest to Narok County, further alarming the Ogiek of Sasimwani, who remain displaced following the 2023 forced evictions of over 700 families.
“We call on Government, all states institutions and Indigenous Peoples to engage in dialogue grounded in mutual respect and human rights,” the Special Rapporteur said. He expressed readiness to visit Kenya to support efforts toward a just and rights-based resolution in line with the AfCHPR’s judgments.
*The expert: Albert K. Barume, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.
Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/
UN Human Rights, country page – https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/kenya
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