The ongoing demarcation process in Eastern Mau complex by Kenyan Government is a violation of Ogiek Peoples’ rights, A UN expert has said.
Albert K. Barume, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, argues that the process violates the rights of indigenous communities as well as judgements delivered by African Court on Human Rights.
According to the expert, the process 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 Barume.
He urged 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 it now happened on June 4, 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.