APPLICATION 006/2012
AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
V.
THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA
SUMMARY OF THE FACTS
1. The Application is in respect of the Ogiek of the Mau Forest. It alleges that the
Ogiek are an indigenous minority ethnic group in Kenya comprising of about
20,000 members, about 15,000 of whom inhabit the greater Mau Forest complex,
a land mass of about 400,000 hectares straddling about seven administrative
districts. According to the Applicant, in October 2009, through the Kenya Forestry
Service, the Kenyan Government issued a thirty (30) days eviction notice to the
Ogiek and other settlers of the Mau Forest, demanding that they move out of the
forest on the grounds that the forest constituted a reserved water catchment
zone, and was in any event part and parcel of government land under Section 4
of the Government’s Land Act. According to the Applicants, the Government
contends that this decision is informed by the State’s attempt to conserve the
forest which is a water catchment area.
2. The Application further contends that the decision of the Kenyan Government will
have far reaching implications on the political, social and economic survival of the
Ogiek Community.
Complaint
3. The Applicant alleges violation of Articles 1, 2, 4, and 17 (2) and (3) of the
Charter.
The Applicant Prayers