;
•··,
.~CHP:
ACH PR
• African Commission on
Human and Peoples· Rights
Human Rights our
Collective Responsibility
collective; and an experience of subjugation, marginalization, usurpation,
exclusion or discrimination, whether such conditions persist or not.39
159. In the Endorois case against the Respondent State, the Commission, while noting
that the terms "peoples" and "indigenous community" give rise to emotive debates,
considered that some marginalized and vulnerable groups in Africa suffer from specific
problems since
... Many of these groups have not been embraced by the dominant development
paradigms and in many cases are falling victim to the dominant development
policies and thinking, and their fundamental human rights are being violated. The
African Commission is also aware that indigenous peoples, due to past and
ongoing processes, have been marginalized in their own country and need
recognition and protection of their basic human rights and fundamental
freedoms40.
160. In the Communication referred to above, the Commission described the Endorois
community as an indigenous people. The Commission based this classification on
several factors: cultural, religious, and traditional ties to their ancestral lands; their selfidentification as an indigenous group; their exclusion from society and the deprivation
of their rights as equal citizens; and their determination to preserve, develop, and pass
on their ancestral territories and ethnic identity to future generations. This decision
reflects the importance of these factors in recognizing a group as indigenous,
particularly their strong connection to their lands and the challenges they face in
maintaining their identity and rights in the face of societal exclusion.41
161. The Commission also notes that the very constitution of the Respondent State, in
its Article 260, provides for what it calls a "marginalized community," which covers:
(a) relatively small population or for any other reason, has not been able to
participate fully in the integrated social and economic life of Kenya as a whole;
(b) a traditional community which, out of necessity or desire to preserve its unique
culture and identity from assimilation, has remained outside the integrated
social and economic life of Kenya as a whole;
"'. - - - - I.qi"
39 Ca,e No. 006/2012. Judgment of 26 May 2017, African Commiss ion on Human and Peoples' Rights v. Republic of Kenya
10
40 Communication No 276/03: Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group (on behalf
~
ACHPR (2009), para. 148
;-;
41 Communication No 276/03: Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group (on behalf
~
ACHPR (2009), para. 150 - 152.
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