,c•:r-,
ACH PR
l African Commission on
.o:u
•
Human and Peoples' Rights
Human Rights our
Collective Respon~ibility
on them; that they suffer from discrimination because they are considered less
developed and less advanced than other more dominant sectors of society.
156. In the document mentioned above, the Commission emphasizes that these
communities often live in inaccessible and geographically isolated regions, making
them vulnerable to various forms of marginalization, both politically and socially.
Indigenous people are frequently subjected to domination and exploitation within
national political and economic systems. These issues-discrimination, domination,
and marginalization-pose a threat to the survival of their cultures and way of life.
Additionally, such conditions prevent indigenous people from being able to participate
meaningfully in decisions regarding their own future and development.35
157. The Commission notes that similar definitions have been given by the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Minorities36 and by the International Labour
Organization's Convention on Autochthonous and Tribal Peoples, No 16937. The
African Court, for its part, adopted the Commission's definition referred to above38.
158. In the Ogiek case, the African Court, after considering the definition adopted by
the United Nations Commission and Special Rapporteur on Minorities and by the
International Labour Organisation's Convention on Autochthonous and Tribal
Peoples, No 169, took the view that
For the identification and understanding of the concept of native populations, the
relevant factors to be considered are the temporal precedence in relation to the
occupation and use of a specific territory; a voluntary perpetuation of cultural
distinction, which may include aspects of language, social organization, religious
and spiritual values, modes of production, laws and institutions; self-identification
as well as recognition by other groups, or by state authorities that are a distinct
35 Page 11.
36 Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission 0 11 the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/ Add,l,
P<trag·raph 379, which defines as "indigenous communities, peoples a.nd nMions with historical conlinuily with Lhe pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that
developed in lheir territories, consider themselves distinct from the other sectors of societies currently prevailing in those territories or in parts thereof. TI1ey foan
non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories and ethnic identity, as the
b1,sis of their continued existence as u population, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, sociaJ institutions and legal systems".
37 'This Convention shall apply to;
al~c
(a) tribal peoples in independent countries whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them Crom oU,er segments of U,e nati:o n;;
whose situation is governed in whole or in po.rt by their own customs or traditions or by spt."Cial legislation or regulationsi
b) peoples in independent countries considered indigenous by the foci lhal Ihey descend from populations thal lived in the count
the country was inserted al the lime of its conquest or colonization or the eslablishmenl of its current borders and that, regardless of
of the
their own social, economic, cuJtural, a nd potitical institutions or 1111 of them."
38 Case No. 006/2012. Judgment of 26 May 2017, Afriran Commission on l luman and Peoples' Rights v. Republic of Kenya), paras
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