if the Court finds that there has been a violation of a right or freedom protected by th[e] Convention,
the Court shall rule that the injured party be ensured the enjoyment of his right or freedom that was
violated. It shall also rule, if appropriate, that the consequences of the measure or situation that
constituted the breach of such right or freedom be remedied and that fair compensation be paid to the
injured party.
234. The Court said that once it has been proved that land restitution rights are still current, the State
must take the necessary actions to return them to the members of the indigenous people claiming
them. However, as the Court has pointed out, when a State is unable, on objective and reasonable
grounds, to adopt measures aimed at returning traditional lands and communal resources to
indigenous populations, it must surrender alternative lands of equal extension and quality, which will
be chosen by agreement with the members of the indigenous peoples, according to their own
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consultation and decision procedures.
This was not the case in respect of the Endorois. The land
given them is not of equal quality.
235. The reasons of the government in the instant communication are questionable for several
reasons including: (a) the contested land is the site of a conservation area, and the Endorois – as the
ancestral guardians of that land - are best equipped to maintain its delicate ecosystems; (b) the
Endorois are prepared to continue the conservation work begun by the Government; (c) no other
community have settled on the land in question, and even if that is the case, the Respondent State is
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obliged to rectify that situation,
(d) the land has not been spoliated and is thus inhabitable; (e)
continued dispossession and alienation from their ancestral land continues to threaten the cultural
survival of the Endorois’ way of life, a consequence which clearly tips the proportionality argument on
the side of indigenous peoples under international law.
236. It seems also to the African Commission that the amount of £30 as compensation for one’s
ancestral home land flies in the face of common sense and fairness.
237. The African Commission notes the detailed recommendations regarding compensation payable
to displaced or evicted persons developed by the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of
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Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. These recommendations, which have been considered
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and applied by the European Court of Human Rights,
set out the following principles for
compensation on loss of land: Displaced persons should be (i) compensated for their losses at full
replacement cost prior to the actual move; (ii) assisted with the move and supported during the
transition period in the resettlement site; and (iii) assisted in their efforts to improve upon their former
living standards, income earning capacity and production levels, or at least to restore them. These
recommendations could be followed if the Respondent State is interested in giving a fair compensation
to the Endorois.
238. Taking all the submissions of both parties, the African Commission agrees with the
Complainants that the Property of the Endorois people has been severely encroached upon and
continues to be so encroached upon. The encroachment is not proportionate to any public need and is
not in accordance with national and international law. Accordingly, the African Commission finds for
the Complainants that the Endorois as a distinct people have suffered a violation of Article 14 of the
Charter.
Alleged Violation of Article 17(2) and 17(3)
239. The Complainants allege that the Endorois’ cultural rights have been violated on two counts:
first, the community has faced systematic restrictions on access to cultural sites and, second, that the
cultural rights of the community have been violated by the serious damage caused by the Kenyan
authorities to their pastoralist way of life.
240. The Respondent State denies the allegation claiming that access to the forest areas was always
permitted, subject to administrative procedures. The Respondent State also submits that in some
instances some communities have allowed political issues to be disguised as cultural practices and in
the process they endanger the peaceful coexistence with other communities. The Respondent State
does not substantiate who these “communities” or what these “political issues to be disguised as
cultural practices” are.