Indigenous Peoples' Rights

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Country: 
Zimbabwe
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Economic Policy
OP-ICESCR

In a landmark ruling on the right to restitution of ancestral lands, Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community leaders, Paraguayan officials and local companies have recently signed an agreement to allow the community to return to their ancestral lands.

In 1985 De Beers mining company drilled a borehole for prospecting purposes and some of the water was supplied to settlements in CKGR. The Government later evicted and resettled the Basarwa outside of the CKGR because they felt that human settlements were incompatible with the conservation of wildlife in the preserve. In an attempt to dissuade the Basarwa from returning, the borehole was also dismantled as it was the only source of water within 40km. In 2006, in the Sesana case, the Court found that this eviction was unconstitutional and allowed the Basarwa to return to the CKGR.

Since February 2003, following the emergence of an armed conflict in the Darfur region of the Sudan, militiamen known as Janjaweed have engaged in forcibly evicting, killing, and raping thousands of Black indigenous people in that region.  The complainants alleged these acts were a failure of the government of Sudan to respect and protect the rights of the people of Darfur and in particular violated articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12 (1), 14, 16, 18 (1) and 22 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights.  In affirming admissibility of the complaint, the Commission quoted its decisi

In this case, the South Fork Band and other Western Shoshone tribes were appealing a lower court decision denying an injunction[1] against the construction of the gold mine. In their appeal to the Court, the South Fork Band argued that an injunction should be granted against Barrick Cortez because the U.S.

In the 1970s, the Kenyan government evicted hundreds of Endorois families from their land around the Lake Bogoria area in the Rift Valley to create a game reserve for tourism.  The Endorois, an indigenous people, had been promised compensation and benefits, but these were never fully implemented, and the community's access to the land was restricted to the discretion of the Game Reserve Authority. This prevented the community from practicing their pastoralist way of life, using ceremonial and religious sites, and accessing traditional medicines.

The State of the World's Indigenous Peoples is the result of a collaborative effort, organized by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Joji Carino from Tebtebba Foundation, an ESCR-Net member wrote the first chapter of the report; the chapter is titled Poverty and Well Being.

Western Shoshone Prevail at Ninth Circuit Court on Mt. Tenabo - Court Issues Ruling Enjoining Cortez Hills Open Pit Gold Mine. Court Agrees with Western Shoshone and Allies that the Interior Department's Approval of the Mine Likely Violated Federal Law.