A/79/160
right to nationality. 143 The Constitution of Colombia recognizes the right to
citizenship for members of Indigenous Peoples who share bordering territories. 144
Nevertheless, statelessness significantly affects transborder Indigenous Peoples
owing to restrictions on access to civil registration and the constant threat of forced
displacement. 145
68. In West Africa, pastoralists are offered International Transhumance Certificates
to ease their border movements but remain controlled by protocols in host countries.
Several bilateral treaties allow the free movement of mobile Indigenous Peoples
between States, including the Treaty of friendship and good-neighbourliness signed
by France and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 1955; the Stromstad Treaty signed by
Norway and Sweden in 1751; and the Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1897, which granted
reserved grazing rights for mobile Peoples across the Ethiopian-Somali border. 146 In
2019, Kenya and Uganda signed a memorandum of understanding in which they
recognized the importance of cross-border pastoralist mobility. 147
2.
Mobile Indigenous Peoples impacted by armed conflict and militarization
69. Indigenous Peoples are victims of internal and international armed conflicts,
especially when resisting the occupation or exploitation of their lands and resources
for military purposes. 148 Cross-border tensions and violence can expose mobile
Indigenous Peoples to discrimination and harassment from border security forces,
along with related human rights violations.
70. Mobile Indigenous Peoples are affected by refugee crises caused by armed
conflict. An influx of people fleeing wars in neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan
has created natural resource scarcity for mobile Indigenous Peoples in Kenya, after
refugee camps were built on their lands. Similarly, Syrian refugees crossing the border
into Jordan exert pressure on lands where there is no clear delimitation or titling of
Bedouin territories. The added demand for pasture lands, along with the impact of
climate change and drought, is reducing areas suitable for grazing and sustainable
use. 149
71. Palestinian Bedouins have been subject to generations of militarized violence
since the first Arab-Israeli war. Before 1948, some 65,000 to 100,000 Bedouins lived
in the Naqab desert. After 1948, Israel confiscated Bedouin lands to create military
zones, reducing their population to 11,000, as most were expelled and forced to flee
to Gaza and the West Bank, and to Egypt and Jordan. 150 Bedouin Indigenous Peoples
within Israel and the Occupied West Bank are subject to forced displacement,
arbitrary detention and exposure to armed conflicts. 151 On 8 May 2024, Israeli police
units conducted their largest demolition project of Palestinian homes in years,
destroying 47 homes and forcefully evicting over 300 Palestinian Bedouin residents
in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi al-Khalil in the Naqab. 152
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143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
20/28
See A/HRC/51/28/Add.1.
Constitution of Colombia, art. 96.
See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/indigenouspeoples/sr/statements/
20240315-sr-ipeoples-oem-statement-colombia.pdf.
Jeremie Gilbert, “Human rights approach to nomadic peoples’ land rights”, Human Rights Law
Review, vol. 7, No. 4 (2007).
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, “Indigenous world 2020: Uganda”, 11 May 2020.
See A/HRC/EMRIP/2023/2.
Mafraq Youth Association Team Group – Pastoral Holdings Project, Jordan submission.
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, “The indigenous world 2023: Israel”, 30 March
2023.
Communication No. ISR 3/2022; A/78/545; A/HRC/18/35/Add.1.
Amnesty International, “Israel/OPT: over 300 Palestinian-Bedouin face forced evictions
following mass home demolitions in Negev/Naqab”, 9 May 2024.
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