A/HRC/4/32/Add.3 page 11 32. On the Athi-Kapti plains, a traditional wildlife dispersal and pastoralist grazing area, the local Ilkaputiei Maasai, who fear the loss of their traditional livelihood, are opposed to the Jamii Bora Trust, an urban housing project for the resettlement of an estimated 30,000 slum dwellers from nearby Nairobi, that receives international financing. The Special Rapporteur, who visited the proposed site, was informed that the project has been challenged in the courts. 33. The Sabaot of the Mt. Elgon area were displaced by the British and are still waiting for compensation and resettlement under the post-independence agreements between the Governments of the United Kingdom and Kenya. They provided the Special Rapporteur with copies of the plea for reparations, restitution and compensation which they presented to these Governments, but they have yet to receive satisfaction. 34. Also in Trans-Nzoia and West-Pokot, the semi-nomadic Pokot people are claiming compensation for similar violations of their right to land. Many of the claims briefly outlined in this report were presented, fully documented, to the Constitution Review Commission of Kenya in 2002 but have yet to be acted upon. One specialist notes: “For decades, the communities quarrelled over the resources and longed for a day when they would gain access once more to their historical land … But whereas some ethnic communities benefited from some settlement arrangement, there was no effort made to include Pokot, Sabaot or Sengwer …” 35. A century of dispossession has left a balance of increased landlessness, insecurity, ecological degradation and resentment among indigenous communities. Virtually all the communities interviewed by the Special Rapporteur shared a similar demand for restitution and reparation. The Ndungu Commission on land grabbing suggested the establishment of a Land Titles Tribunal responsible for revocation and rectification of irregular titles. It considers that “land crimes” are as much a part of Kenya’s past wrongdoings as economic crimes and human rights crimes, which constitute the country’s transitional justice agenda. The draft National Land Policy promotes the creation of a National Land Commission with powers to investigate land disputes and alleged injustices. However, no functioning mechanism is currently in place and, in the absence of legal safeguards, indigenous peoples continue to be at risk of further violations of their land and resource rights. C. Hunter-gatherers and forest peoples 36. Settlement schemes, logging and charcoal production have put a severe strain on Kenya’s rich and varied forests, and have resulted in the loss of the traditional habitat of Kenya’s forest peoples, the indigenous hunter-gatherers such as the Awer (Boni), Ogiek, Sengwer, Watta, and Yaaku. While existing laws are oriented to the protection of wildlife and forest resources, many of these communities can no longer live by their traditional livelihoods, and their cultures and language are rapidly vanishing as a result; illegal logging has played a major role in this as well. 37. The way of life of the Ogiek is well adapted to the Mau Forest environment where they have lived for centuries. Numbering about 20,000 countrywide, they have been dispersed and assimilated in recent decades, and dispossessed of their traditional source of livelihood. When the Mau Forest was gazetted as a National Forest in 1974, the Ogiek were evicted from their traditional habitat without prior consultation or compensation, in violation of their basic human rights. They were henceforth prevented from hunting or collecting bee honey for survival in the

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