CEDAW Concluding Observations - Limited Access to Traditional Lands - Kenya

Indigenous women

44. The Committee notes with concern that indigenous women in the State party, including Endorois women, have limited access to traditional lands owing to the failure to implement the ruling of 2010 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which recognized their rights to ancestral land in the Rift Valley, and the lack of consultation with them. It is also concerned about reports of violence, including killings against indigenous women and girls in Baringo County during cattle raids.

45. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take immediate steps to implement the ruling of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights regarding the rights of the Endorois people to their ancestral land, and ensure consultation with Endorois women during this process; (b) Take all measures necessary to protect indigenous women and girls, including those in Baringo County, from violence and theft, and ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and adequately punished.