An ongoing dispute over 2,300 acres of land in Segera, Laikipia County, Kenya has the Maasai people facing violent abuse and other human rights violations. The Maasai community were told that the land had been purchased by North Tetu Cooperative Society and that they had to evacuate.
By Ben R. Ole Koissaba
Background
A senator and three members of parliament were arrested on January 29, 2015 by Criminal Investigation officials in Nairobi after being required to write detailed accounts regarding a peaceful demonstration that turned ugly when police opened fire, killing at least one person and injuring scores of others in Narok County.
The right to health is the most basic of human rights, argues Indigenous Maasai scholar Ben Koissaba, of Kenya, in conclusion to his participation at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples that took place September 2014 in New York. “[It’s] fulfillment is both a precondition to, and a by-product of, the enjoyment of all other rights,” he explains. In a recent publication, Koissaba evaluated progress towards the right to health for Indigenous Peoples of Africa. Around the world, Indigenous Peoples suffer from greater illness and poorer quality of care than other groups.
On September 4, 2014, the African Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met in Khartoum, Sudan, In addition to commenting on issues of poverty, finance, and infrastructure, they “not[e] with deep concern that the proposed Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework of the Wo
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
