Collective rights to land as a strategy for protecting indigenous peoples of Africa’s right to health in forced eviction: Lessons from the Kenyan Ogiek case

Simiyu, Faith 2025. Collective rights to land as a strategy for protecting indigenous peoples of Africa’s right to health in forced eviction: Lessons from the Kenyan Ogiek case. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis was premised on two core objectives. First was to demonstrate how and to what extent forced eviction of indigenous peoples, from their ancestral lands, is a violation of their human right to health. Second, was to investigate whether a “collective right to land” framework is an alternative strategy for interpreting & expanding the normative content of the international human right to health, to promote and protect indigenous peoples’ health claims generally and specifically in Africa, in the context of forced eviction. These objectives were to be achieved using lessons from the Ogiek case and study. Accordingly, to meet the said objectives, a comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis that incorporated both the doctrinal and empirical aspects, was undertaken. On one hand, the doctrinal aspect of the thesis entailed examining what indigeneity in Africa connotes and how the Ogiek exemplify indigenous peoples of Africa (IPA). This provided the research with a conceptual framework for its analysis. As such, emphasis was given to the fact that IPA are characterized by a historical, and ongoing experiences, with forced eviction. On this premise, the research provided a critical analysis of the jurisprudence of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ActHPR) in the Ogiek case, more so as it pertains to indigenous peoples’ right to health, in the context of forced eviction from land. In doing so, the Ogiek case generated normative questions that were not only answered but also served as a theoretical foundation for research’s elucidation of the rights and duties that apply to indigenous health, within the context of forced eviction. The empirical aspect of the thesis enriched the research’s analysis by providing valuable insights into the social and practical realities faced by the Ogiek. The said realities were in terms of how and to what extent, forced eviction from their ancestral lands amounted to a violation of their indigenous right to health and its related underlying determinants, such as access to food, nutrition and housing. This is in addition to violation of their right to access traditional medicines. The empirical findings also highlighted the challenges brought about by socio-economic and political factors on the indigenous Ogiek’s quest to realize their right to health, in the context of forced eviction. To offset the said challenges, the thesis proposed employing a “collective right to land” framework, as a way of resolving the right to health violations brought about by forced eviction. A unique collective right to land framework was therefore introduced- one that involved generating new knowledge on how the normative content and subject of the human right to health could be expanded- by collective rights claims, that view indigenous peoples as holders of collective rights to land as a “participatory good”.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Law Schools > Cardiff Law & Politics
Subjects:	K Law > KZ Law of Nations
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Collective Rights, Land Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples of Africa, Right to Health, Ogiek Case, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ActHPR), Forced Eviction, Kenya
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 January 2026
Last Modified:	09 Jan 2026 09:39
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183709

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