African Court releases unanimous decision of judges on Ogiek land case – full judgment coming soon

The Court unanimously:

On Jurisdiction

1. i) Dismisses the objection to the Court’s material jurisdiction to hear the Application;
2. ii) Dismisses the objection to the Court’s personal jurisdiction to hear the Application;
3. iii) Dismisses the objection to the Court’s temporal jurisdiction to hear the Application;
4. iv) Declares that it has jurisdiction to hear the Application.

On Admissibility

1. i) Dismisses the objection to the admissibility of the Application on the ground that the Matter is pending before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
2. ii) Dismisses the objection to the admissibility of the Application on the ground that the Court did not conduct a preliminary examination of the admissibility of the Application;
3. iii) Dismisses the objection to the admissibility of the Application on the ground that the author of the Application is not the aggrieved party in the complaint;
4. iv) Dismisses the objection to the admissibility of the Application on the ground of  failure to exhaust local remedies;
5. v) Declares the Application admissible.

On the Merits

1. i) Declares that the Respondent has violated Articles 1, 2, 8, 14 17(2) and (3), 21 and 22 of the Charter;
2. ii) Declares that the Respondent has not violated Article 4  of the Charter;
3. iii) Orders the Respondent to take all appropriate measures within a reasonable time frame to remedy all the violations established and to inform the Court of the measures taken within six (6) months from the date of this Judgment;
4. iv) Reserves its ruling on reparations;
5. v) Requests the Applicant to file submissions on Reparations within 60 days from the date of this judgment and thereafter, the Respondent shall file its Response thereto within 60 days of receipt of the Applicant’s submissions on Reparations and Costs.

Done, at Arusha, this Twenty Sixth day of May 2017 in English and French, the English text being authoritative. 

Signed:

 Sylvain ORÉ, President

Gérard NIYUNGEKO, Judge

Augustino S.L. RAMADHANI, Judge

Duncan TAMBALA, Judge

Elsie N. THOMPSON, Judge

EL Hadji GUISSE, Judge

Rafâa Ben ACHOUR, Judge

Solomy B. BOSSA, Judge

Angelo V. MATUSSE, Judge and

Robert ENO, Registrar