This volume is an attempt to provide this intersectional and reflexive space. The thinking behind the book began in Lamu in mid-2010. It was a time when growing community resistance emerged towards the Kenyan government's plan to build a second seaport under a trans-frontier infrastructural project known as the Lamu Port- South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). The editors agreed that a book that draws community activists, academics, researchers and policy makers into a discussion of the predicament of indigenous rights and development against the backdrop of the Endorois case was timely and needed. Assembled here are the original contributions of some of the leading contemporary thinkers in the area of indigenous and human rights in Africa. The book is an interdisciplinary effort with the single purpose of thinking through indigenous rights after the Endorois case but it is not a singular laudatory remark on indigenous life in Africa. The discussion begins by framing indigenous rights and claims to indigeneity as found in the Endorois decision and its related socio-political history. Subsequent chapters provide deeper contextual analysis by evaluating the tense relationship between indigenous peoples and the post-colonial nation-state. Overall, the book makes a peering and provocative contribution to the relational interests between state policies and the developmental intersections of indigeneity, indigenous rights, gender advocacy, environmental conservation, chronic trauma and transitional justice.

The indigenous peoples of Africa are increasingly being dispossessed of their ancestral lands. It started during colonial times, when many of them lost their land to European settlers. It continues today where conservation interests, commercial plantations, mineral exploitations, and other economic activities are leading to encroachments, expropriations, and forced removals. Indigenous peoples have not let this happen without reacting and in some cases they have gone to court, challenging those who threatened them. This book analyzes some of the land cases filed by indigenous peoples in selected African countries, in order to see how the judiciary has dealt with this human rights thematic, and what lessons can be learned from these court cases.

This book is concerned with the first peoples (those people who are considered indigenous by themselves and others) of southern Africa such as the San, the Nama, and the Khoi, and their rights. Although living in democratic countries like Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana --and in principle sharing the same rights and responsibilities as the rest of the population--practice shows that these peoples more often than not are at the margins of the societies in which they live; they often face extreme poverty, and they frequently are subjected to discriminatory treatment and exposed to all kinds of human rights abuses. Robert K. Hitchcock is professor of anthropology and geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. He has done extensive research and development work in southern Africa in general and among San peoples in particular. Diana Vinding is an anthropologist working with the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in Copenhagen.

Indigenous peoples in international law --Historical overview --"Indigenous peoples" : term, concepts, and definitions --Differentiation from the term "Minority" --Special indigenous rights or special circumstances? : indigenous protection standards, rights of freedom, and self-determination --Sources of law --Binding norms --ILO convention 169 --UN convention on biological diversity --"Soft law" instruments --Agenda 21, chapter 26 (1992) --UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples --Declarations and policies of various international bodies --Indigenous rights as part of customary international law --"Sources of Life" : lands and natural resources --Material standards of protection --Cause of action --The relationship between indigenous peoples and their territories --Collective land rights --Scope of indigenous territories --Restriction of alienation and disposal --Universal human rights treaties --Right of ownership --Right to culture --Right to private and family life --Jurisdiction of international monitoring bodies --Human rights committee --Committee on the elimination of racial discrimination --Sources of freedom and equality : self-determination --"Being indigenous in Africa" : legal developments of indigenous peoples law in Africa --Historical overview --Nature conservation v. human rights protection --African initiatives for the protection of indigenous rights --"Indigenous peoples in Africa" : applying the concept --Indigenous rights in the African context --Regional indigenous rights --The African charter on human and peoples' rights --The African commission on human and peoples' rights --The African court on human and peoples' rights --National indigenous rights --Selected constitutional guarantees --Jurisdiction using the example of South Africa --The case of the ... Khomani San --Richtersveld case --Excursus : "Aboriginal title" --"Aboriginal title" before the South African constitutional --Court --"Hoodia Gordonii" case --Legal perspectives of San Communities --Terminology : San, "Bushmen", Basarwa, Khoesan, N/oakwe or Kwe? --Historical overview until the end of colonial times --Regional historical differences --Botswana --Namibia --South Africa --The "Northern San" --Refiections on indigenous legal perspectives and world views --Botswana : state and society --Sociopolitical history --Pre-colonial phase --Protectorate bechuanaland --Republic of botswana --Sources of law and legal pluralism --Constitutional law --Customary law --Common and statutory law --International law --Fundamental and human rights --San in Botswana --San as citizens : Basarwa and/or Batswana? --Dominant views of the San in Botswana --Development policies --Remote area development programme --Community based natural resource management --Development : nature conservation : a contradiction? --NGO initiatives --National San NGOs --Regional San NGOs --"The lost lands" : relocation from the central Kalahari game reserve --History of the central Kalahari game reserve --The relocation of the G wi and Gana (San) --The legal dispute over the (temporarily?) "Lost lands" --Roy Sesana v. government of Botswana --Termination of basic and essential services --Restoration of basic and essential services --Lawful occupation --Deprivation of land possession --Special game licences --Access to the central Kalahari game reserve (CKGR) --Conclusions --Consequences of the high Court's decision : summary --The legal dispute over access to water --Matsipane Mosetlhanyane, Gakenyatsiwe Matsipane & further applicants v. Attorney general of Botswana --Matsipane Mosetlhanyane & Gakenyatsiwe Matsipane v. Attorney General of Botswana, court of appeal --Consequences of the courts' decisions : summary --Conclusion --The return of the outlaws : an Epilogue by Werner zips --Appendix --Examples of indigenous peoples in Africa (not exhaustive!) --Abbreviations --Bibliography --(Selected) legal texts --International instruments --National laws, regulations and policies --Court cases --Interviews --Index of figures --Index --About the authors.

This book addresses the right of indigenous peoples to live, own and use their traditional territories, and analyses how international law addresses this. Through its meticulous examination of the interaction between international law and indigenous peoples’ land rights, the work explores several burning issues such as collective rights, self-determination, property rights, cultural rights and restitution of land. It delves into the notion of past violations and the role of international law in providing for remedies, reparation and restitution. It also argues that there is a new phase in the relationship between States, indigenous peoples and private actors, such as corporations, in the making of territorial agreements.