August 5, 2024
Cited article by Shola Lawal, Al Jazeera
HRRC supports the Maasai people in their efforts to maintain their ancestral homes. We strongly condemn the attacks on the Maasai and call upon the Tanzanian government to ensure both human rights and land protections are in place for the Indigenous community.
News Brief
The Tanzania government is accused of forcibly evicting the Maasai people – semi-nomadic pastoralists spread across Kenya and Tanzania – from their ancestral lands, stating that the Maasai are encroaching upon wildlife preserves and national park territory. Land in Tanzania belongs to the government, meaning officials can legally relocate people but with their prior consent. However, attempts to evict Maasai have become common, and without agreements in place. As the government deployed park rangers and security guards to forcibly relocate the Maasai, allegations of sexual assault, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and livestock seizures have become widespread.
Although Maasai members took the matter to the East African Court of Justice, "the case was dismissed as judges ruled that those evicted could not prove they were outside the park’s boundaries." Facing the injustice in their home country, the Maasai took their complaints to the government’s largest funders, including the European Union and World Bank, successfully urging them to stop sending funds in an effort to pressure the government into halting the targeted violence. Community members continue their campaign to reach more international donors, asking them to defund their government and stop rights violations.
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