The Permanent Forum takes note of the progressive decisions made by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in favour of the collective rights of indigenous peoples. The Forum is concerned about the lack of implementation and urges the Government of Kenya to fully implement its decisions on applications 006/2012 (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Republic of Kenya) and 276/03 (Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group (on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council) v. Kenya).
Given the anniversary of such an important milestone for Member States and indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum encourages those States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) to consider doing so.
As consistently suggested during the dialogue with Member States, the Permanent Forum invites States to consider ways of addressing disputes between them and indigenous peoples. Suggestions included, among others, setting up independent conflict resolution mechanisms to resolve disputes between States and indigenous peoples (in accordance with article 27 of the Declaration and paragraph 21 of the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples), implementing the Forum’s recommendations for better addressing such disputes and increasing the involvement of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes.