Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Africa (Iwgia Document Series)

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.