This weekend, about 150 Sengwer Indigenous People walked to Nairobi to deliver a petition to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The petition, signed by 270,000 people, requests recognition of their land rights in the Embobut Forest.
Tag: Sengwer

Kenya’s REDD programme risks exacerbating violence against indigenous Sengwer communities in Embobut forest
Since January 2014, Kenya Forest Service guards have carried out a series of violent evictions of the Sengwer indigenous people from their homes in Embobut forest. While the evictions took place the Kenya Forest Service was funded by international donors, including the World Bank, the European Union, and the Finnish government.

Threats of eviction against indigenous Sengwer people continue in Kenya
The Sengwer indigenous people who live in the Embobut forest in the western highlands of Kenya continue to face threats of violence and evictions. The latest round of violent evictions started at the end of December 2017. The evictions, carried out by the Kenya Forest Service, are supposedly in the name of “conservation”.

Human rights and environmental organisations urge Finland to stop funding the Kenya Forest Service following human rights abuses of indigenous Sengwer people
Last week, the EU suspended funding to a conservation and climate project in Kenya. The suspension came after Kenya Forest Service guards shot and killed Robert Kirotich, an indigenous Sengwer man. Yesterday, human rights and environmental organisations wrote to the Finnish government calling for the suspension of Finland’s €9.5 million “Private Forestry and Forest Enterprise…

Kenyan government to send elite security forces against unarmed indigenous Sengwer in Embobut forest: “Anyone found in the forest will be deemed to be a criminal and will be ‘dealt with’”
Last week the EU suspended funding to its Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme in Kenya. The EU suspended funding to the €31 million project after Kenya Forest Service guards shot and killed Robert Kirotich, a 41-year-old indigenous Sengwer man. Another man was wounded.