Human Rights and the Environment in the Ogiek Case: Implications for Property Rights in Queensland

Human Rights and the Environment in the Ogiek Case: Implications for Property Rights in Queensland

This article focuses on property rights protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and now the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld).

In 2017, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights decided that the Kenyan government’s forced eviction of the Indigenous Ogiek people from their ancestral lands violated their property rights under the African Charter. The Court found that the right to property may be collective and individual, include Indigenous ancestral lands, and prevail over unsupported environmental claims. Indigenous land-related rights may also be supported by the free, prior and informed consent principle.

This article suggests that international law and decisions such as Ogiek may guide interpretations of property rights under Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019, taking the comparative approach permitted under its statutory framework. Could Queensland’s right to property also protect Indigenous peoples’ rights to traditional lands and resources?

Human Rights and the Environment in the Ogiek Case: Implications for Property Rights in Queensland