Maasai lawyer Joseph Oleshangay awarded Weimar Human Rights Prize

On 10 December 2023 – Human Rights Day – the Maasai lawyer Joseph Moses Oleshangay was awarded the Weimar Human Rights Prize at a ceremony in Weimar, Germany. He was part of the Maasai delegation that made an advocacy tour in Europe in May–June 2023 (see Maasai advocacy tour in Europe generates solidarity).

Oleshangay has been campaigning for many years against the evictions of Maasai pastoralists from their traditional land in northern Tanzania. As a member of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania, he is also involved in providing legal advice and documenting human rights violations in his country. His tireless efforts to improve the human rights situation in Tanzania have been honoured by the City of Weimar.

Oleshangay expressed his thanks for this recognition of his work, and said that he regarded the prize as a collective award for his community, his fellow lawyers and international allies, including journalists reporting on human rights abuses in Tanzania. As a message for his German audience, he also highlighted the colonial origins of the current mode of nature conservation. Referring to the recent apology offered by the German President for atrocities committed in Tanzania during the colonial period, Oleshangay encouraged everyone to act on injustices now, including refusing that German taxpayers’ money be used to support forced evictions and human rights violations. Watch his keynote address here.

Posted on 16 December 2023 in News, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure