In 2004, hunter-gatherer and post-hunter-gatherer peoples of Kenya formed a network to advocate for their recognition as peoples and their rights as indigenous peoples in keeping with international instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

HUGAFO unites indigenous minority groups including the Sengwer, Ogiek, Elmolo, Malakote, Aweer (also called Dahalo), Yiaku and Waata. HUGAFO is developing outreach initiatives to neighbouring indigenous peoples in Uganda (Ik and Batwa), to Tanzania (Hadzabe and Akiek) and into southern Ethiopia (Manjo and other bee keepers).

Our goal is to lobby and advocate for higher recognition in the larger Kenyan society. We are making an explicit link between human rights, citizenship, cultural self-determination and the sustainable use and conservation of Kenya’s biological diversity, including the forests and water systems.

East African hunter-gatherers were classified as ‘Dorobo’ peoples during the colonial era. The word ‘Dorobo’ has negative connotations and is derived from a Maa term ‘il Torobo’, referring to people without cattle, or hunter-gatherers.

Under British colonial rule, the Dorobo Commission explored the situation of hunter-gatherer peoples and came to the conclusion that they should not be encouraged to survive into future centuries. Their lands were divided into different administrative units with a preference that agricultural peoples should take over their lands. After decolonisation, the new African states, which were almost exclusively composed of agricultural peoples, perpetuated the marginalisation and non-recognitions of East Africa’s first peoples.

Today, like many other African indigenous peoples, the hunter-gatherers of East Africa are not formally recognised by the State and find themselves in a vulnerable situation politically, economically and culturally.

One of the reasons that East African hunter-gatherers feel that they should be united is that there is heavy pressure on Kenya’s last forests. Local and international interests have been allowed to legally or illicitly extract timber in such a manner that Kenya is in an ecological crisis. Major rivers in Kenya are drying up because of poor natural resource management, deforestation and the spread of unsustainable agriculture. Most of HUGAFO’s members live in forests, by rivers, or in the mountains.

Since inception, HUGAFO has established networks and platforms among its membership for information exchange. A delegation of Hunter-gatherer peoples held meetings with the Kenyan Minister of Justice during the Constitutional review process. HUGAFO has organized the participation of its members in the on-going National Land Policy Process which is government driven but with windows for non-state actors.

Through its links to the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) network and movements such as African Biodiversity Network and Shalin Ry, HUGAFO recognises that indigenous peoples’ issues need to be understood locally, but also in a global context. The destruction of natural resources in Kenya is facilitated by government but it has an international dimension, with exports of timber products going all over the world.

HUGAFO has committed itself to raising the voice of indigenous peoples at the up-coming World Social Forum.