Members of the Maasai community, dressed in traditional clothing, participate in the Maasai Age-Set Ceremony held in the Rift Valley region in the Kajiado region of northern Kenya on April 19, 2026. [AFP]
Tanzania must halt forced evictions of Maasai Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands and address reported abuses by law enforcement, a United Nations watchdog said Friday.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) voiced alarm at longstanding reported violations, including relocations, as well as restrictions on access to ancestral lands and natural resources.
It said Maasai opposing evictions and relocations had repeatedly faced arbitrary arrests and detention, reprisals, intimidation and harassment.
The committee also cited reports of racial profiling and racially-motivated excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.
"Restrictions on access to grazing areas, water sources and cultural sites, together with the reduction or deterioration in the provision of health care, education, water and other essential services in the Ngorongoro conservation area, have adversely affected their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and pressured them to relocate from their ancestral lands," CERD said in a statement.
Tanzania has historically allowed indigenous communities such as the Maasai to live within some national parks, including Ngorongoro, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
But the authorities say their growing population is encroaching on wildlife habitat and began moving the pastoralists out of Ngorongoro in 2022, calling it a voluntary relocation.