UK Govt Sued for Colonial Land Theft In Kenya

Deutsche Welle reports that a group of Kenyans has filed a suit against the British government at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

They are seeking an investigation and eventual compensation for land stolen under colonial rule. The ECHR is not a European Union body, and the UK is party to it.

Much of the land taken in Kericho is now home to tea plantations that make foreign corporations millions every year, as Kenya is the world's leading black tea exporter by volume.

The UN has said more than half a million Kenyans from the Kericho area suffered gross human rights violations, including unlawful killings and displacement, during British colonial rule, which ended in 1963. Many continue to suffer economic consequences from the theft of their land, the UN has also said.

The British government has rarely apologised, or offered redress for crimes committed by its colonial forces.

However, in 2013, it agreed on a multimillion-dollar compensation settlement for Kenyans tortured by British soldiers during an uprising that occurred shortly before the end of colonial rule.

InFocus

Teapickers near Kericho (file photo).

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