ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two cases of African Commission, namely Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria and Centre for Minority Rights Development v Kenya. In both cases, the Commission has broken its longstanding silence on socio-economic rights and in doing so has also ventured into the applicability of sustainable development principles in factual situations where environmental rights and the right to development have played major role. The Enderois community, comprising approximately 60,000 people, lived for centuries near Lake Bogoria in Kenya where they followed a pastoral way of life in which the lake area formed an integral part of their religious and traditional practices. Legal title to land is central to enjoyment of property rights. Without legal certainty of title, freedom to dispose of natural resources and right to economic development will remain tenuous and open to exploitation. It is for these reasons that African Commission's engagement with security of land tenure in Enderois case has high significance.
