The International Land Coalition stands with the Maasai and Hadza peoples of Tanzania, and with everyone who defends their rights. We share the deep concern of our member, the Pastoralists Indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations’ Forum (PINGO’s Forum), and other partners about recent reports of people held for long periods without due process; forced evictions; homes searched without a warrant; enforced disappearances; false criminal charges; and detainees denied lawyers and contact with their families.
On 6 October 2026, police reportedly detained staff of the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), a member of PINGO’s Forum, and others in Arusha, a city in northern Tanzania. At the time, Arusha was hosting the 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global meeting of parliamentarians. According to our partners, the detainees had no access to lawyers or family. Since August, police have reportedly arrested more than 30 Maasai people in Ngorongoro.
Ngorongoro and Loliondo are in northern Tanzania, next to Serengeti National Park and close to the border with Kenya. Maasai pastoralists have lived and grazed their livestock on these lands for generations. In 2022, authorities reportedly evicted Maasai communities from around 1,500 square kilometres of land in Loliondo, which is now used for trophy hunting. Communities still face limits on access to their ancestral lands, grazing areas and sacred sites, and the seizure of their livestock.
The Hadza, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, also live in northern Tanzania. Three Hadza men remain on death row, and partners have raised serious concerns about the fairness of their trial.
Protecting land rights defenders is one of ILC’s ten commitments to people-centred land governance. We advocate for respecting and protecting the civil and political rights of people who defend land rights. Also, for fighting the stigmatisation and criminalisation of peaceful protest and activism, and for ending impunity for harassment, threats, violence, and imprisonment for political reasons.
ILC joins the calls of our member PINGO’s Forum, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) and the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA). We urge the Tanzanian authorities to:
- Release those detained without conditions, and let them contact their lawyers and families
- Explain the legal grounds for the arrests and house searches, and respect due process
- Stop intimidating, harassing and criminalising human rights defenders
- Stop forced evictions in Ngorongoro and Loliondo, and restore health care, schools and water services
- Obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples before any project on their lands
- Give the three Hadza men sentenced to death a fair review of their case and proper legal support
- Protect pastoralists’ right to move with their herds and their customary land rights, as set out in the African Union Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa
We also support the call for the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to visit Tanzania and assess the situation.
Secure land rights for Indigenous Peoples and pastoralists build democracy, justice and resilience. The people who defend these rights deserve protection.