Nomadic territories: a human rights approach to nomadic peoples’ land rights

In most societies nomadic peoples face discrimination. At the heart of this discrimination frequently lies the crucial issue of property in land. The sharing of lands between nomads and settled agriculturalist societies has often led to violent confrontation. Access to land is a determining factor for many nomadic peoples as whether or not nomads have access to land will determine the survival of their mobile lifestyle. Historically nomadic peoples have not been regarded as having any rights to land because their nomadic lifestyle was not considered to fulfil the criterion of ‘effective occupation’ of the land. By exploring the evolution of international law regarding nomadic peoples’ land rights, this article analyses how human rights law could provide nomadic peoples with rights to use their lands. Ultimately, this article argues that under the banner of international human rights law, nomadic peoples are gaining the right to live on their land in their traditional ways through the gradual establishment of a specific corpus of law dedicated to the rights of nomads.