Meet lawyers behind the Endorois case

By Alex KiprotichThe ruling by the African Commission that the Government recognise the rights of the Endorois community to their ancestral land is unprecedented.With the ruling, groups like Ogoni in Nigeria, and Nubians and Ogieks in Kenya now have hope of getting justice after years of neglect.Cynthia Morel joins women in a dance during the historic celebtations on the shores of Lake Bogoria. But the Endorois’ victory did not come on a silver platter. It took the sheer will and determination of two lawyers to win the case.And as the community celebrated their victory on the shores of Lake Bogoria last weekend, the two watched silently from the crowd.Cynthia Morel and Korir Singo’ei’s hardwork had paid."It is awesome seeing a community which had lost hope rise up again, pick up the pieces," says Morel.Common causeMorel, a French Canadian, and Sing’oei, a Kenyan from Kobos village bordering Trans Nzoia and Pokot districts, were united by a common cause: Fight for the voiceless. And despite numerous challenges, ranging from financial constraints to pressure to drop the case, the lawyers persevered as they battled a government with immense resources. In the end, it resembled the biblical battle between Goliath and David."No donor was willing to finance us because they were cynical of our success. Nobody thought we could win the case," says Sing’oei.Morel who represented the Endorois in the case. Photo: James Keyi/Standard"We did not have enough money. We ran the case on less than £50,000 per year, which included my London-based salary, staff programme costs, overhead costs, flights to the African Commission, trips to Kenya and to the community," says Morel.For thousands of the Endorois who savoured their victory, they were not aware of the two lawyers and the difficulties they underwent to win the case.Sacrificed relationshipsThe lawyers spent seven years in the African Commission corridors of justice in Banjul, Gambia, representing the community they hardly knew.They sacrificed their relationships as they spent days in hotel rooms far way from home."Spending the bulk of your time in airports and hotels tests your relationships to the limit, but my husband has been incredibly supportive of my work. The same can be said of the rest of my family," says Morel.For Sing’oei, it meant his seven-year-old son, who was born just at the time the hearing started in Banjul, grew up with the mother alone. "My son did not have a chance to grow and be close with the father at the crucial stage of his early life," he says. Morel, who did her undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa, and LLM at the University of Essex in the UK, says there were too many low points.Sing’oei, a former student of Moi High School-Kabarak, says the case called for immense sacrifice. "It was a complex case in terms of historical issues which we knew little. We needed to do intensive research," he says."We needed to get access to archival materials, which was so difficult as the Government denied us access."The Government frustrated their efforts as it employed delaying tactics in filing its papers in the African Commission.Korir Sing’oei who represented the Endorois in the case. Photo: James Keyi/StandardThey received threats to drop the case. "We started getting messages urging us to abandon the case because we were not going anywhere," he says.Organised leadershipThe two lawyers met at a time each was setting up different programmes.Singo’ei was setting up Centre for Minority Rights and Development in Kibera (he was at the time working on the Nubian case) while Morel was coming up with a litigation programme to draw colleagues running advocacy in East Africa."In 2003, I launched an international call for cases. Korir answered the call with the proposal of working with the Endorois community. As I read on, the one thing that drew me to the case was the fact that the community enjoyed well organised leadership," says Morel.Born in 1975, Sing’oei attended Kabuyefwe Primary School before joining Kabarak High School in 1990.He then proceeded to University of Nairobi to study law graduating in 1999. In 2007, he studied human rights law at the University of Pretoria before joining University of Minnesota for a Masters in law. He is working on his PhD.For Morel who now works with Open Society Justice Initiative, the win meant a bright future for all those whose governments continue to trample on their rights."That recognition is a victory for all indigenous peoples across Africa whose existence is largely ignored," she says.The two are pursuing the Nubian case in the African Commission, the Wagalla Massacre and the Ogiek case.

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