Human Rights Prize of the City of Weimar

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) would like to congratulate the lawyer and Maasai activist   Joseph Moses Oleshangay on being honored with the Human Rights Prize of the City of Weimar: “Joseph Oleshangay has been fighting for the rights of his people since his youth – at great personal risk. We are very happy that the jury of the Human Rights Prize of the City of Weimar acknowledged his commitment,” stated Roman Kühn, the STP’s Director, in Göttingen today. “Mr. Oleshangay is a shining example of courage and selfless commitment. He stands for the self-empowerment of a people that is suffering from violence and state arbitrariness.” Under the guise of environmental protection, the government of Tanzania is currently carrying out another campaign to drive away the indigenous Maasai.

Oleshangay, who is now 34 years old, was arrested several times, and he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt and a planned abduction to the neighboring country Burundi. As a lawyer, he successfully advocated for the Maasai in countless court cases. The outstanding lawyer was able to free many political prisoners from jail. He submitted ten complaints in 2022 alone. Thanks to his commitment, it was possible to ensure that 159 Maasai who were arrested in June and July of 2022 had to be released in November of the same year.

Joseph Moses Oleshangay grew up in a village in the Ngorongoro Reserve. As a child, he took care of his parents’ cattle, before he was sent to school at the age of ten. According to him, he had the privilege of being able to pursue further education – in contrast to most other Maasai children. Today, he is a lawyer who is well-known beyond Tanzania. In his teenage years, he was outraged about the human rights violations against the Maasai in the entire Ngorongoro Reserve.  

Cattle are the livelihood of the Maasai. If cattle is stolen, this can be like a death sentence for the owners. The government of Tanzania and gamekeepers in the various reserves and national parks use this to strategically starve out the Maasai and to force them to flee or resettle.

The STP, which is involved in the jury of the Weimar Human Rights Prize, had nominated Joseph Moses Oleshangay as this year’s prize winner.