Milka Chepkorir (born 1990) is an anthropologist, climate and human right activist. Her activism was further known when she became representative for

Sengwer People The Sengwer people (also known as Cherang'any and previously as Sekker, Siger, Sigerai, Segelai, Senguer, Senguel and Jangwel) are an indigenous community who primarily live in the Embobut forest in the western highlands of Kenya and in scattered ...

who lives around Embobut and Kapolet Forest to defend their right after being forcefully evicted by

Kenya Forest Service The Kenya Forest Service is an agency of the Government of Kenya designated by the Forest Act of 2005 as the replacement for the old Forest Department. It is overseen by the Board of the Kenya Forest Service. The former Forest Department was suppor ...

(KFS).

Background and education

Chepkorir belong to Sengwer People from Kapolet Forest. She lives in Kitale, Kenya. She got Bachelor of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

degree from

Maseno University Maseno University is a public university based in the Maseno district of the city of Kisumu, Kenya, situated along the Equator. It was fully fledged as a university in 2001, after being a constituent college of Moi University for a decade. It is o ...

. Currently, she is studying a Masters in Gender and Development Studies at the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi. It is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent univer ...

under JHW initiative's grant.

Activism

Her activism started when she was still in high school. Thought, her activism was further known when she became one of fellow for UN Human Rights Office Indigenous Fellowship Programme in 2016. Through this fellowship, she attend 16th United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York and report lack of implementation on Indigenous right by UN by representing Forest Peoples Programme, Natural Justice and 20 other organisations. She also shares the infringement of KFS where they burn 90 homes of Sengwer people which started when European Union and World bank funding them. She returned on 17th United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on 2018 and report the mistreatment of Kenyan Forest Service by forcefully evicting Sengwer People from their ancestral land. Sengwer people has face a coupled of eviction caused of Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme funded by

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. This forced eviction was done by KFS and from Chepkorir's statement:

"They took a six-year-old boy and went around burning houses with him after his mother fled. They left him in the forest at night alone"

Following this report, EU suspended the project.

Career

Currently, she works as Coordinator of Community Land Action NOW! (CLAN), Coordinator for Defending Territories of Life and also advisor for Agroecology fund.

References

{{Authority control Living people 1990 births Indigenous rights activists Youth climate activists Kenyan women environmentalists People from Kitale Maseno University alumni