DRC: respect and protect Batwa!
This statement was delivered by Stefania Carrer on behalf of MRG to the UN Human Rights Council’s 57th Session, under Item 10, the Enhanced ID on report of the High Commissioner on the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Tuesday 8th October 2024.
Watch the video statement or read on for the transcript.
Mister President, Mister High Commissioner,
Minority Rights Group calls the attention of the Council to the situation of the indigenous Batwa of Kahuzi-Biega in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a recent landmark decision, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that the DRC government violated their rights by forcibly evicting them from their ancestral lands to pave the way for the creation and expansion of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB).
Not only has the DRC failed to uphold Batwa people’s right to live on their ancestral land, but the members of the Batwa have been facing severe persecution, displacement and violence by both state agents and park eco-guards. More recently, violence from armed groups seeking to exploit the resources of the park has become a new matter of concern.
Urgent action is needed by the DRC government to ensure that the human rights violations committed against the Batwa of the PNKB are addressed and that they are recognized as equal partners in nature conservation projects at the national level. We urge the DRC government to fully implement the decision of the African Commission, including through the restitution of ancestral territory to the Batwa community, and through the adoption, in consultation with the Batwa people, of a process to demarcate the Batwa people’s ancestral territory and grant relevant title deeds and any related rights.
The DRC must also protect Batwa people from violence and discrimination from park eco-guards and other state agents and hold perpetrators of such violations accountable. We call on this Council to press DRC authorities to abide by its obligations, to implement the African Commission decision and to uphold the rights of its indigenous peoples.
I thank you.
Featured image: A man from the Batwa community walks on felled trees in deforested land on the edge of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. January 2022. Credit: Ed Ram.
