Stop torture of 'Pygmy' peoples
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 15:20
- Written by editor
Email not displaying properly? r18.
Survival Tribes News Act Now Donate
Dear Supporter,
‘Ecoguards' and soldiers in Cameroon are harassing, torturing and sometimes even killing forest-dwelling Baka ‘Pygmies', for hunting in the national parks that have been created on their land. A government official has openly admitted that torture is used to obtain information about poaching. Survival is launching an urgent new campaign called ‘Parks Need People’ to put a stop to this violence.
Many conservationists believe that ‘protected’ areas need to be kept ‘pristine’ and free of all human activity, except tourism. We disagree - the evidence in fact shows that tribal peoples are the best conservationists. It is no coincidence that 70% of the world’s richest ‘ecoregions’ are inhabited by indigenous communities. Yet despite this correlation, tribal peoples are still evicted and barred from their lands, to ‘protect’ these so called ‘natural’ areas and open them to tourism.
National parks in Cameroon were created on Baka ancestral lands without their consent. The Baka, who hunted and gathered a vast range of forest produce, are now criminalised for hunting for food, gathering forest medicines or materials to build their houses, even for tending their ancestors’ graves.
Separated from their lands, tribal peoples' worlds fall apart. In the words of Baka man Mbaya Gaston, ‘Now we are falling ill because of the change in our diet. Our skin doesn’t like the sun and life in the village. In the forest we are healthy and put on weight. Now no one is strong, everyone looks ill. We are forced to drink to forget our troubles.’
The situation is becoming much worse for tribal peoples around the world as governments use ‘conservation’ as the justification for land grabs.
Excluding tribal people from conservation areas not only violates their rights, it is also counterproductive when it comes to protecting the environment. But we need your support to ensure our campaign succeeds.
With your donations we will campaign for international organizations to respect and secure the land rights of tribal peoples, and ensure that the significant funds given for conservation do not contribute to suffering and violence.
Please help us. We’re the only organization that champions tribal peoples around the world. And we won’t give up until we all have a world where tribal peoples are respected and their human rights protected. No amount is too small.
Yours,
Stephen Corry
Director
Survival International USA, 2325 3rd Street, Suite 401, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
T +1 415 503 1254
Survival International, 6 Charterhouse Buildings, LONDON, UK, EC1M 7ET
T +44(0)20 7687 8700
www.survivalinternational.org
