Central African Republic (CAR)

By Samuel Nnah Ndobe

The notion of indigenous people has sometimes been controversial in Africa. There are some opinions that consider all Africans as indigenous people liberated from colonial powers, while others simply stress that it is very difficult to determine who is indigenous in Africa. The setting up in 2001 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) of a Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and the Group’s report submitted to and adopted by the ACHPR in 2003 have brought a new perspective to this problem. In this report for the first time there was a unanimous acceptance of the existence of indigenous peoples in Africa and this kicked off discussions on how countries could begin to integrate the rights of these peoples into the human rights mainstream. The indigenous peoples of Central Africa include the mostly hunter gatherer peoples commonly called the “Pygmies” and a number of pastoralist peoples. These peoples still suffer discrimination experienced through the dispossession of their land and destruction of their livelihoods, cultures and identities, extreme poverty, lack of access to and participation in political decision-making and lack of access to education and health facilities.

Introduction
Forest Peoples Programme staff have recently returned from two weeks in the Central African Republic where we were working with the Bayaka Community Union and the World Wildlife Fund in the context of the EU-funded, Government of Central Africa Republic-implemented, and WWF-supported Dzanga Sangha project in which FPP is a partner. The objective of the EU project is to promote and improve local and especially indigenous livelihoods and sustainable development in the Dzanga Special Reserve in the context of increased protection for community rights, along with improved access to health and education services. The project is especially targeting the indigenous population of Bayaka forest huntergatherer communities, and the Sangha Sangha people, now a minority group traditionally based predominately along the rivers of the region. This EU project is one of a number of donor-funded projects implemented by the government, with technical and financial support from WWF, which together enable the Dzanga- Sangha Special Reserve to operate.

This series of eight country studies and a synthesis report review the progress of the application of indigenous peoples' rights with regards to protected areas since 2003. By considering the views of governments, funding agencies, conservation organisations and indigenous peoples' organisations, these studies assesses the extend to which recommendations and resolutions from the Durban 2003 World Parks Congress, the 4th World Conservation Congress in Barcelona and the Convention on Biological Diversity have been followed up on and enacted.

This report is part of a series of country-specific reports produced by the African Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities.