New DRC Provincial Decree prompts Batwa fears of displacement

Forest Peoples Programmes (FPP), Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), Minority Rights Group (MRG) and Amnesty International (AI), the Oakland Institute and Indigenous Peoples’ Law and Policy Programme (IPLP) have written a joint declaration to express our concern with a recent Provincial Decree which may legitimize violence against the Batwa indigenous peoples in and around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Read the joint declaration

The Batwa people of Kahuzi-Biega in the DRC face ongoing human rights violations that may be exacerbated by a recent Provincial Decree which prohibits activities like resource exploitation within Kahuzi-Biega National Park. While addressing environmental threats, this decree indiscriminately targets everyone, including the Batwa, disregarding their rights to their ancestral lands as affirmed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) and DRC's own 2022 Indigenous Peoples' Protection Law. 

The Provincial Decree’s implementation has prompted fears of renewed violence, repression, and displacement of Batwa communities by local authorities and armed groups, further marginalizing them. 

Historically, the Batwa have been unjustly excluded from their lands under a fortress conservation model, despite evidence of their sustainable stewardship of the forest. Originally the custodians of the forest, they were evicted in the 1970s to create the protected area known as PNKB (Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega). They have been left extremely marginalised and have never been adequately compensated nor offered resettlement options, let alone been allowed to live sustainably on their lands. 

Stripped of their ancestral lands, the Batwa have struggled to sustain their traditional way of life, leading to severe poverty and food insecurity. Efforts to reclaim their rights have often been met with state resistance and violent repression, including reports of beatings, killings, and sexual violence by park authorities and security forces. 

Achieving equitable solutions requires recognizing Batwa rights to their ancestral lands, incorporating their knowledge into conservation strategies, and dismantling extractive networks dominated by powerful actors. Collaborative and participatory approaches are essential to safeguarding the Batwa’s rights and achieving environmental protection goals. Their plight highlights the need for conservation to be based on securing indigenous peoples rights to their lands, and working with them to protect and sustain their lands, rather than based on dispossessing and excluding indigenous communities, and leaving their lands to be at the mercy of more powerful extractive forces.