Searchable database of alleged violations against Indigenous Peoples' human rights in protected areas and natural parks.
| Title | Country | Impacted Indigenous People(s) | Short Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Biosphere Reserve | Guatemala | Mayan Indigenous Peoples | In the Maya Biosphere Reserve (Guatemala)—including the core zones Laguna del Tigre and Sierra del Lacandón—tens of thousands of Maya residents were zoned out of ancestral lands when the reserve was created in 1990 without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Since then, communities have faced militarization (state of emergency in LDTNP, Green Battalion in 2011), oil concessions and renewals (Perenco, 2010), criminalization, and repeated forced evictions (2007–2018, e.g., Centro Uno, Nueva Esperanza, Laguna Larga). Families from Laguna Larga, expelled in 2017, remain displaced along the Mexico–Guatemala border despite court orders for relief, while REDD+/carbon and donor-backed “governance” initiatives have coincided with surveillance, joint patrols, and prosecutions that restrict livelihoods. Overlapping pressures—drug trafficking, illegal logging, cattle ranching, and expanding extractives—compound land insecurity, erode cultural rights, and block restitution for Indigenous communities. |
| Messok Dja | Republic of the Congo | Baka | In the proposed Messok Dja Protected Area (Republic of the Congo), Baka Indigenous communities face severe human rights violations under WWF-led conservation programs. Since 2010, efforts to establish the park—without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent—have been accompanied by violence from eco-guards funded by WWF, UNDP, GEF, and the EU. A 2020 UNDP investigation confirmed credible reports of beatings, torture, sexual violence, and killings by rangers against Baka people, as well as destruction of homes and denial of forest access essential for subsistence and culture. Despite the project’s suspension of EU funding, the proposed park remains part of a $21 million Tridom conservation initiative co-financed by multiple international donors. Baka communities continue to report coercion, fear, and dispossession linked to “fortress conservation” and overlapping logging concessions (SEFYD and SIFCO), highlighting systemic violations of land, cultural, and consent rights. |
| Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Area | Uganda | Batwa | In Uganda’s Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Area—comprising the Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks—the Batwa Indigenous people were forcibly evicted from their ancestral forests in 1991 without consultation, compensation, or resettlement. Once hunter-gatherers deeply tied to these lands for food, medicine, and spiritual practices, the Batwa now face landlessness, poverty, and exclusion. Fortress conservation policies deny them forest access, while park guards have used violence and intimidation to enforce restrictions. Reports include shootings, arrests, and criminalization for subsistence hunting. Despite government claims of compensation, the Batwa remain destitute and culturally marginalized. In 2021, Uganda’s Constitutional Court recognized the Batwa as original inhabitants of Bwindi and Mgahinga and affirmed their right to affirmative action and redress, though implementation is still pending. Overlapping conservation tourism and road construction projects continue to threaten Batwa rights to land, culture, and self-determination. |
| Virachey National Park | Cambodia | Hill Tribe People, Brau, Kavet, Kroeung/Kreung | In Virachey National Park (Cambodia), the Brau, Kavet, and Kroeung Indigenous peoples have experienced restrictions on hunting, gathering, and farming since the park’s creation in 1993—actions that have undermined food security, income, and traditional lifeways. Though recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park, its establishment occurred without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, excluding Indigenous custodians from governance despite their deep cultural and spiritual ties to the forest. Communities report being barred from subsistence hunting while commercial poaching by outsiders continues largely unchecked. Emerging threats—including two proposed hydropower dams on the Mekong River and discussions of REDD+ carbon projects—pose further risks to ecological and cultural survival. The Brau, Kavet, and Kroeung continue to call for recognition of land rights, cultural protection, and participation in managing the park that was once their ancestral homeland. |
| Odzala-Kokoua National Park | Republic of the Congo | Baka, Kola | In Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of the Congo), Indigenous Baka and Kola peoples have faced years of violence under African Parks’ militarized management. Eco-guards funded by major donors—including the EU, USAID, and private foundations—have been accused of torture, rape, and killings of locals accessing ancestral lands. A 2024 exposé tied African Parks and affiliated charities to systemic abuse and cover-ups, prompting global outrage. Despite court rulings, victims remain uncompensated, and Indigenous communities continue to demand justice, restitution, and recognition of their rights. |
| Mount Elgon National Park | Uganda | Benet Indigenous People | In Mount Elgon National Park (Uganda), the Benet Indigenous people were forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands without consultation or compensation when the area was converted into a park in 1993. Despite a 2005 High Court ruling recognizing the Benet as the land’s “historical and indigenous inhabitants,” the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) continues violent evictions and enforcement of conservation restrictions. Reports document multiple shootings—including children and farmers—alongside widespread impunity. Health and education services in resettlement zones remain severely inadequate. Although Ugandan courts and policies affirm Indigenous land rights, the government has failed to implement these protections, leaving the Benet landless and marginalized under ongoing “fortress conservation.” |
| Kaeng Krachan National Park | Thailand | Karen - Indigenous Peoples of Bang Kloi | In Kaeng Krachan National Park (Thailand), Karen Indigenous communities of Bang Kloi have faced decades of forced evictions, arson, arrests, and killings under state-led conservation. Despite constitutional and cabinet protections for their ancestral land rights, authorities burned nearly 100 Karen homes in 2011 and expelled families without consent. Activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, who defended the community, was detained and disappeared in 2014; officials linked to his arrest were later acquitted of murder but found negligent in 2023. UNESCO’s 2021 World Heritage designation proceeded despite UN warnings over ongoing human rights violations, leaving the Karen dispossessed and still seeking justice and land restitution. |
| Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary | Cambodia | Bunong | In Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (Cambodia), home to around 12,000 Bunong Indigenous people, REDD+ carbon offsetting and conservation efforts have intensified land disputes. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment jointly manage the sanctuary, selling carbon credits while restricting Indigenous access. Despite laws recognizing Indigenous land rights, economic land concessions and ongoing deforestation persist. Bunong communities report loss of farmland, coerced consent to REDD+ projects, and arrests for subsistence activities. Scholars have called this “bureaucratic violence,” as conservation bureaucracy displaces and marginalizes locals. In 2023, the government halted a marble mining project and expanded the sanctuary, but Bunong land insecurity and exclusion from decision-making remain unresolved. |
| Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary | Cambodia | Koi / Kouy / Kuy Indigenous Peoples | In Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary (Cambodia), the Kuy Indigenous people have faced mass land loss and displacement due to illegal logging and economic land concessions (ELCs) granted to companies like Try Pheap Group, often in violation of Cambodian law. Since 2010, roughly 1,500 Kuy families have been evicted as forestlands were sold and cleared for rubber and rosewood exports. Community leaders, including Heng Saphen, have faced arrests and intimidation for defending Indigenous territory. Despite national laws recognizing Indigenous land rights, enforcement remains absent, while deforestation and new concessions continue under government-backed “protected area” expansions. |
| Bakun Islands National Park | Malaysia | Orang Ulu | In Bakun Islands National Park (Malaysia), the Orang Ulu, including Kenyah and Kayan communities, face ongoing displacement and loss of ancestral lands following the Bakun Dam project and the 2013 plan to gazette 18 surrounding islands as a national park. The move—initiated by then–Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud—occurred without consultation or recognition of Native Customary Rights (NCR), violating Indigenous consent rights under UNDRIP. Logging and dam construction destroyed forests and livelihoods, while the park’s creation is viewed as an attempt to erase remaining Indigenous land claims. Although advocates continue legal and community efforts to reclaim rights, Indigenous residents remain largely excluded from decision-making over their ancestral territories. |
Disclaimer: The Conservation database contains allegations related to human rights violations of indigenous peoples impacted by protected areas, national parks and other conservation measures. Allegations of human rights violations were collected from a wide range of sources, including thematic, country, and fact-finding mission reports submitted by indigenous organizations, individual experts, non-governmental organizations and other civil society actors, newspaper articles, petitions, communications, statements, and other relevant information or materials issued by United Nations independent experts and human rights mechanisms. The information provided in this database does not necessarily reflect the official views of the University of Arizona, the University of Arizona College of Law, or the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, nor is there any guarantee or endorsement of any information or views expressed therein. If you wish to add additional allegations, please reachout to us via email law-conservation@arizona.edu