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On 15th August 2015, two leaders of the Rapa Nui Parliament (an Indigenous resistance group for Rapa Nui self-determination) by the names Leviante Araki and Mario Tuki, were arrested for impeding access to the ceremonial site of Orongo to a group of tourists who had not agreed to pay the entrance to the Parliament of Rapa Nui.^[1] The Chilean Ministry of the Interior subsequently closed the Parliament of Rapa Nui and deployed police forces across the island to repress any further organizing. In 2015, the Indian Law Resource Centre supported a claim to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) aimed at seeking recognition of Indigenous rights to collective property over the whole territory. 

While the transfer of park management to the Ma’u Henua Indigenous Community in 2018 represents an important step towards Indigenous land repatriation, it still falls short of the IACHR's demands for full collective property. In 2020, the management of the National Park by Ma’u Henua was subject to scrutiny from other Indigenous community members due to embezzled funds and corruption, leading to a courtroom being set on fire in local protests.^[2]

In 2022, a fire spread through 100 acres of Rapa Nui destroying some moai. A lack of emergency resources on the island worsened its spread. It is believed to have been started by an arson attack.^[3]

Fourteen Sab Wai villagers, a small farming community living off their land within the Sai Thong National Park since the 1970s, were first accused of forest encroachment in 2016 and subsequently jailed in 2019. They were released on bail.

In 2021, the Supreme Court sentenced 11 villagers to suspended jail terms and 3 villagers to prison

terms. In 2022, villagers faced the imminent threat of forced evictions from their homes and lands, as well as reprisals. The villagers still live on their land, though the uncertainty of the land tenure, imprisonment, the legal and administrative battle, and reprisals against them have taken a toll on their mental health. 

There is minimal online documentation as to specific violations that have occurred under park management since Conkouati-Douli’s inception, however, a 2017 report by The Rainforest Foundation UK titled ‘The Human Cost of Conservation in Republic of Congo’ provides an extensive historical overview of issues with the park and its poor treatment of Indigenous communities. While it is somewhat outdated, particularly following the 2018 change in management, anyone interested in further learning about Conkouati-Douli National Park and its history of green colonialism should read this report. The Rainforest Foundation outlines that the approximately 7,000-8,000 people who live in and near the park have suffered under its outdated management plans, which have poorly communicated the laws impacting local inhabitants and their rights to enter and sustain their livelihoods across the National Park ecologies. Food insecurity, poverty, and hunger are worsening issues Restrictions in place have had a detrimental impact on Indigenous lifeways and subsistence activities, such as hunting and gathering. On the coastal side of the park, the village of Tandou-Ngouma’s inhabitants have reported decreases in fish and agricultural harvests due to the protected area’s restrictions. Due to the inadequate co-management of the park under WCS, farmers in the region have had issues with elephants from the National Park destroying their produce, and livestock, and even causing danger to the community itself. Economic displacement has been extensive and funds garnered by the National Park through tourism and unlawful oil concessions have not delivered reparation of the damage and losses to livelihood endured by affected communities. 

Concessions for seismic testing, the storage of building materials, and the extraction of natural resources such as oil within the buffer zone of the park have been regularly approved by the Government without any consultation process with Indigenous communities to ensure their free, prior and informed consent. This is also a violation of Article 5 of the Conkouati-Douli creation decree, which denies any permit to be authorized within the buffer zone.  At the time of the report’s creation, it was reported that ten families from the village of Koutou had seen their lands dispossessed and expropriated from the establishment of Sintoukola Potash, a large Congolese-based potash mining project being developed by UK-led mining company Kore Potash. Sintoukola Potash has been carrying out exploration activities in the Kouilou region since 2009, and their prospecting activities within the eco-development and buffer zones of Conkouati-Douli caused a gas explosion in 2015, requiring the evacuation of the Koutou village in which their places were looted and crops destroyed. 

Eco-guards in Conkouati-Douli are notorious for exceeding their powers and overstepping the laws to attack communities, often hounding people in the forest and unlawfully seizing their game and products for their own profit (ie. to only sell this game at the market stalls in Pointe-Noire themselves). In 2009, a young resident from the Koutou village was carrying smoked gazelle meat and was intercepted by eco-rangers who then severely beat and injured him. A protest by members of the Youbi, Kouta, and Sintoukola villages was arranged denouncing arrests and violence by eco-rangers, to which the station’s chief ordered the eco-guards to fire on the protests. Three villagers were killed and two others were seriously wounded. The eco-guards responsible for the killings were detained but then quickly set free, many returning to work at different posts within the park. No formal trial was held despite the families’ efforts to open an investigation.^[1] 

There is little public record of violations that have occurred within Ob Khan National Park against Indigenous communities, however, the park expansion project being proposed by the Thailand Government is of great concern and has been widely opposed by the Karen Indigenous communities surrounding the Ob Khan boundaries. According to Indigenous rights activist Patchara Kumchumnam, propaganda against Indigenous custodianship and land management is prolific. "The government said they have to occupy the land and the current National Park, because if you let the Indigenous people manage their own land, they will destroy the soil or the forest but in fact, the people have lived there for hundreds of years and the national resources are still beautiful." Expanding the park’s jurisdiction would have a destructive impact on Indigenous livelihoods, forcing the villagers to reduce their reliance on traditional farming practices (such as rotational farming or slash-and-burn farming) and therefore food sovereignty.^[1]Spiritual practices would also be disrupted - according to Kumchumnan the lands subject to expansion contain “a children's cemetery, for instance, that very few can enter, and certain trees that are considered connected to human spirits and cannot be cut down. Under the parks department’s governance, villagers worry they would lose the comfort and privacy of these spaces, as well as the freedom to manage spiritual sites as they see fit.” 

In January 2023, village leaders filed a complaint against the Ob Khan National Park Department charging that officials mishandled a 2022 land survey meant to gauge public opinion on the park’s expansion. An investigation by the Thailand National Human Rights Commission into whether the Government violated the villager’s rights and withheld critical information regarding the survey is currently underway.^[2]

On October 18th, 2022, there was a public hearing conducted with stakeholders involved, including Indigenous communities, at the Samoeng district office meeting hall in Chiang Mai. Indigenous people from different villages were unanimously opposed to the proposal to expand the protected area boundary. Mr. Sira Pongpanit, village headman of Moo. 5 requested that 3,891 ha. be mapped out from the Ob Khan National Park and protected as Indigenous land. “It is our spiritual land. We have taken good care of this for a long time…We would like the officers to see us as forest caretakers, not encroachers… that way we can mutually work together.^[3] 

In June 2019, 14 Orang Asli people from Kg Kuala Kol died and 46 were hospitalized from what was assumed by officials to be an outbreak of a respiratory illness. However, residents expressed concerns that the deadly illness had been caused by water source contamination from manganese mining activities, pollution which had been confirmed by the deputy water, land, and natural resources minister at the time.^[1]  The illness was identified by the Malaysian Health Ministry a month later as measles, however, concerns regarding the impact of water contamination and poor health outcomes remain given the exploitative industrial activity and lack of buffer zones around the Taman Negara National Park.^[2]As stated by Colin Nicholas, founder of the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, the deaths are “a direct outcome of what happens when an Indigenous community’s rights to the customary lands are not recognized, and the land destroyed and depleted in the name of progress and development.” 

The Orang Asli Indigenous Peoples have been violently targeted by the state in recent years for their organizing against deforestation, despite being systematically removed and restricted from their ancestral lands such as Taman Negara in the name of fortress conservation. The logging and palm oil industry continues to have a devastating impact on the ecologies of Taman Negara, which does not have an effective buffer zone, as well as the health and livelihoods of the Orang Asli. 

In March 2017, activist groups and Indigenous peoples, particularly the Temiar Indigenous community (of the Orang Asli Indigenous peoples), resisted deforestation by setting up road blockade camps in local forest reserves within Kelantan State. Forestry police reportedly tore down three blockade camps set up by the Temiar community. In November 2017, The State Forestry Department stopped issuing permits to enter forest reserve areas where the Orang Asli live, allegedly in response to the blockades.^[3] In January 2017, Film director Jules Ong was arrested for filming a blockade being demolished by forestry officials. On January 17, 2017, Lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim won a high court judgment against logging company Jejarang Wagasan, confirming Orang Asli's possession of the land. However, forestry officials defied the court order and dismantled three blockades, arresting 16 Temiar individuals.

In 2011, the Dukha were first told by Mongolian government officials that they could no longer hunt in the area because it had become a national preserve - against their informed consent. Additionally, they were informed they could only herd reindeer in three specific spots and could not take them past the Tengis River and Gugned Valley. To ensure the Dukha couldn’t hunt, the government forbade them from bringing their dogs to guard the reindeer.^[1]

In or around mid-2016, five Dukha hunters were arrested for poaching while in search of food. They have since returned to the Dukha settlement but face up to five years in prison and a hefty fine for breaking the hunting laws.^[2]

In recent years, the conservation strategy of the park has become increasingly militarized and reportedly built upon a coordinated network of extra judicial killings - as raised by the National Alliance of People’s Movements, ‘Order’ dt. 14/7/2010 issued by the Govt. of Assam granted legal immunity to all the forest guards of Kaziranga for the use of firearms. This has impacted Indigenous peoples who have been dislocated from their ancestral lands and will occasionally cross over the border to retrieve cattle or collect firewood, such as the extra-judicial killing of Gaonburha Kealing in December 2013 that sparked protests among tribal groups and student unions such as All Assam Tribal Sangha.^[1]

More than 100 extra judicial killings would have been perpetrated by the park authorities in the last 20 years^[2].  The documentary “Our World, Killing for Conservation” reported that 96 people would have been killed by armed parked rangers in Kaziranga over the past nine years, with 42 people killed between 2014 and 2015 alone. In July 2016, a seven year old boy was traveling through one of the villages bordering the park would have been shot by one of the guards, sustaining a calf injury that has severely impacted his ability to walk.  Following the release of this documentary, BBC India was banned from filming in tiger reserves for five years.^[3]

Multiple evictions have taken place against communities that live within and on the borders of the National Park. In 2015, following a court order, with a notice issued 10 days prior to the eviction (in some cases families were not notified at all and compensation was not offered), the Government of Assam evicted 300 families in the park buffer zone and demolished their livelihoods. Some peoples were reportedly hit with sticks by armed police officers and park rangers. 1,800 police officers were reportedly deployed against protesting families. When the peoples protested, the police opened fire on them, allegedly killing two indigenous peoples and injuring 19 others during the clashes.^[4]  Despite promises, the Government would have never resettled villagers or secured new land ownership . Reporting via Land Conflict Watch noted that “a total of 331 houses were reportedly razed to the ground, of which 35 families had land rights.^[5]” Indigenous communities bordering the park are reportedly continuously threatened with evictions. In 2019, a similar Supreme Court order was issued for the further eviction of families living at Kaziranga, many who had previously lost their lands to the park. The eviction process started in 2022 and was halted this year.^[6] In September 2020, following an expansion of the park, a new eviction order was issued to displace hundreds of peoples.

In 1972, a high number Jenukurubas and Yerawas were reportedly evicted from the Nagarhole National Park without their consent and without compensation just after the passing of the Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA) in 1972, the first wildlife law that bans every activity within the park, denying the local communities access and use of their customary forest rights[1].  A total number of 3,418 families were allegedly displaced between the 70s and 80s[2] very far from any forest areas. When the park was declared Tiger reserve, a new round of relocation started in 1999 and lasted until 2010. An additional 487 tribal families were evicted or displaced out of the Park[3]. 

In January 2014, another village of 28 Jenu Kuruba families were allegedly forcibly evicted to resettle some 100 kms away in Hebbala resettlement centre.[4] Several Jenukuruba families who had been evicted from their forest villages have made several attempts to go back on their ancestral lands in the Park they but would have been beaten and harassed whenever they attempted such a comeback[5].

In the last three decades, indigenous communities have faced a huge amount of death threats, harassment, false criminal charges  aimed at silencing their leaders and stopping them from organising themselves for their rights. Some members and leaders of Budakattu Krishikara Sangha have had to live with the spectre of long prison sentences hanging over them.[6][7][8]. 

In 2021 a Jenu Kuruba man living near Nagarhole, was shot by forest officials in retaliation for defending his sister when she was harassed by the guards.^[9]  In 2022, another Jenu Kuruba Kariyappa, died in custody allegedly due to the torture by forest staff at Nagarahole Tiger Reserve Range Forest Office in N Beguru [10]. In 2023, Maasti, another Jenu Kuruba tribe was allegedly executed by forest rangers while he went fishing[11]. In the last few years at least 8 Indigenous persons have reportedly shot dead by the Forest Dept officials without criminal conviction in any of these cases nor any compensation to the families^[12]. 

Jenu Kurubas are prevented visiting their burial grounds and sacred places in the forest^[13]. The Kuruba’s have long worshipped their sacred deity “Doddamma thai’ and ‘Kureche wodeya’ inside the forests. On 19th May, 2022, around ten families from Hebbala and Shetthalli centres decided to offer their prayer and conduct rituals to their sacred deities inside the Nagarhole forests.  The Jenu Kurubas were stopped at the DB Kuppe check gate by the forest department guards and officials[14].

There has been an extensive history of Indigenous displacement and dispossession since the creation of the Tiger Reserve in 1974, however, most of the documented violations have occurred in the past twenty years. 

In 2001, the Bori, Kund and Koha villages were reportedly relocated and in 2003 the process of relocating the Vairat, Churni and Dhargad villages commenced in 2003. 

In 2007, the Maharashtra government passed a resolution to relocate a further 87 villages from the main region designated a tiger reserve. Compensation of INR 10 lakh (12000 USD today) were offered to eligible families, however, Indigenous communities resisted removal and sought to reclaim their land under the Forest Rights Act 2006. These rights were largely rejected and the families were designated ‘encroachers’ to be forcibly relocated. A total of 1360 families were reportedly evicted in 2008^[1].Since relocation, many Indigenous families have been subject to poverty and discrimination (especially in seeking employment) and have not been offered full compensation as promised. As the government has continued to displace tribal villages forcibly and with inadequate compensation and rehabilitation, Indigenous peoples have continued to organize in resistance and recognition of their land rights. 

 In 2015, families who could not proof their lands status in the villages of Dhakna, Sawrya, Bhandum, Borikheda, Gadgabhandum, Dabhiya, Dolar and Gadgamalur located in the reserve were allegedly removed by Special Protection Forces. In 2016, forest department officials allegedly burnt down the home of an Indigenous family built on forest lands and a park officer was arrested on rape charges.  In June 2017, nearly 600 families were relocated from Rohinkhidki village in the Amot wildlife division. The same year over 1200 Indigenous people returned to their ancestral forest lands and set up an occupation movement lasting 36 hours.  Impacted communities were reportedly not consulted and did not give their consent. Reported human rights violations would include torture, arbitrary arrests, intimidations, threats; criminalization, confiscation of livestock and filed criminal cases against villagers^[2].  In January 2019, relocated tribal people demanded the forest department to return their land. Protests reportedly turned violent, with around 40 forest guards and members of the State Reserve Police Force getting injured.^[3] In 2019, state police were deployed against another protest where 40 people were reportedly injured and 20 Indigenous land protectors were arrested. Throughout the timespan of dislocation, Indigenous peoples have furthermore been allegedly violently harassed and assaulted by forest department and local law enforcement officials, arrested, and reportedly ill-treated and tortured while in custody. In August 2022, Ankush Gorelal Mavaskar, a 25 year old Indigenous youth was tortured by forest staff when went fishing in the Wan forest area under Akot wildlife division of Melghat Tiger Reserve.