Searchable database of alleged violations against Indigenous Peoples' human rights in protected areas and natural parks.
| Title | Country | Impacted Indigenous People(s) | Short Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| Rapa Nui National Park - Easter Island | Chile | Rapa Nui | In Rapa Nui National Park (Chile), the Rapa Nui people continue to fight for full sovereignty and collective ownership of their ancestral lands. Though the Chilean state handed park management to the Ma’u Henua Indigenous Community in 2018—covering 43% of the island—this shift followed decades of displacement, police repression, and violations of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Earlier, Rapa Nui leaders were arrested for asserting Indigenous control over sacred sites, and the Chilean government retained ultimate authority over land rights. Corruption scandals, resource shortages, and the 2022 wildfire that damaged moai statues have deepened internal tensions. While management by Ma’u Henua marked progress toward autonomy, Rapa Nui demands for self-determination and collective property remain largely unfulfilled. |
| Sai Thong National Park | Thailand | BAN SAB WAI COMMUNITY - OR SAPWAI | In Sai Thong National Park (Thailand), the Ban Sap Wai Indigenous community faces criminalization and displacement under the country’s aggressive conservation and carbon credit expansion policies. Though residents have lived there since the 1970s, 14 villagers were convicted between 2018 and 2021 for “encroaching” on park land, with prison terms, heavy fines, and eviction orders upheld by the Supreme Court. Park officials have continued harassment and threats despite communities’ historical claims. The Thai government’s REDD+ and carbon credit initiatives, backed by the World Bank, have intensified fears of land loss, as locals warn carbon projects could block their access to ancestral farmlands. Rights groups denounce the case as emblematic of “green grabbing”—where conservation and carbon schemes strip rural and Indigenous people of land and livelihood rights. |
| Conkouati-Douli National Park | Republic of the Congo | Baka, Banbongo, Bantu | In Conkouati-Douli National Park (Republic of the Congo), the Baka, Banbongo, and Bantu Indigenous communities face ongoing abuses tied to conservation, carbon offsetting, and oil exploration projects. Managed under a 20-year agreement by the French NGO Parcs de Noé, the park is being developed as a REDD+ carbon credit site, while local residents report worsening food insecurity, displacement, and violence from eco-guards. Despite legal protections, the Congolese government in 2024 granted an oil exploration permit to a Chinese state-owned company inside the park’s buffer zone without community consent, breaching both domestic and international law. Rights groups describe Conkouati-Douli as a case of “green colonialism,” where conservation and carbon schemes—backed by major donors like the EU, USAID, and GEF—enable land grabs and human rights violations against Indigenous custodians of the forest. |
| Ob Khan National Park | Thailand | Karen | In Ob Khan National Park (Thailand), the Karen Indigenous communities are resisting government plans to expand the park’s boundaries, which threaten their ancestral lands, food sovereignty, and spiritual traditions. Established in 1992 on Karen territory, the park’s proposed expansion—revived in 2022—would absorb community farmlands and sacred sites, despite villagers’ centuries of sustainable stewardship. Karen leaders argue that officials manipulated surveys and withheld key information, prompting a National Human Rights Commission investigation in 2023. Local representatives have called for 3,891 hectares to be legally recognized as Indigenous land, emphasizing their role as “forest caretakers, not encroachers.” Rights groups warn that the expansion reflects Thailand’s broader trend of fortress conservation, where state-led preservation undermines Indigenous autonomy and violates the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). |
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