Searchable database of alleged violations against Indigenous Peoples' human rights in protected areas and natural parks.
| Title | Country | Impacted Indigenous People(s) | Description of the alleged violations | Regional and International Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quedabra de los Cuervos | Uruguay | |||
| Hoh Xil Nature Reserve | China | |||
| Villarrica National Park | Chile | |||
| Tengis-Shishged National Park | Mongolia | |||
| Yasuní National Park | Ecuador | |||
| Embobut Forest | Kenya | |||
| Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex | Thailand | |||
| Isiboro Sécure National Park | Bolivia | |||
| Montaña de los Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park | Honduras | |||
| Central Kalahari Game Reserve | Botswana | San - Bushmen, Bahkwe, Basarwa, Bakgalagadi | Since the Game Reserve was first created in 1961, the Government of Botswana has undertaken three major forced evictions of the San peoples in 1997, 2002 and 2005. On the same day that the CKGR High Court case regarding evictions was adjourned, in September 2005 armed police and park officers told Bushmen within the reserve to leave, leading to conflict where dozens of people were reportedly loaded onto trucks and violently removed from their ancestral lands. |
Since the Game Reserve was first created in 1961, the Government of Botswana has undertaken three major forced evictions of the San peoples in 1997, 2002 and 2005. On the same day that the CKGR High Court case regarding evictions was adjourned, in September 2005 armed police and park officers told Bushmen within the reserve to leave, leading to conflict where dozens of people were reportedly loaded onto trucks and violently removed from their ancestral lands. Paramilitary groups, police, and park rangers would have destroyed Bushmen homes. water sources, denying Indigenous communities (who have since been placed in resettlement camps across the boundaries of the reserve) continued access to their ancestral lands and livelihoods. When the San won recognition of their land rights in 2006, the Government reportedly cemented their water borehole as punishment, making access to water for returning Indigenous communities impossible. A 2014 report by Survival International titled ‘They have killed me: the persecution of Botswana’s Bushmen 1992-2004” recorded over 200 cases of violent abuse against Bushmen at the hands of police and park rangers, including the shooting of a child in 2005 after his father refused police entry to his home without a warrant. Paramilitary groups, police, and park rangers would have committed grave human rights violations including torture of Bushmen detainees. In September 2005 A group of 28 San Bushmen were reportedly fired at by government officials using rubber bullets and tear gas and multiple people were injured and arrested for unlawful assembly.[1] In 2012, CKGR guards allegedly tortured two San men accused of killing an antelope, including suffocating and burying alive one of them. In 2016, a group of Bushmen hunting antelope were reportedly shot at from a police helicopter under the enforcement of the hunting ban proclaimed in 2014 (in breach of the 2006 ruling that recognised the hunting and land rights of Bushmen) and nine Bushmen were allegedly subsequently arrested, stripped naked, and beaten in custody.[2] The situation of discrimination against Bushmen has been compared to apartheid by African National Congress activist Michael Dingake and multiple UN bodies have reported their concerns regarding human rights abuses against them.[3] |
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