Indigenous Populations and States in Central Africa

As part of the weeklong conference on Working Group of Indigenous Populations, Mr. Patrice Bigombé Logo chaired a round table talk on Indigenous Populations and States in Central Africa.

In his opening statement, Mr. Bigombé Logo, of the Cameroon based Centre for Research and Action for Sustainable Development (CRASD), asked "What place do indigenous peoples have in Central African states?" In response, Ms. Francesa Thornberry of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Geneva, described her work in Cameroon as promoting ILO Convention No. 169, which has no UN equivalent. Prosper Nobirabo, a human-rights lawyer in Congo, added that this aims to improve working conditions of indigenous and tribal peoples, such as the Pygmies, to battle against poor working conditions, and social and civic discrimination

Mr. Didier Raboud of Geneva University and Co-Director of Passerelle Science-Cité (an initiative to encourage greater scientific discussion), discussed the chasm between popular Western myths and the harsh reality on the ground. Mr. Raboud undertook a series of reports on this gap between myth and reality for Radio Suisse Romande whilst in Cameroon earlier this year. Potential solutions, he added, are extremely complex. In fact, efforts to realize these solutions become more difficult as raging conflict continually plagues the region.

Hélène Aye Mondo's talked about her work on Sustainable Development in Kigali (on the Congolese Basin). During her discussion, she emphasized the fact that environmental issues are at stake and need protection in order to preserve a way of life. Intensive deforestation, over-farming and government-owned mineral-rich areas threaten the traditional and cultural activities of the forest for tribal people.

Self-determination is one of the many potential political repercussions which makes talking about indigenous peoples' rights such a sensitive, and avoided subject, concluded Mr. Bigombé Logo. According to Logo, education at a grass-roots level, renewed dialogue and fundamental human rights were all a start to the end of this discrimination of ostracised second-class citizens. Change, however, is a slow and gradual process. In light of preserving its rituals and traditions, a rural hunter-gatherer society like the Pygmies cannot simply change over night, especially without the international support in the form of aid and funds.

By: James Gasteen

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