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Addressee: African Member States, NGOs and international community
Full Text
The Permanent Forum urges the international community to pay particular attention to the situation of the Batwa peoples, in particular Batwa women, and to support the inclusion of the San people and other indigenous groups in the national census. The Permanent Forum urges African States and their international development partners to review the poverty reduction strategy papers and other frameworks for integrating the specificities of such indigenous peoples as the Batwa, Pygmies, Touaregue, Amazigh, Khoisan and other hunter-gatherers or nomadic peoples in their countries, both in Central and in Southern Africa.
Responses
OHCHR reports: “In 2006, OHCHR supported the Government of the Republic of the Congo in drafting a law on the promotion and protection of indigenous rights. If adopted, this law would become the standard for the rights of indigenous peoples in Africa and would benefit the country’s Batwa, Baka, Baaka and Bacongo communities. In addition, three representatives of communities pejoratively known as pygmies, including one Batwa, participated in the OHCHR fellowship programme. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples has sent communications to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Government of Botswana concerning allegations of violations of the rights of the Batwa and San peoples.”
Final Report of UNPFII Session 5 (2006)
Area of Work
