The Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes Region
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Minority Rights Group International R E P O R The Batwa Pygmies of T the Great Lakes Region • LAKES REGION PYGMIES OF THE GREAT THE BATWA AN MRG INTERNATIONAL REPORT AN MRG INTERNATIONAL BY JEROME LEWIS THE BATWA PYGMIES OF THE Acknowledgements GREAT LAKES REGION Minority Rights Group International (MRG) gratefully acknowledges the support of all the organizations and © Minority Rights Group 2000 individuals who gave financial and other assistance for All rights reserved this Report. Material from this publication may be reproduced for teaching or other non-commer- cial purposes. No part of it may be reproduced in any form for commercial purposes This Report has been commissioned and is published by without the prior express permission of the copyright holders. For further information MRG as a contribution to public understanding of the please contact MRG. issue which forms its subject. The text and views of the A CIP catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. author do not necessarily represent, in every detail and in ISBN 1 897 693 89 8 all its aspects, the collective view of MRG. ISSN 0305 6252 Published June 2000 MRG is grateful to all the staff and independent expert Typset by Texture readers who contributed to this Report, in particular Printed in the UK on bleach-free paper. Tadesse Tafesse (Programme Coordinator) and Sophie Richmond (Reports Editor). THE AUTHOR JEROME LEWIS has been involved in research and training with Batwa communities in Rwanda since 1993, and has done three periods of fieldwork among the Batwa (1993, 1995 and 1999). He is currently completing a PhD in social anthropology at the London School of Econom- ics, University of London, on the cultural identity of the Bambendjelle Pygmies of Congo-Brazzaville. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP tion of conflict and encouraging positive action to build INTERNATIONAL trust between majority and minority communities. MRG has consultative status with the United Nations Eco- MRG works to secure rights and justice for ethnic, linguistic nomic and Social Council and has a worldwide network of and religious minorities. It is dedicated to the cause of partners. Its international headquarters are in London. Legal- cooperation and understanding between communities. ly it is registered both as a charity and as a limited company Founded in the 1960s, MRG is a small international non- under English law with an International Governing Council. governmental organization that informs and warns govern- ments, the international community, non-governmental THE PROCESS organizations and the wider public about the situation of minorities around the world. This work is based on the pub- lication of well-researched Reports, Books and Papers; As part of its methodology, MRG conducts regional direct advocacy on behalf of minority rights in international research, identifies issues and commissions Reports based fora; the development of a global network of like-minded on its findings. Each author is carefully chosen and all scripts organizations and minority communities to collaborate on are read by no less than eight independent experts who are these issues; and the challenging of prejudice and pro- knowledgeable about the subject matter. These experts are motion of public understanding through information drawn from the minorities about whom the Reports are writ- and education projects. ten, and from journalists, academics, researchers and other MRG believes that the best hope for a peaceful world lies in human rights agencies. Authors are asked to incorporate identifying and monitoring conflict between communi- comments made by these parties. In this way, MRG aims to ties, advocating preventive measures to avoid the escala- publish accurate, authoritative, well-balanced Reports. Batwa father and child attending a dance, Rwanda 1993. JEROME LEWIS The Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes Region CONTENTS 3 Preface 5 Introduction 8 Batwa lifestyles 13 Discrimination: The major issue 19 Forest conservation and the Batwa 23 The Batwa experience of war 26 Conclusion 27 Recommendations 29 Notes 32 Bibliography /Discography BY JEROME LEWIS UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 4. When such return is not possible, as determined by agreement or, in the Genocide (1948) absence of such agreement, through appropriate procedures, these peo- Article 1 ples shall be provided in all possible cases, with lands of quality and legal The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of status at least equal to that of the lands previously occupied by them, peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they suitable to provide for their present needs and future development. undertake to prevent and to punish. Where the peoples concerned express a preference for compensation in Article 2 money or in kind, they shall be so compensated under appropriate guar- In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts commit- antees. ted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or 5. Persons thus relocated shall be fully compensated for any resulting loss or religious group, as such: injury. (a) Killing members of the group; Article 33 (b)Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 1. The governmental authority responsible for the matters covered in this (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring Convention shall ensure that agencies or other appropriate mechanisms about its physical destruction in whole or in part; exist to administer the programmes affecting the peoples concerned, and (d)Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; shall ensure that they have the means necessary for the proper fulfilment (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. of the functions assigned to them. International Labour Office Convention Concerning Indigenous 2. These programmes shall include: and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, No. 169 (1989) (a) the planning, coordination, execution and evaluation, in cooperation with Article 6 the peoples concerned, of the measures provided for in this Convention; 1. In applying the provisions of this Convention, governments shall: (b)the proposing of legislative and other measures to the competent authori- (a) consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in ties and supervision of the application of the measures taken, in coopera- particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration tion with the peoples concerned. is being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) them directly; Article 2 (b)establish means by which these peoples can freely participate, to at least 1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to the same extent as other sectors of the population, at all levels of decision- ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the making in elective institutions and administrative and other bodies respon- rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, sible for policies and programmes which concern them; such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, (c) establish means for the full development of these peoples’ own institutions national or social origin, property, birth or other status. and initiatives, and in appropriate cases provide the resources necessary of 2. Where not already provided for by existing legislative or other measures, this purpose. each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take the neces- Article 7 sary steps, in accordance with its constitutional processes and with the 1. The peoples concerned shall have the right to decide their own priorities provisions of the present Covenant, to adopt such laws or other measures for the process of development as it affects their lives, beliefs, institutions as may be necessary to give effect to the rights recognized in the present and spiritual well-being and the land they occupy or otherwise use, and to Covenant. exercise control, to the extent possible, over their own economic, social and 3. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes: cultural development. In addition they shall participate in the formulation, (a) To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized implementation and evaluation of plans and programmes for national and are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the viola- regional developments which may affect them directly. tion has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity; Article 8 (b)To ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right 1. In applying national laws and regulations to the peoples concerned, due thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative regard shall be had to their customs or customary laws. authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal 2. These peoples shall have the right to retain their own customs and institu- system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy; tions, where these are not incompatible with fundamental rights defined (c) To ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies by the national legal system and with internationally recognised human when granted. rights. Procedures shall be established,