Paper short abstract:

Young indigenous BaAka hunter-gatherers and their Sangha-Sangha neighbours join hands to defend their rights and cultures, leading to the establishment of a human rights centre fostering justice and more equitable social relationships in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Paper long abstract:

Indigenous BaAka and Sangha-Sangha youth came together to advance their rights and protect their cultural and natural heritage. For this purpose, two years after CAR became the first African country to ratify ILO 169 in 2010, they started collaborating with various national and international partners, among them local and state authorities, conservation NGOs and regional indigenous networks. Human rights experts praised the initiative for its bi-cultural character and a rights-promotion approach embedded in a broader process of cultural revitalization and nature protection.

Starting as a self-organised group of 25 girls and boys from ten villages in Dzanga-Sangha, the group has evolved into a well-regarded and influential civil society association called Ndima-Kali (www.ndimakali.org). Accompanied by village elders, they have organised forest camps focusing on transmission of cultural knowledge and values, developed bilingual school materials, and carried out awareness-campaigns using theatre, video, and radio. With support from UCL, they completed a participatory mapping which they successfully used to protect vital areas from logging interventions. One of their biggest accomplishments has been to help establish a human rights centre which provides legal support to the communities and enforces ILO 169. Ndima-Kali collaborates with the centre in the monitoring of human rights abuses, training local authorities, and carrying out anti-discrimination campaigns. These actions have put the BaAka centre-stage in the efforts to reduce inter-community conflict and advance social justice.

I will reflect on the initiative’s main achievements and challenges, drawn from my direct experience of partnering up with Ndima-Kali for nearly a decade.