Over the past two decades, indigenous peoples of Africa have seen a sharp increase in violations of their human rights and intensified efforts to appropriate their land and water resources. This website documents historical and contemporary cases of human rights violations against indigenous peoples of Africa. Detailed case studies vary by country and type of conflict.
Subject to high levels of discrimination and persecution and low levels of political representation, pastoralists/herders, agro-pastoralists, and hunter-gatherers are losing their traditional territories and grazing lands to powerful interests. This includes:
- International conservation organizations
- Large-scale agribusiness
- Infrastructure projects
- Extractive industries
- Encroachment by farming communities (who as the majority population are favored by their governments)
- Refugee crises including indigenous peoples
These threats undermine and put at risk the ability of indigenous communities in Africa to maintain their land, livelihoods and cultures.
Information on current cases of rights violations are classified by country, ethnic group, and violation category. We will continue to add more cases as they arise and can be verified.
To send information on late-breaking news or additional cases, please contact us at indigenousafricaum@gmail.com.
Latest Cases Added
- Basarwa vs. Moremi Game ReserveBasarwa people in Botswana face loss of land and livelihood due to the development of the large game reserve in the Okavango Delta.
- Palm Oil Production in Cameroon
- East African Crude Oil PipelineThe EACOP, undertaken by Total Energies, has displaced thousands of indigenous peoples in Uganda and Tanzania from their homes
- Eritrean Afar in DankaliaFacing government-sanctioned ethnic violence, mass sexual abuse, and the seizure of property, the Eritrean Afar are an indigenous people trapped by a repressive government. Combined with a blockade of their homeland, the Afar condition only worsens.
- Language Rights of Amazigh People vs. Government of MoroccoAnalyzing the Conditions of Tamazight Language Revitalization in Morocco.
- Sahrawi vs Land Grabbing in the Western SaharaFor decades, the Sahrawi people of the Western Sahara have fought occupation, and today face a new reality of eviction and cultural erasure.
- Sahrawi vs Resource Extraction in the Western SaharaAs the Moroccan government illegally extracts mineral and agricultural wealth from occupied Sahrawi lands, indigenous communities suffer.
- Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline vs. Bakola/BagyeliThe large extraction project poses negative social, environmental, and health impacts on indigenous peoples in Cameroon.