Warning: contains description of sexual violence

Dear Jack,

Today we’re sharing a story told to us by Ella, an Indigenous Baka woman from the rainforests of the Congo basin – and asking you to take action for Ella and other Indigenous people like her.

The Baka have lived here for thousands of years, but the forest is now a patchwork of logging concessions and Protected Areas, and the Baka have been pushed out.

Many of these national parks are managed by multi-million dollar conservation corporations. One of these, African Parks, manages Odzala-Kokoua National Park, an area where the Baka used to live, hunt and gather forest produce.

The Baka people say that violence and abuses have dramatically increased since African Parks started managing the park, and armed rangers now keep the Baka out of their forest by force.

One evening a few years ago, while Ella’s husband was away, an African Parks ranger came to their house. He pulled Ella outside and told her she had to accompany him to the rangers’ base. On the way to the base, as Ella carried her two-month-old baby against her chest, he ordered her to lie on the ground, and raped her.

When her husband came back in the morning, he and Ella went to the base to complain to the rangers’ chief. The guards handcuffed her husband and beat him. He remained handcuffed at the base all day, while Ella was sent back to the village.

“I’m not like I used to be, my body doesn’t feel the same,” Ella told us. She has received a few hundred dollars’ compensation – more was promised, but never came. The ranger who had raped her was arrested and imprisoned for a few months before being released. He was dismissed by African Parks.

When Ella gathered the courage to tell us her story, we promised her that we would fight to make sure such atrocities never happen again to other Baka women. Unfortunately, Ella’s case is far from unique. Almost every Baka family in the region has stories of brutality and abuse at the hands of the armed rangers who now patrol the forests that were once the Baka’s home. It’s part of ‘fortress conservation.’

We work alongside the Baka to amplify their testimonies and push for change. Stories like Ella’s have caused massive public outcry, and forced African Parks to launch an investigation into the actions of their rangers. But quite apart from these abuses, the whole racist model of militarized conservation must change. Please be a part of this vital campaign.

Thank you for standing with Indigenous peoples,

Paul Renaut
Research & Advocacy