{"id":8593,"date":"2019-11-25T10:11:52","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T10:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=8593"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:45:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:45:34","slug":"we-were-told-not-to-go-into-the-forest-anymore-greenpeace-investigation-exposes-human-rights-violations-by-halcyon-agri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/8593\/we-were-told-not-to-go-into-the-forest-anymore-greenpeace-investigation-exposes-human-rights-violations-by-halcyon-agri\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe were told not to go into the forest anymore\u201d – Greenpeace investigation exposes human rights violations by Halcyon Agri"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yaound\u00e9, 25 November 2019<\/em> <\/strong>\u2013 Following last year\u2019s <\/em>Ruinous Rubber <\/em>report<\/a>,<\/em> exposing the Congo Basin\u2019s most devastating new forest clearance for industrial agriculture, Greenpeace Africa released today a brief describing human rights violations of Indigenous Baka communities in the South of Cameroon. The brief reveals how the operations of Sudcam \u2013 a subsidiary of Singapore-based rubber giant Halcyon Agri \u2013 have led to destruction of Baka people\u2019s camps, restricted their access to land used for farming, fishing, and hunting, and contributed to loss of their language and culture. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cOur brief exposes a hard truth: the hollow promises of development from a multinational and local elites are a disaster for Indigenous People,\u201d said Dr. Victorine Che Th\u00f6ner, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s forest campaign leader. \u201cForest-trashing Sudcam is responsible for forced displacements and the destruction of dwellings, sacred areas and graveyards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Field visits by Greenpeace Africa and its local partner Appui \u00e0 l\u2019autopromotion et l\u2019Insertion des Femmes, des Jeunes et des D\u00e9soeuvr\u00e9s<\/em> (Apifed) to three Baka villages found destroyed camps, sacred areas and graveyards turned into restricted areas, and communities who have lost their livelihood. \u201cHalcyon Agri and its subsidiary Sudcam must make reparations to the Baka people<\/a>, return the forest it hasn\u2019t destroyed yet, and respect the customary rights of Indigenous People enshrined in Cameroonian law. It must also disclose the identity of its 20% shareholder. Cameroonians deserve to know who is benefitting from this forest destruction and human rights abuse,\u201d added Dr. Che Th\u00f6ner. <\/p>\n\n

From 2011 to the end of 2018 Sudcam cleared a tropical forest the size of Paris, releasing CO2 equivalent to burning 60,000 railcars of coal. The population explosion caused by Halcyon Agri has led to increased poaching of endangered species in the adjacent Dja faunal reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage site). Greenpeace Africa and Apifed are calling for people-led development, after the failures of corporate-led development<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIndigenous communities are not weak. They have been weakened by a company gone amok, enabled \u2013 and partly owned \u2013 by local elites,\u201d said Dr. Che Th\u00f6ner. \u201cIn fact, recognizing the rights of forest people is the best solution to guard the forest and counter the climate and extinction crises,\u201d Dr. Che Th\u00f6ner concluded.<\/p>\n\n

Read the full brief:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-africa-stateless\/2019\/11\/cd29dfdc-englishv7.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Video:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/wetransfer.com\/downloads\/6d75140fcae11ca36b9806bbcf79aaf420191125121030\/dcefde2e1f2d990e8c2650a73113d50820191125121030\/0457b5<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Photos: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

From the Sudcam concession: <\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1QacM85bCdaMpmI7yJ2J12daAUXGhPY0r<\/a><\/p>\n\n

From the village Bitye: <\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/18TrN2eOOGEl1RGg3Vh7cosK9T33ZhZXR?usp=sharing<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Dr. Victorine Che Th\u00f6ner, victorine.chethoener@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +49-15779598983 <\/p>\n\n

Tal Harris, International Communications Coordinator, Greenpeace Africa, tal.harris@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +221-774643195, <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa News Desk: nafrica@greenpeace.org<\/a>
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCongo Basin Forest\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n Get Involved\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yaound\u00e9, 25 November 2019 \u2013 Following last year\u2019s Ruinous Rubber report, which exposed the most devastating new forest clearance for industrial agriculture in the Congo Basin, Greenpeace Africa released today…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":8597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[24,44],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-8593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protecttheenvironment","tag-forests","tag-cameroon","p4-page-type-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8593"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50086,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8593\/revisions\/50086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8593"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=8593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}