Intimidation and abuses fuel fears of Prince Harry charity investigation “whitewash”

Campaigners have voiced concerns that an investigation into African Parks, the charity whose figurehead is Prince Harry, may result in a whitewash.

The investigation by Omnia Strategy, a law firm established by Cherie Blair KC, was launched in 2023 following Survival’s complaints to African Parks, its board member Prince Harry and its funders about horrific abuses in Congo’s Odzala-Kokoua National Park. Survival first raised abuses with African Parks staff ten years ago and the organization has publicly acknowledged recent incidents.

The abuses, including beatings, torture and rape, have been committed by rangers employed by African Parks, against the Indigenous Baka people whose ancestral forest has been taken over by the park. They triggered a global media outcry.

In recent months:

• Survival has received reports of intimidation of Baka people by African Parks guards just before the investigation began on the ground. At least two Baka people, who have given information about abuses at the hands of guards, describe being confronted by park rangers who questioned their motives for reporting the abuses, and threatened them.
• The investigators arrived to interview Baka victims of abuse in an African Parks car, and were accompanied by a Congolese government official. This risks a chilling effect on the Baka’s willingness to speak openly.
• Survival has received shocking reports of further beatings of a group of Baka women and children by African Parks rangers, which resulted in one Baka woman losing her unborn child. This took place as the investigation was ongoing, suggesting that the guards still believe they can act with impunity.

Despite Survival’s requests, African Parks has still made no commitment to publish the results of Omnia’s investigation, or to implement its recommendations.

New details have also emerged, as the investigation is ongoing, into how African Parks stands to make millions of dollars from its management of Odzala-Kokoua and other Protected Areas, by selling biodiversity credits, which it calls “Verifiable Nature Units, (VNUs)” and carbon credits. African Parks says its pilot projects, including Odzala, “aim to issue VNUs for 2024 and 2025.”

A recent book by investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen has also raised concerns about African Parks’s willingness to deal with “independent investigations”. Van Beemen quotes a source, describing previous evaluation experiences: “There is so much fear of AP that some people I know as very professional experts write wishy-washy reports in which they gloss over the reality… You don't bite the hand that feeds you.”

Survival International’s Director Caroline Pearce said today: “Survival shared our concerns with Omnia regarding the scope and methodology of their investigation, and invited the investigation team to look more broadly at the racist and colonial fortress conservation model underpinning African Parks’ management of Odzala.

“Our concerns have not been resolved, and as the whole basis through which African Parks has come to control so much Indigenous land is allowed to go unchallenged, it means that, whatever the result of the investigation, it won’t help the Baka get their land back – and that is absolutely vital for their livelihoods, wellbeing and very existence as a people.

“Previous investigations paid for by conservation organizations such as WWF have shown that the conservation industry is more than ready to ignore the results, or whitewash the findings, with total impunity in the absence of clear rules or a commitment to fundamental change.

“Not only that, but while this investigation drags on, the abuses are apparently continuing unabated. Survival will continue to fight alongside the victims of African Parks and the conservation industry to ensure they get justice.”

Note to Editors:

Olivier van Beemen’s book is Ondernemers in het wild (2024), published in Dutch and German. The source quoted above is translated from the German version of the book, Im Namen der Tiere.