Democratic Republic of the Congo Country Technical Note on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues

The DRC is a multi-ethnic country with some 250 ethnic groups, including several indigenous Pygmy groups. The concept of ―indigenous‖ has recently begun to be used in relation to Pygmy peoples, who, according to recent estimates, number about 660,000 (1% of the total DRC population). Found over most of the country, these peoples live in the forest as nomadic hunter-gatherers (30 to 40,000), or as semi-nomadic and sedentary communities. As a result of campaigns, forced evictions, etc., these indigenous Pygmies have had to more or less give up their traditional lifestyle and now live in settlements outside the forest. A sizable group live as IDPs in the still conflict-ridden eastern part of the country.

 

The semi-settled and settled indigenous Pygmies live in dismal poverty and their situation is by all accounts far worse than that of other poor ethnic groups (e.g., the Bantus). They have no right to access land or use the forest and thereby sustain themselves; they lack decent job opportunities, and they lack access to health care and education. They are the victims of pervasive and sometimes extreme discrimination and they have no political representation at the local or the national level. All this puts their traditional culture at risk.