Violence & Health Conditions
As mentioned before, Pygmies are being consumed by the Bantu people for magical powers. The women are being raped due to the superstition that such action will cure illnesses. The UN has reported there are cases of Pygmies being forced to eat their colleagues, and Pygmies that hunt for the Bantu people, being killed and eaten when they fail to bring back food. There are high rates of rape among the women, and many are enslaved by the Bantu people.
During the Rwandan genocide, it is estimated that out of the 30,000 Pygmies, approximately 1/3 of their population was massacred.
There are frequent cases of widespread massacre, house-burning, and mass rape. As a response to the Pygmy people being forced out of their tribal lands, the wildlife officers for the parks often use conservation as an excuse to attack the local Pygmies, even those not found in the forest. In a video from Survival International, a Baka pygmy man states, “They came and beat me in my home… they beat me with machetes…" He and his wife had been sleeping when they invaded, and they had found nothing incriminating in their home. Later, a different Pygmy man comments, “The forest is all we know. We are from the forest, not the village”. Many of them can not enter their tribal lands now, to teach their children the ways of their people, or even collect fallen fruit. If they do, they run the risk of encountering the wildlife officers and being beaten, arrested, or killed.
Without the protection and support of their forests, the Pygmy's health and economic stability has deteriorated. Those without shelter in the forest and their traditional villages are left with few methods to support themselves. Additionally, the rate of diseases throughout their population has spiked. The frequency of HIV/AIDS, yaws (a painful skin condition), malnourishment (especially among the children), and higher mortality rates has significantly spiked with the emigration from the forests. Many Pygmies lack basic necessities including meat and food. In one instance it was recorded that the Pygmies from one village had not had meat, or another source of sufficient protein in over a year.
According to the Genocide Convention of 1948, there are 6 different factors that determines a genocide (not all of them have to be met). The Pygmy genocide meets two of them: “killing members of the group” and “causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group”. It is unclear if the treatment of the Pygmy people is meant to wipe them out, however if the current trends continue, their whole population and culture will be eradicated.
During the Rwandan genocide, it is estimated that out of the 30,000 Pygmies, approximately 1/3 of their population was massacred.
There are frequent cases of widespread massacre, house-burning, and mass rape. As a response to the Pygmy people being forced out of their tribal lands, the wildlife officers for the parks often use conservation as an excuse to attack the local Pygmies, even those not found in the forest. In a video from Survival International, a Baka pygmy man states, “They came and beat me in my home… they beat me with machetes…" He and his wife had been sleeping when they invaded, and they had found nothing incriminating in their home. Later, a different Pygmy man comments, “The forest is all we know. We are from the forest, not the village”. Many of them can not enter their tribal lands now, to teach their children the ways of their people, or even collect fallen fruit. If they do, they run the risk of encountering the wildlife officers and being beaten, arrested, or killed.
Without the protection and support of their forests, the Pygmy's health and economic stability has deteriorated. Those without shelter in the forest and their traditional villages are left with few methods to support themselves. Additionally, the rate of diseases throughout their population has spiked. The frequency of HIV/AIDS, yaws (a painful skin condition), malnourishment (especially among the children), and higher mortality rates has significantly spiked with the emigration from the forests. Many Pygmies lack basic necessities including meat and food. In one instance it was recorded that the Pygmies from one village had not had meat, or another source of sufficient protein in over a year.
According to the Genocide Convention of 1948, there are 6 different factors that determines a genocide (not all of them have to be met). The Pygmy genocide meets two of them: “killing members of the group” and “causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group”. It is unclear if the treatment of the Pygmy people is meant to wipe them out, however if the current trends continue, their whole population and culture will be eradicated.