Press Releases

As the 57th session of the UNHRC addresses the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, a new report from the Oakland Institute, Trincomalee Under Siege: Land Grabs Target the Tamil Homeland in Sri Lanka uncovers the rapidly escalating colonization of Tamil and Muslim lands in Trincomalee District. While Sinhalese colonization and settlements have taken place in Sri Lanka under the guise of development since independence, this new research exposes an intensification since the end of the civil war in 2009 and details the different methods deployed by successive governments and the military to further disempower Tamil and Muslim communities.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ (UNHRC) 57 වැනි සැසිවාරය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් තත්වය ගැන කතා කරන විට, සිවිල් යුද්ධය කුරිරු ලෙස අවසන් වී වසර 15 කට පසු රටේ උපාය මාර්ගික ප්‍රදේශයක් වන ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ඉඩම්වල ජනපදකරණය වේගවත් වී ඇති ආකාරය පිළිබඳ නව වාර්තාවක් විස්තර කරයි.ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුළ ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් දෙමළ හා මුස්ලිම් ජනගහනයක් වෙසෙන ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් (DS) කොට්ඨාශ හයේ දැඩි ඉඩම් මංකොල්ලකෑමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස, දැන් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ජනගහනයෙන් සියයට 27 ක් සිංහලයන් වන අතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මුළු භූමි ප්‍රමාණයෙන් සියයට 36 ක් අත්පත් කරගෙන සිටිති, ඕක්ලන්ඩ්, CA - එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ 57 වැනි සැසිවාරය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් තත්ත්වය විවාදය කරන අතරතුර, ඕක්ලන්ඩ් ආයතනයේ නව වාර්තාවක් නිකුත් කර ඇත. “ත්‍රිකුණාමලය වටලයි -ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දෙමළ නිජබිම ඉලක්ක කරගනිමින් ඉඩම් අත්පත් කර ගැනීම්” වේගයෙන් වර්ධනය වන දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනපදකරණය අනාවරණය කරයි.

ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் மனித உரிமைகள் சபை இலங்கையின் மனித உரிமைகள் நிலைமை தொடர்பில் ஆராய்ந்துவரும் இந்த வேளையில், கொடூரமான உள்நாட்டு யுத்தம் முடிவடைந்து 15 வருடங்கள் ஆகியுள்ள நிலையில், நாட்டின் கேந்திர முக்கியத்துவம்மிக்க திருகோணமலை மாவட்டத்தில் எவ்வாறு தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் மக்களின் நிலங்கள் ஆக்கிரமிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன என்பதை புதிய ஒரு ஆய்வு அறிக்கை விபரிக்கின்றது., ஓக்லாண்ட், கலிபோர்னியா- ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் மனித உரிமைகள் சபையின் 57 ஆவது கூட்டத்தொடரில் இலங்கையின் மனித உரிமைகள் நிலைமை தொடர்பில் விவாதிக்கப்பட்டுவரும் இந்த வேளையில், " திருகோணமலை ஆக்கிரமிப்பின் கீழ் : இலங்கையின் தமிழர் தாயகத்தை இலக்குவைக்கும் நிலஅபகரிப்பு" என்ற ஓக்லாண்ட் நிலையத்தின் புதிய ஆய்வு அறிக்கையானது திருகோணமலையில் தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் மக்களின் நிலங்கள் மோசமாக அபகரிக்கப்பட்டுவருவது பற்றிய அதிர்ச்சியளிக்கும் தகவல்களை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.

Exposing conservation’s counterintuitive deep ties to the extraction of natural resources and abuse of Indigenous Peoples in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Throughout decades of environmental conservation in the country, the government and NGOs have failed to address the issue of land grabbing and violence against Indigenous communities. Measures taken in recent years, such as training, grievance mechanism, and safeguards, are inadequate given the systemic flaws of the current fortress conservation model.

---POUR PUBLICATION IMMÉDIATE--- 27 août 2024 Contact média: [email protected], +1 510-469-5228 Basée sur les expulsions forcées des peuples autochtones de leurs terres, la conservation-forteresse en RDC entraîne d’abominables violations des droits humains et facilite l’extraction illicite de minéraux et d’autres ressources. Les grandes ONG de protection de la nature et les gouvernements ont échoué à répondre de manière adéquate à la violence et aux abus des écogardes et des forces de sécurité.

On April 30, 2024, US-based luxury safari operator Wineland-Thomson Adventures, which runs Thomson Safaris in Tanzania, was acquired for approximately US$30 million by the adventure travel conglomerate Lindblad Expeditions. The acquisition came just weeks after the release of Capitalizing on Chaos, a report by the Oakland Institute that documents the ongoing resistance of Maasai communities to Thomson Safaris for alleged land theft and human rights abuses committed by the company’s agents in Tanzania. Announcing the deal, Sven-Olof Lindblad, CEO of Lindblad Expeditions, emphasized the importance of being “stewards of the Wineland-Thomson brands and honoring the legacy of its founders.”

As of April 18, 2024, the World Bank has suspended disbursements for the REGROW project in Tanzania with immediate effect – following steadfast advocacy by the Oakland Institute on behalf of impacted villagers. The US$150 million project began in 2017 to “develop” tourism assets in Southern Tanzania but the Institute’s research in 2023 revealed it was directly financing evictions and egregious human rights abuses against communities living near the Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA).

Boston-based Thomson Safaris is exploiting the Tanzanian government’s brutal repression of land defenders to legitimize control over Maasai land in the Loliondo Division of the Ngorongoro District. In June 2022, the government carried out land demarcation to create a Game Reserve in Loliondo, which saw security forces fire live ammunition on the Maasai, severely wounding dozens and displacing thousands. In the immediate aftermath of these events, Thomson Safaris carried out a resurvey of a long-contested land claim they have in the same area. Communities say they were excluded from the resurvey process and alleged in a November 2023 court filing that they have since suffered abuse by the company’s agents enforcing the new boundaries.

Kuramo Capital Management (KCM) est au centre d'une bataille juridique explosive pour le contrôle des plantations de palmiers à huile PHC en RDC. Dans un document de la Cour suprême de l'île Maurice obtenu par l'Oakland Institute, Walé Adeosun – fondateur et directeur des investissements de KCM – est accusé d'être "impliqué dans un vaste système international de blanchiment d'argent". Le procès a été intenté par Kalaa Mpinga  , l'un des anciens directeurs de PHC et actuel actionnaire. Il demande 25 millions de dollars de dommages et intérêts et la révocation d'Adeosun de son rôle d'administrateur du consortium qui détient 76 % de la société. 

---FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--- February 29, 2024, 4:00 PM PST Media Contacts: Frédéric Mousseau, [email protected], +1 510-512-5458 Jean-François Mombia Atuku, [email protected] Several legal battles are raging between shareholders for the control of the Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC) oil palm plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).