Press Releases

The World Bank’s Board of Directors is currently reviewing a proposed Management Action Plan (MAP) to address the findings of the Inspection Panel investigation into the REGROW tourism project in Southern Tanzania.By enabling the expansion of Ruaha National Park from one to over two million hectares, the REGROW project destroyed the livelihoods of over 84,000 people who face forced evictions and are prohibited from farming and grazing.Paramilitary rangers, funded and equipped by the Bank, are responsible for human rights abuses, including torture

In a major victory for Tanzanian pastoralists and farmers, the World Bank funded REGROW project, which enabled extrajudicial killings, human rights abuses, livelihood restrictions and forced evictions to expand Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA) is cancelled.Amidst an ongoing investigation by the independent Inspection Panel, the Bank first suspended the project in April 2024, citing the Tanzanian government’s noncompliance with safeguards for resettlement and grievance mechanisms.The cancellation comes after nine United Nations Special Rapporteurs exp

---FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--- October 29; 6:00 AM PDT Media Contact: [email protected], +1 510-469-5228 Tanzanian High Court has dismissed a case filed by Maasai communities to return land violently seized by the government in June 2022 to establish the Pololeti Game Reserve for trophy hunting by the Emirati Royal Family in Loliondo. In violation of Tanzanian law, impacted Maasai communities were neither consulted nor compensated for being forced from their land, critical for over 96,000 people living in legally registered villages in the area.

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).