In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the pygmy community is still awaiting the adoption of the Bill on the Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
as reported from Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
Adopted by the National Assembly in april, this law, which anchors positive discrimination in favor of once marginalized indigenous peoples, has not yet been discussed by the senate. This text contains especially free medical care for this population estimated at 1 million people DRK.
“The Congolese state is ready to support the indigenous pygmies in recognizing their fundamental rights, on the same basis as all other Congolese, as guaranteed in the Constitution, as well as in securing the land of their ancestors as a promise of definitions and guarantees for their cultural “identity and the incorporation of all this knowledge into national heritage but also in the definition or in the creation of a national development fund. And all these elements, we find them already in the law that is currently being analyzed at senate level”, says Patrick Saidi, from NGO Dynamique des groups of the indigenous people (DGPA).
However, the law must be voted on by the Senate and the pygmy community is still waiting. The Congolese NGO, which has been fighting for almost ten years for this law to be debated, is therefore sending a message to the Congolese state: “To assure us that the commitments you have made today are sincere, this will first require the adoption of this law at the Senate level, its publication by the Head of State and its effective implementation. By all sector ministries and affecting the lives of indigenous peoples.”
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