Charity linked to Prince Harry admits human rights abuses in Congo park

A major conservation charity linked to Prince Harry has admitted that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in Congo-Brazzaville, following an independent review into allegations made by members of the Baka community against African Parks rangers.

In a report published last year by the British newspaper the Mail on Sunday, community members accused African Parks rangers of beating, waterboarding and raping locals to stop them from accessing their ancestral forests, which are now in a conservation area.

Despite commissioning an independent review into the actions of its rangers in Congo-Brazzaville, African Parks has not made the findings of the review public.

Instead, it has published a statement acknowledging that human rights abuses occurred in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park, which it manages. It has excluded details of the abuse.

The review, carried out by Omnia Strategy LLP, a London-based law firm, was handed directly to African Parks.

In a statement, Omnia said it has been carrying out an independent investigation into the alleged abuse in Odzala-Kokoua since December 2023.

Its statement did not include its findings and recommendations, which it said had been sent directly to African Parks.

The BBC reached out to both Omnia and barristers from Doughty Street Chambers, which was involved in the investigation, to request their findings, but they declined to comment beyond their published statement.

Prince Harry sits on the board of African Parks and has been involved with the charity since 2016. In 2023, after serving six years as president, he was made a member of the Board of Directors, the governing body of the organisation.

The BBC has requested comment from Prince Harry.

African Parks said it had improved its safeguarding processes in the past five years both in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park and institutionally. Additional measures it has put in place include appointing an anthropologist to ensure the Baka communities are better supported and working with local human rights NGOs to support the local community. It also said it would carry out an independent human rights impact assessment.

The charity Survival International, which lobbies for the rights of indigenous people, and has raised the issue of the abuse of the Baka people with Prince Harry, criticised African Park’s decision not to make the findings of the investigation public.

Survival told the BBC “African Parks has committed to more reports, more staff and more guidelines – but such approaches have not prevented horrific abuses and violations of international human rights law in the decade or more that African Parks has known of these atrocities, and there is no reason to believe they will do so now”.

When the allegation were first made public last year, Survival said that African Parks had known about the alleged abuse of the Baka people since 2013.

At the time, African Parks said it had reached out to Survival to find out more, but that the latter had refused to cooperate.

Survival said it wished to protect its sources in the local community for fear of retaliation.

African Parks, which is headquartered in Johannesburg, is arguably one of Africa’s largest conservation charities. It manages 23 protected areas in 13 African countries, and is backed by powerful patrons.

On its website, African Parks lists a number of high-profile donors including the European Union, Rob Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, and Howard Buffett, son of Warren Buffet.

In its 2023 annual report, the charity said its funders provided it with more than $500,000 (£375,000) per year.