Human-rights groups on Friday urged the Congo’s government to ratify an international treaty that would protect the rights of pygmies, many of whom live in virtual slavery in the country.
Michel Bayeni, a spokesperson for the groups, called for the Congo to sign on to an International Labour Organisation convention on the rights of indigenous and tribal people.
The convention addresses rights of ownership of land, as well as the recruitment of labour and conditions of employment.
Pygmies are among the original inhabitants of the Congo.
Most of the country’s estimated 600 000 pygmies live deep in its north-eastern forests, eking out an existence by hunting and gathering.
A February report by the Congo’s Human Rights Observatory said pygmies are pushed to the margins of society, and deprived of access to education, health care and reasonably paid jobs.
The behaviour of the more powerful Bantu tribes toward the pygmies is comparable to slavery, the report concluded. — Sapa-AP