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Urgent Action: World leaders must recognize tribal peoples’ right to hunt
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Around the world, tribal peoples are being accused of “poaching” because they hunt their food. This violates their rights under international law and leaves them vulnerable to arrest and beatings, torture and death.

They are better at looking after their environment than anyone else, and yet are often the target of “anti-poaching” drives while the main causes of biodiversity loss, like logging and organized poaching networks, go unaddressed.

On March 25, representatives of countries from around the world will meet at a follow-up conference in Botswana on the illegal wildlife trade. Last year no mention was made of the fact that tribal people hunting on their lands to feed their families are not “poachers.”

Please write to the US, UK and EU representatives and the Director General of WWF and ask them to ensure that tribal peoples are not caught in the firing line in the struggle against the illegal wildlife trade.

Click here to send a pre-written message

Or if this doesn't work for you, you can use this text to send an email to the US, UK and EU representatives and the Director General of WWF at appointments@usaid.gov,demauley@parliament.uk,Helge-Elisabeth.ZEITLER@ec.europa.eu,mlambertini@wwfint.org

Dear Mr Lenhardt, Lord De Mauley, Ms Zeitler and Dr Lambertini,

I understand that you or your colleagues will attend the conference on the illegal wildlife trade in Kasane, Botswana on 25 March.

I write to you about the urgent situation of tribal peoples who hunt to feed their families, but who are frequently and wrongly criminalized as “poachers” by governments and conservation organizations. This violates their right to hunt for a livelihood, which is recognized under international law. Many are harassed, beaten and even tortured by anti-poaching squads when they exercise this right.

I urge you to ask the conference to explicitly recognize in its final statement that tribal peoples have the right to hunt for a livelihood.

Yours sincerely,
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Thank you
About this site Supporting the Bushmen so they can stay in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and live there as they wish and as long as they wish. The CKGR was created for them.
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