Congo: Country Technical Notes on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues

The indigenous population of the Republic of Congo (RC) include the Baka, Mbendjele, Mikaya, Luma, Gyeli, Twa and Babongo peoples. Depending on sources, these peoples represent a small minority of 1.25 to 10 percent of RC’s estimated population of 4.4 million, primarily of Bantu origin. Formerly known as “Pygmies”, a term they find discriminatory and pejorative, they are now known generically as “autochthonous peoples”, as stipulated in the 2011 Law on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Autochthonous Population. This law, the first of its kind in Africa— is based on the concept of “indigenous” as understood internationally and by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).