The conservation group African Parks says it has contracted the law firm Omnia Strategy LLP to investigate allegations of human rights abuses at Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo. The allegations were first published by the news outlet the Daily Mail on Jan. 27th. The reporting included testimony by Indigenous Baka community members who said they’d been beaten and raped by park rangers employed by African Parks when venturing into the park to hunt, fish and gather food. Odzala-Kokoua is one of 22 parks the South Africa-based group manages in 12 African countries under public-private partnership agreements with host governments. Omnia Strategy is a London-based firm co-founded by Cherie Blair, wife of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, which describes itself as a “specialist law firm providing world-class bespoke solutions to cross-border disputes.” According to African Parks, Omnia will be supported in its investigation by legal counsel from Doughty Street Chambers, another U.K. firm that specializes in human rights law, as well as a “Baka anthropologist.” In an emailed response to questions from Mongabay, African Parks said it did not have a timeline for the investigation’s conclusion. “While we hope to be able to share an update in respect of indicative timings in the coming weeks, the investigation is independent of African Parks and so we will take our lead from Omnia,” said Carli Flemmer, chief marketing officer for African Parks. African Parks took over the management of Odzala-Kokoua, a 13,546-square-kilometer (5,230-square-mile) national park in the heart of…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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