Ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, Amnesty International submits Facebook advertisements to test robustness of Meta’s moderation system
More than half of the ads spreading election-related disinformation are accepted
The others are flagged but not rejected outright for containing election-related disinformation
Amnesty International has today warned that Meta may be failing to effectively address election-related disinformation spread through its Facebook Advertisements platform ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on 4 October.
Social media has been used to spread disinformation in Brazil for years. To investigate how Facebook handled election-related disinformation in advertising, Amnesty International conducted an experiment by submitting ‘mock’ ads containing election-related disinformation to Facebook. The content ranged from ads alleging election fraud to ads that used disinformation to advocate for a military takeover. The experiment found that eight of the submitted ads were accepted, while the remaining seven were flagged for identity verification as they appeared to be related to a social issue, election or politics, rather than being rejected specifically because they contained election-related disinformation. Amnesty ensured that these test ads did not go live, despite Facebook’s failure to stop them.
“The fact that Meta’s moderation system failed to catch more than half of Amnesty International’s election-related disinformation ads is deeply alarming. It shows that Meta is not doing enough to prevent its platform from being a vector of disinformation, while continuing to profit from the content and advertising systems that enable its spread,”
Jurema Werneck, Executive Director of Amnesty International Brazil
As the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh enters its tenth year, Oxfam is warning that shrinking humanitarian resources risk undoing years of progress and placing already stretched essential services in Cox’s Bazar under even greater pressure.
Mallika, 36, has lived with her family in Camp 19 in Cox’s Bazar since arriving in Bangladesh in 2017. She said, “When we first came, there was hardly any support, and we suffered a lot. Later, NGOs helped with different lifesaving support and services. But now support is decreasing. I used to buy better food for my children. Now I borrow money for basic needs. It is very difficult to survive.”
Since the mass displacement of 2017, Bangladesh, host communities and international partners have sustained one of the world’s largest humanitarian responses, providing food, safe water and sanitation, shelter, healthcare, protection, education and disaster preparedness to Rohingya refugees. What began as an emergency response, however, has become a prolonged crisis.
Nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh, including some 150,000 who have fled renewed violence in Myanmar since early 2024. The recalibrated 2026 Joint Response Plan (JRP) asks for $710.5 million – 26 percent below last year’s – covering little more than the minimum needed to sustain lifesaving assistance.
Funding gaps remain substantial. According to UNOCHA, donors met less than half of the $934.5 millionUN appeal for Rohingya refugees in 2025.
UN OCHA
Anil Pant, Country Director of Oxfam in Bangladesh, said:
“The greatest danger is becoming accustomed to this crisis. Funding pressure now threatens systems built over nearly a decade. We must protect lifesaving services, strengthen resilience and local capacity, support host communities, and renew collective action towards sustainable solutions.”
Funding gaps remain substantial. In 2025, the first year of the 2025–26 Joint Response Plan, donors met just 46 percent of the $934.5 million appeal. The shortfall is now compounding. The cuts have already gutted vital services in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), food, health and protection sectors.
Oxfam’s new report,Holding the Line: WASH Systems, Risk and Resilience in the Rohingya Response,shows what is at stake. Across Cox’s Bazar, emergency WASH interventions have evolved into a vast humanitarian public-health system, including 298 water networks, 320 production boreholes, 768 reservoir tanks, more than 7,000 tapstands, nearly 49,500 latrines, and 167 faecal sludge treatment plants. Yet the publication cautions that scale can hide fragility: ageing assets, dry-season water stress, monsoon exposure, uneven operational control and funding compression are increasing risk.
For women and girls, that strain is a question of safety and dignity as much as sanitation. Asmat Ara, 24, who lives with six family members in a Rohingya camp in Teknaf, said hygiene supplies have dwindled and safe facilities are scarce, making daily life harder.
“If it gets very late, I feel afraid to go outside,” she said. “Sometimes boys gather outside and make comments. I never go alone at night; I take my mother with me.”
She also described the growing pressure on menstrual hygiene support: “The pads should be provided again, and the material could also be improved. We also need more soap.”
“The greatest danger is becoming accustomed to this crisis. Funding pressure now threatens systems built over nearly a decade.”
Anil Pant, Country Director
Oxfam in Bangladesh
Holding the public-health line, the report argues, now depends on steady financing for critical work, such as maintaining and repairing assets, controlling water quality, treating sewage, clearing waste and drains, keeping access safe, and acting fast when disease emerges. Since 2017, Oxfam has worked alongside Rohingya and host communities, local partners, government institutions, UN agencies and donors across WASH, protection, livelihoods, food security, gender and community engagement. This work, which ranges from surface-water treatment and faecal sludge management to solar lighting, solid-waste systems, food production for dietary diversification, and skills development, shows that humanitarian assistance can protect lives while strengthening resilience and community capacities. Oxfam is calling on the international community to provide predictable financing, protect essential services, strengthen locally led responses and build host-community resilience. A decade of international solidarity has saved lives and built critical systems. The tenth year must not become one of retreat but of renewed commitment, shared responsibility and credible action towards a sustainable future.
By Lisa Dittmer, Amnesty International’s Children’s Digital Rights Researcher, and Paloma Candia and Ahmed Dhman both Amnesty International’s Digital Rights Champions, a global network of child and youth human rights defenders.
Children’s online safety has become a leading political issue as concerns about Big Tech harms have moved from academic debates to bestseller lists and mainstream news. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed France’s teen social media ban as “leading the way in Europe in protecting our children and our teenagers.” France’s top court later blocked the law, citing privacy and freedom of expression concerns. United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Guterres has called for an artificial intelligence (AI) Child Safety Pledge. Yet amid the flurry of high-level pledges and the rush to protect “our children,” the voices of one demographic are noticeably absent: children themselves.
A brief prerecorded video aside, not a single child got to speak when a new state coalition for the protection of children launched its work at the UN AI Dialogue in July. Kenya, one of the state parties to the coalition, is currently debating a new AI bill that lacks any child-specific protections or consultation mechanism. The absence of children and young people in policymaking spaces and the failure to recognize their demands and needs are clearly linked. Globally, a mixture of Big Tech state capture, political shortsightedness and a rise in digital authoritarian practices is hollowing out children’s rights just as the world proclaims to finally making children safe online.
SYDNEY, Monday 24 August 2026 –New analysisof Woodside modelling released by Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Environs Kimberley has revealed the oil and gas corporation’s plans to drill at Scott Reef could cause an oil spill up to 30 times bigger than the2009 Montara disaster, impacting the Kimberley coastline and reaching as far as Indonesia.
The new analysis details the “catastrophic” oil spill risk put to environmental regulators for approval by Woodside in its Browse to North West Shelf Project (Browse) plans, the worst-case scenario being a blowout directly below Scott Reef, polluting whale migratory pathways and covering isolated turtle nesting ground with oil condensate.
An FOI application (F348) revealed the federal environment department (DCCEEW) asked offshore oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA to look into the oil spill risk in 2025. NOPSEMA’s response to the application refused access to its report, and one document shows DCCEEW sought further advice this year.
Greenpeace and Environs Kimberley are calling on the Federal Government to publicly release the NOPSEMA report given the risk of an uncontrolled release of oil condensate from directly below Scott Reef.
Hannah Schuch, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Woodside is aware that drilling at Scott Reef risks a massive oil spill that would have severe, far-reaching consequences. It appears environmental regulators are aware too.
“The state and federal governments need to take this risk from Woodside’s drilling plans seriously, as they could end up allowing the worst oil spill in Australian history.
“The pygmy blue whales that migrate up and down the WA coast with their newborns each year could be swimming and feeding in toxic, oil-slicked water. Woodside’s proposal to drill at Scott Reef is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, and the WA and federal governments have one surefire way to prevent catastrophe — reject Browse.”
Martin Prichard, Executive Director at Environs Kimberley, said: “A catastrophic oil spill by Woodside would be disastrous not just for marine life in the area but also for the Kimberley’s $500 million tourism industry.
“The state and federal governments will see five marine parks on the Kimberley coast included in the risk area of a catastrophic Woodside oil spill.
“The Montara oil spill was disastrous for West Timor with the toxic oil destroying seaweed farmers’ livelihoods. The Kimberley dodged a bullet with Montara, we were lucky the spill didn’t head our way. Myself and a crew flew over the Montara oil spill and followed it as far as we could. It was like a scene from a disaster movie.”
After the WA Environmental Protection Authority deemed Browse “unacceptable” due, in part, to oil spill risk, Woodside submitted a mitigation plan based on technology that has never been used “in anger”, a weakness stated in an independent expert review of the plan.
Professor Richard Steiner, independent oil spill expert, said: “A large offshore spill is impossible to effectively contain or recover. Historically, only 2-6% of total spill volume is recovered and the ecological injury from the release of toxic hydrocarbons in the sea can be severe, extensive, and long-term.
“Here in Alaska, government research concludes that several marine populations injured by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, including whales, fish, and seabirds, are still not recovering today, 37 years later. We should expect similar long-term ecological impacts in Western Australia if there were to be a major oil spill. The only sure way to avoid the risk of a catastrophic marine oil spill is to not develop oil and gas projects in marine environments.”
One month after Indian police deployed unlawful and deadly force against peaceful protesters at the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led “Chalo Sansad” march, not a single officer in Delhi has been held accountable, Amnesty International said today as it published a new digital investigation documenting the police response to the protests.
Witness testimony and video and photographic evidence verified by Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab confirm that police used weapons including pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas launchers, grenades, batons and electric shock devices against protesters between 20 July and 24 July in Delhi and Siwan town in Bihar state. The weapons were deployed in a manner that breached international law and standards and domestic policing guidelines. Amnesty International also verified two instances of a police officer unlawfully using lethal force against a crowd.
On X, the Delhi Police publicly denied any disproportionate use of force, repeating it before India’s Supreme Court, describing its handling of the protest as “professional”. Evidence gathered by Amnesty International directly contradicts this account.
“Instead of facilitating the right to protest, Indian authorities suppressed it first with a communication blackout, barricades and transport disruption. They then attempted to crush it with unnecessary or excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, including children. This heavy-handed response was state-sanctioned violence masked as crowd control. The continued impunity after a month is a testament to that,” said Aakar Patel, Chair of Board, Amnesty International India.
Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab verified 17 videos filmed on 20 July in central Delhi across the area spanning Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg and Connaught Place and two videos filmed in Siwan town of Bihar state on 24 July. In videos filmed in Delhi, personnel from Delhi Police, the Rapid Action Force (RAF), and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were identified.
Use of birdshot against protesters
Frames from two videos filmed on 20 July 2026 in Delhi and verified by Amnesty International show an RAF officer firing a shotgun into the crowd. Amnesty International
Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab verified twovideos showing an RAF officer firing a shotgun into the crowd, at the intersection of Connaught Place and Sansad Marg. This type of weapon can be used to fire lethal and less lethal ammunition. Two other verifiedvideos show two protesters near the same intersection with wounds consistent with those caused by birdshot, a hunting round that fires a large number of small metal pellets. The weapons used are colloquially known as “pellet firing shotguns” in India. CCTV footage verified by Amnesty International also shows two RAF officers carrying shotguns among the crowd a few blocks away.
Speaking to Amnesty International on a condition of anonymity, a protester who sustained pellet injuries said:
“I was near Connaught Place and an altercation took place between the protesters and the police. Even then, most of the protest remained peaceful. RAF officials were using tear gas but then, without any warning, started using pellet-firing shotguns. I saw an officer standing roughly 300-400 metres away aiming the shotgun towards where I was standing. I started running in the opposite direction and that’s when I got hit on my back, otherwise I would have been hit on my face and chest. I had roughly 25-30 wounds and immediately went to the hospital. The doctors confirmed that they were pellet injuries. Thankfully, my bones have been saved but my body has been scarred badly.”
Birdshot ammunition has not been developed for law enforcement purposes. Due to the spread of the metal pellets, it is inherently inaccurate and presents a high risk of serious injuries to the targeted person and even bystanders. Its use has been associated with deaths and multiple cases of blindings in Egypt, Iran and Jammu & Kashmir. Birdshot ammunition has no legitimate use in law enforcement and must be explicitly prohibited for this purpose.
The ‘Standard Operating Procedures to deal with Public Agitations with Non-Lethal Measures’ prepared by India’s Bureau for Police Research and Development recommend that security forces warn protesters before using less lethal or lethal force. According to the victim interviewed by Amnesty International, no prior warning was given before the pellet-firing shotgun was used. International standards on the use of force also require that law enforcement officials use non-violent means before resorting to the use of force. This includes issuing a clear warning whenever possible and giving sufficient time for people to react.
Delhi Police responded to reports of pellet injuries on X with a “Fake News Alert,” calling the reports “completely false and misleading” and warning that “appropriate legal action” would be taken against anyone “spreading rumours”.
In addition to pellets, the national newspaper The Hindu reported that an RAF unit had fired “two ballistic cartridges loaded with plastic pellets” on the evening of 20 July on the orders of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, alongside “55 non-electrical and 15 electrical crowd-control shells and five tear gas grenades”. A subsequent internal CRPF inquiry reportedly found that RAF personnel had fired at least seven rounds of ammunition containing metal pellets. Responding to a Right to Information request filed by Saket Gokhale, an All India Trinamool Congress spokesperson, at least ten people were injured by pellets during the protests.
Tear gas and batons
A sequence of frames taken from a video filmed on 20 July 2026 in Delhi and verified by Amnesty International show a tear gas grenade (highlighted in a yellow circle on frame 1) landing near a group of peaceful protesters and immediately exploding with a heavy blast (frame 2). One of the protesters tries to run away from it (frame 3) but is thrown to the ground (frame 4). Amnesty International
Another video verified by Amnesty International shows a tear gas grenade landing near a group of protesters and immediately exploding with a heavy blast. Tear gas grenades releasing an excessive amount of explosive energy are extremely dangerous and should be prohibited for use in public assemblies.
Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that tear gas grenades were launched directly at protesters instead of at an angled trajectory above the head of protesters, at odds with UN Guidance on the use of Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement. The use of tear gas should be limited to situations of widespread and serious violence. There is no evidence available that suggests such a level of violence by protesters. While there were isolated incidents of protesters throwing stones, this would not reach that threshold.
Amnesty International documented frequent misuse of long, flexible batons, widely known as lathis in India, during the protest. The organization verified eightvideos showing Delhi Police officers in khaki uniform and RAF officers striking lathis against peaceful protesters, including a young boy, who offered no provocation or any sign of resistance. In many instances they hit people indiscriminately on all parts of the body. In one video, a man knocked to the ground is struck repeatedly while unable to move or pose any threat.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture considers lathis to be inherently cruel, inhuman or degrading as “they deliver a greater level kinetic force than conventional batons, causing excessive pain and increasing the risk of serious injury” and has called for them to be prohibited – a position supported by Amnesty International.
In at least two videos, men in plain clothes, including some wearing black helmets marked “Delhi Police” on the back, are seen beating protesters with lathis while uniformed officers, who escorted them toward the crowd, stand beside them and make no attempt to intervene. The absence of visible identification, such as name tags or badge numbers, on these individuals is itself a breach of the accountability principle, which requires that law enforcement officials be identifiable in any encounter involving the use of force.
Amnesty International also verified one video of an RAF officer using an electric shock baton on a peaceful protester. Direct-contact electric shock devices inflict severe pain without incapacitating a person and serve no legitimate law enforcement purpose that could not be achieved through less harmful means. Amnesty International, together with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has called for an absolute prohibition on their use by law enforcement, given the risk of severe suffering, lasting disability, psychological harm and, with prolonged use, death. Authorities in India should immediately withdraw this weapon from their law enforcement personnel.
Firearms
Frames from two videos filmed on 24 July 2026 in Siwan and verified by Amnesty International show a state police officer firing an AK-type assault rifle against protesters. Amnesty International
Amnesty International also verified twovideos filmed on 24 July in Siwan, Bihar, where a state police officer is firing an AK-type assault rifle against protesters. Firearms of this kind are designed to kill and, in the context of assemblies, may lawfully be used only to meet an imminent threat of death or serious injury to a specific individual, and only as an absolute last resort. Amnesty International has found no evidence any such threat existed.
“Despite this body of evidence, the Indian authorities have made no public commitment to investigate or prosecute any officer involved. We call on Indian authorities to order a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the use of firearms, birdshot ammunition, tear gas, lathis and electric shock weapons against protesters in Delhi and Siwan, and to publish its findings,” said Aakar Patel.
“The deployment and use of birdshot ammunition and direct contact electric shock devices must also end immediately.”
In response to the “Chalo Sansad” march, authorities denied permission for the march, imposed an internet shutdown around the areas where the protest was scheduled to take place, issued orders prohibiting gatherings of more than five people, closed multiple Delhi metro stations and erected barricades across central Delhi. Under international human rights law, holding an assembly must not be subject to prior authorization or permission. Where a notification is required, it should only serve to prepare the authorities in facilitating the assembly and should not be used as means to further restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Further, the issuing of prohibitory orders is akin to a blanket ban on an entire march. This does not meet the standard of legality, necessity and proportionality, nor does the blanket internet shutdown imposed by authorities.
According to the Delhi Police, more than 400 people were injured including police personnel and protesters. At least three people were injured in Siwan including one bystander who was shot and sustained a bullet wound to the neck.
Previously, Amnesty International has extensively documented the numerous injuries – including blindings – and killings caused by Indian authorities’ use of shotguns loaded with birdshot as a means of crowd control in Jammu & Kashmir. In August 2016, the seven-member committee set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs to explore alternatives to shotguns recommended that they be used only in “rarest of rare cases” but fell short of calling for a complete ban. In 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recommended India to immediately order the end of the use of pellet-firing shotguns in Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of crowd control. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking decommission of the use of pellet-firing shotguns by law enforcement agencies for policing assemblies.
PERTH, Monday 24 August 2026 –New polling of Perth voter sentiment towards Western Australia’s gas and energy sector, commissioned by Greenpeace, has shown strong levels of opposition to gas drilling and fracking proposals at Scott Reef and the Kimberley, with 88% of voters concerned.
The new polling shows 71% of Perth voters, including a majority of One Nation and Labor supporters, reject risking Scott Reef and the Kimberley for oil and gas projects, with 88% concerned about existing proposals.
Only one in five Perth voters thinks WA is getting a fair deal from the state’s gas industry, and one in two believe the current arrangement is tipped too far in the industry’s favour. Two thirds of voters support the adoption of a state renewable energy target.
Geoff Bice, WA Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The Cook Labor Government should be encouraged that Perth voters across the political spectrum want environmental protection prioritised over new fossil fuels.
“Woodside has asked for approval from the state and federal governments to drill for gas and oil condensate at Scott Reef, even though the proposal risks a catastrophic oil spill that could destroy the ancient reef and ecosystem.
“Perth voters want to see a faster switch to renewable energy and better domestic returns from existing gas projects rather than new projects approved, and over two thirds support a renewable energy target.
“The people of Perth are fed up with getting a raw deal out of the gas industry and want the Cook Government to get on the right side of the energy transition.”
Jakarta, August 16, 2026. Greenpeace Indonesia clarifies findings published in ‘Unprotected Paradise’ report about new nickel mining threats in Raja Ampat, West Papua. Greenpeace has made an error by saying that there are three nickel mining licenses in preparations with operations plan in eastern Waigeo, and one of the companies has also been trying to reinstate a coal mining license in Misool island. In fact, three companies have taken steps to secure mining licenses in Raja Ampat, two for nickel and one for coal.
Documentation of Nickel mine PT. GAG Nikel, located on GAG Island, Raja Ampat District, West Papua.
It has a concession area of 13,136 Ha and is located in the mega biodiversity area in Raja Ampat, West Papua, which is a habitat for hundreds of unique, rare and endangered types of flora and fauna.
We made a mistake when analysing administrative court decisions on two cases filed by PT Eka Kurnia Baru, one of the companies trying to operate mining in Raja Ampat, against the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM). PT EKB filed two lawsuits against Energy Ministry at the same time frame, defending its licenses on two commodities: nickel and coal.
Our research mentioned that PT EKB won its case on nickel mining, but lost in its coal license lawsuit. We would like to clarify this piece of information as PT EKB won its coal case, but lost in the nickel case. In its coal license case, PT EKB won at the administrative court (PTUN). The higher court and the Supreme Court backed this decision, causing the Energy Ministry losses in its appeal and re-examination requests.
Meanwhile in the nickel case, PT EKB won the case at the first and higher courts, but lost at the cassation process. It requested a motion to reconsider to the Supreme Court, but the appeal was rejected. We explained the administrative court result, but missed to mention the Supreme Court decision on the re-examination request.
“We apologize to the public for the error that we made in our report. While it is true that Raja Ampat is still under threats from nickel mining, there was a slight inaccuracy in the details that we outlined. We appreciate the reader who reached out to us after spotting the error, and we hope that this correction reflects our accountability,” said Arie Rompas, Greenpeace Indonesia’s forest campaign team leader.
In light of new revelations regarding the alleged involvement of the United States in attacks on Ecuadorian vessels, including the Fiorella vessel—eight of whose crew members remain missing—Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:
“The U.S. role in this attack is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. U.S. authorities must conduct an impartial investigation into the incident and, if there is sufficient and admissible evidence, establish criminal liability in the case. We must not forget that eight families have been waiting nearly seven months to find out what happened to their loved ones.”
The U.S. role in this attack is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. U.S. authorities must conduct an impartial investigation into the incident and, if there is sufficient and admissible evidence, establish criminal liability in the case.”
Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International
On August 12, The New York Times published an investigation revealing that a maritime patrol plane, crewed by English-speaking pilots and based at a military facility in El Salvador, flew and followed the Fiorella vessel for four days, including January 20, the day it disappeared. According to the newspaper, the aircraft is not part of the U.S. government’s fleet but was registered to a private company in the state of Virginia, suggesting a possible collaboration between private entities and U.S. authorities in the attack.
A day later, on August 13, The Washington Post published a report alleging that the attack on the Fiorella vessel had been carried out as part of a covert program by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the alleged direct approval of the President of the United States.
In July, Amnesty International reconstructed the Fiorella’s route using data from the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), which confirmed that the vessel set sail from the port of Jaramijó on January 13 and transmitted its last signal on January 20, in international waters between the Ecuadorian coast and the Galápagos Islands. Since then, eight of its ten crew members have been missing.
“The U.S. Congress must continue to push for legislative investigations into this incident and consider the possible involvement of government agencies in collaboration with private entities, given the new evidence available. Likewise, it must continue to demand accountability and transparency regarding all attacks on vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean over the past year, which have been carried out as part of President Trump’s anti-drug policy. Human rights violations committed as part of these attacks—including more than 200 possible extrajudicial executions—cannot go unpunished,” Piquer said.
The U.S. Congress must continue to push for legislative investigations into this incident and consider the possible involvement of government agencies in collaboration with private entities, given the new evidence available.”
Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact [email protected]
Yaoundé, 21 August 2026 – As Cameroon celebrates the triumph of the Indomitable Lionesses on the African stage, attention must also turn to another national heritage at a crossroads: Ebo Forest and the need to secure the customary land rights of the Banen communities, who have claimed these ancestral territories for generations.
For more than 60 years, Banen communities have been unable to return to their ancestral lands in Ebo Forest after being displaced from their villages in 1963. Yet the historical question of their rights over these lands remains unresolved. And the stakes are becoming increasingly significant. In 2023, the Cameroonian government classified part of Ebo Forest and opened it to industrial logging. Together, the two logging concessions covering Ebo span 133,392 hectares. Logging companies have since obtained harvesting rights within these areas.
For the Banen communities, therefore, the issue is not simply whether trees will be cut down. It is about who has the right to decide the future of their ancestral lands.
Fifteen years of unfinished land reform, while communities’ customary lands continue to be allocated
In 2011, the Cameroonian government launched a reform of the country’s land tenure framework, with the aim, among others, of addressing persistent land governance challenges. Yet fifteen years later, the reform remains unfinished, and customary land rights are still not legally recognised and secured.
The paradox is concerning: while the legal framework intended to better secure land rights is still being developed, forest lands historically occupied or claimed by communities continue to be classified as part of the State’s private domain and allocated to other uses, including industrial logging.
At Ebo, this disconnect is particularly visible. The forest is not an empty space waiting to be allocated. It is an ancestral territory that carries the history, culture, livelihoods and future aspirations of the Banen communities. When these lands are allocated for industrial uses while customary rights remain inadequately secured, communities risk losing not only access to the forest, but also their ability to determine the future of their territory.
“Our land is not simply space on a map. It carries our history, our villages, our sacred places and our livelihoods. We want our customary land rights to be legally recognised and secured. We cannot build a future for our communities if we do not know whether we will still have control over our land tomorrow,” said His Majesty Victor Yetina, Banen Traditional Leader.
When forest loss becomes land loss, protecting forests means protecting rights.
When communities lose the ability to access, manage and protect their ancestral forest, forest loss becomes a loss of control over their land.
“Securing community land rights is not only a matter of justice; it is also a conservation strategy. The work of theIPCCshows that land tenure security is associated with better forest management and reduced deforestation and degradation. At Ebo, recognising and securing the rights of the Banen therefore also means creating the conditions for the long-term protection of the forest,” said Stella Tchoukep, forest and biodiversity campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.
This approach is particularly important in a context where forest governance and natural resource management still need to be strengthened. The World Bank’s 2025 report on Cameroon’s natural capital shows that timber harvesting activities respond to immediate economic needs but generate significantly less value than the ecological services provided by intact forests, particularly their capacity to store carbon.
In other words, preserving a standing forest does not mean giving up its economic value; it means preserving the greater part of that value over the long term. The same report also calls on Cameroon to prioritise intact forest ecosystems with high ecological and economic value.
Greenpeace Africa therefore believes that, in a context where forests remain exposed to significant economic pressures and where their governance still needs to be strengthened, Cameroon cannot continue to prioritise the immediate value derived from exploitation at the expense of the long-term value of its forests.
Forest protection and community land tenure security must therefore be treated as two inseparable dimensions of the same challenge.
A paradox that must end
Fifteen years after the launch of the land reform process, it is difficult to accept that decisions on land allocation continue to be made while the customary rights of communities claiming those lands remain inadequately secured.
“The government cannot ask communities to wait for the completion of the land reform process while continuing to classify and allocate forest lands that they claim as their ancestral territories. Securing land rights must come before decisions that could determine the long-term future of these territories. At Ebo, this paradox must be resolved,” continued Stella Tchoukep.
Turning Ebo’s second chance into lasting protection
Ebo has already demonstrated that decisions about the future of forests can change.
In 2020, strong mobilisation by Banen communities, civil society and other actors helped secure the suspension of plans to open Ebo to logging. That mobilisation demonstrated that another path was possible: protecting the forest while working towards recognition of the rights of communities with ancestral ties to it.
That opportunity still exists.
Greenpeace Africa therefore calls on the Cameroonian government to:
Cancel the logging concessions allocated in Ebo and freeze the allocation of new concessions in territories where local communities and Indigenous Peoples claim customary land rights,
Consider sustainable alternatives to logging, and engage the local communities living around the forest to develop an inclusive land-use plan.
Accelerate and complete the land reform process launched in 2011, with full recognition and legal protection of customary land rights of Indigenous People and local communities, including rights over traditional forest lands.
Guarantee meaningful community participation in decisions affecting their territories, including through participatory land-use planning and mapping, a clear legal framework, and respect for Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
Ebo needs its forest. Its communities need their land.
The communities of Ebo do not simply need their forest to remain standing. They need secure rights to the land that makes their future possible.
Having previously called for Ebo to be given a second chance, Greenpeace Africa is now inviting Cameroonian decision makers, citizens and everyone committed to defending the forests of the Congo Basin to help turn that second chance into real, lasting and rights-based protection.
Media Contact:
Raphael Mavambu, Communication & Storytelling Manager, [email protected], Greenpeace Africa
As it approaches 100 days since the Ebola disease outbreak was declared in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warns that communities are not receiving adequate support to contain the disease. This outbreak has become the largest and deadliest in the country’s history, and it continues to spread at an alarming rate within communities who already contend with conflict, violence, displacement, and hunger, among other health emergencies, in their daily lives.
Training for health workers and community leaders on case detection, referrals, and infection prevention and control measures must be urgently bolstered within communities affected by the outbreak.
Over the past week, deaths due to Ebola disease have been reported at a rate of roughly one every half hour. Since the outbreak began and as of 16 August, national authorities have reported more than 5,000 confirmed cases and over 2,400 deaths.
“This epidemic continues to spread, moving faster than the response can keep up,” says Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, International President of MSF. “Treatment centres remain essential for saving lives, but this response needs more than extra beds.”
“It needs better detection, safe isolation for sick people and their contacts, and support to health workers,” says Dr Abdelmoneim. “People seeking care in existing health facilities also need to be protected from infection. Crucially, the response must be built with communities, not around them.”
In Rho displacement camp, near Drodro, Ituri province, community leaders have worked with MSF to encourage people with symptoms to seek testing, isolation and treatment early. They also promote infection prevention and control measures to reduce the risk of community transmission. In the overcrowded camp, which is home to nearly 50,000 people, this collaboration has helped limit the spread of Ebola and reduce mortality.
“We know our communities and how to reach our people,” says Ezrome Kiza Lumani, a community leader living in the camp. “When Ebola arrived, we did not wait. We spoke with families, listened to their fears, and encouraged people with symptoms to seek care. We have a crucial role to play in stopping this outbreak.”
Since the outbreak was officially declared, more than 60 per cent of Ebola disease deaths in DRC have occurred outside – and often far away from – Ebola treatment centres. This means many people are dying at home or in their communities without receiving care, and the virus continues to spread before cases are detected.
Worryingly, case numbers are rising rapidly beyond the epicentre of Ituri, with North Kivu province experiencing particularly high levels of mortality and mistrust in the response.
During awareness-raising sessions, community members have an opportunity to ask questions and receive accurate answers about Ebola disease. The MSF team also use them as an opportunity to hear suggestions from the community. Democratic Republic of Congo, July 2026.Julien Dewarichet/MSF
“With cases emerging in new areas with little or no previous experience managing Ebola disease, Ebola-trained healthcare workers are urgently needed not only inside treatment centres, but also directly in affected communities,” says Trish Newport, MSF’s emergency programme manager in Ituri.
MSF is currently responding across Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo, and Haut-Uélé provinces. Teams are operating six Ebola treatment centres, as well as isolation units, in affected areas, with more than 400 beds available — representing one third of all beds in the overall response. More than 1,400 MSF staff are supporting the response. Since the start of the outbreak, our teams have admitted more than 2,000 patients, of which more than 800 patients were confirmed to have Ebola disease.
In Beni, North Kivu province, we have worked to move our response within communities. Through supporting existing health facilities that also offer general healthcare services, which are also crucial to saving lives, systematic and symptomatic treatment can start quickly. Across the response to the outbreak in DRC, more must be done to ensure people can receive the care they need closer to home.
“Health workers and community leaders need training to help detect cases early, refer people safely, reinforce infection prevention and control, and protect themselves and others from infection,” says Newport. “The World Health Organization (WHO), other UN agencies, humanitarian organisations, including MSF, and the Congolese Ministry of Health must urgently expand this training and support.”
Community leaders like Emery Guba Mateso, also from Rho displacement camp, are sharing their experiences to encourage people to seek care. He lost his son to the disease and later survived an infection himself.
“As a person who has recovered from Ebola disease, the message I would like to share with the community is: as soon as the first symptoms appear, it is important to seek medical care promptly, because early access to appropriate treatment increases the chances of recovery,” says Guba Mateso.
