World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has expressed its willingness to curb human rights abuses carried out by anti-poaching guards after an internal investigation prompted by reports.
A lengthy, long-delayed report published by BuzzFeed on Tuesday November 24, 2020 revealed that WWF, one of the world’s largest charities knew for years that it was funding alleged human rights abusers but repeatedly failed to address the issue.
The BuzzFeed report accused WWF of funding and working with anti-poaching guards who allegedly tortured and killed people in national parks in Asia and Africa.
“We feel deep and unreserved sorrow for those who have suffered,” the WWF said.
The 160 page report said the charity “should have been more transparent” and needed to “more firmly engage governments to uphold human rights”.
But some accused the WWF of a “lack of contrition” after the report’s publication, and have demanded apologies and a change in how the charity is run.
BuzzFeed said it carried out a year-long investigation in six countries, based on more than 100 interviews and thousands of pages of documents, including confidential memos, internal budgets and emails discussing weapons purchases.
The report, which has now been published online, corroborates problems exposed by BuzzFeed News in Nepal, Cameroon, Congo and the DRC. It claimed the panel was prevented by the Covid-19 pandemic from traveling to locations where the abuses reportedly took place.