UN Special Rapporteurs rebuke Germany

After years of criticism from organizations of the Herero and the Nama as well as from the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), several UN Special Rapporteurs have now come to the same assessment: The so-called “joint agreement” between Germany and Namibia in 2021 should be renegotiated as soon as possible. “Apparently, at least seven UN Special Rapporteurs are needed to convince the German Federal Government that the reconciliation agreement regarding the genocide crimes against the Herero and the Nama – negotiated between Germany and Namibia – has failed. This is embarrassing for Germany, and it does not fit into the image of a country that wants to face up to its past,” criticized STP Director Roman Kühn in Göttingen on Thursday. “Just a few days ago, I took part in the memorial ceremony for the victims of the genocide in Namibia. The lives of their descendants are still affected by the hideous crimes of the German occupiers in the period from 1904 to 1908 – and by the great disappointment that the victims’ associations are not heard or included. The pain can still be felt today. Here, governments negotiated something that does not make sense at all – over the heads of those affected.”

The Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), and the STP had repeatedly confronted those responsible within the German Federal Government with specific points of criticism. “Now, we are hoping that the new report will serve as the wake-up call the Federal Government apparently needs,” Kühn emphasized. “We, the Society for Threatened Peoples, demand the Federal Government – and especially MP Ruprecht Polenz of the CDU, who was tasked with the negotiations – to take action immediately.” 

The joint agreement, which was signed in 2021, was negotiated without the Herero and the Nama. It does not include a recognition of the genocide that would be binding under international law, nor any real reparation payments. Instead, already planned development funds are supposed to be raised a little. This is why the “joint agreement” was criticized from the very beginning. The Namibian parliament has not ratified it until today.

Every year on April 22, the descendants of the surviving Herero and Nama commemorate the genocide crimes and the victims. Part of this year’s ceremony was the unveiling of a memorial stone for the victims, financed by the STP at the wish of the people concerned. Despite being invited, no members of the German government and no representatives of the German embassy took part in the event.