Human Rights

Poverty, a lack of formal education, marginalisation and the loss of ancestral lands have meant that it is all too easy for other ethnic groups, institutions and individuals to discriminate against the San and to abuse even their most basic human rights.

Over the years, WIMSA has taken both a pro-active and a reactive approach to the abuse of San rights. At the international level, WIMSA has encouraged and supported the San to represent themselves at various fora – including the UN's Permanent Forum, the UN's Working Group on Indigenous Populations (UNWGIP) and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.

As a result of the financial and moral support provided by WIMSA and its donors, the San have been able to make their own contributions to important documents such as the UN's Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to such momentous events as the UN's International Decade(s) of the World's Indigenous Peoples. An important partner of WIMSA continues to be the Indigenous People's African Coorindating Committee (IPACC) which also assists the San in lobbying for their human rights at both an African, and an international level

Unfortunately, WIMSA all too often hears of abuses of San human rights and where this occurs, WIMSA's extension workers (who are trained in paralegal skills) will gather facts in relation to the incident and will report back to WIMSA. Once the full facts of a case have been established, depending on the seriousness of the case, WIMSA may report the matter to the Police or relevant Government Ministry. Often, the services of Namibia 's Legal Assistance Centre (LAC ) and Botswana's Ditshwanelo are requested. In certain cases, WIMSA can intervene and take up cases on behalf of the wider San community.

Over the years there have been too many individual cases and incidents to be reported in detail here, but in general the kind of human rights abuses experienced by the San include:

• Seizure of San-owned land, animals or resources without due process
• Forced eviction of San from their land/ homes
• Beating or torturing by the police or powerful land owners
• Enslavement/ selling of San –usually children
• Rape
• Under-age sex or indecent assault of San children
• Prostitution of San children (in return for money or food)

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) Case

The CKGR case has received an enormous amount of international publicity and attention during the last decade, when the Botswanan Government took progressively more radical action to evict about 1,500 San from their ancestral land in the CKGR. WIMSA Botswana and a number of other key partners – in particular the First People of the Kalahari (FPK) - subsequently challenged the actions of the Government in Court.

The Botswanan Government held the view that because the CKGR is a wildlife reserve, it was therefore impossible for San hunter-gatherers to live there and that the San should be brought into a ‘modern' way of living. Consequently, the San living in the reserve were gradually bribed to leave, or forcibly removed from the land via the withdrawal of essential services such as access to water, health and education in 2002.

Most of the San were forced to live unhappily in the crowded re-settlement villages of New Xade and Kaudwane. These San requested the assistance of WIMSA Botswana, First People of the Kalahari, Ditshwanelo and the Kuru Development Trust in order to set up a Negotiation Team (NT) to attempt dialogue with the Government. However, in 2002, negotiations with the Government were halted, following the unilateral termination of basic services by the Botswanan Government.

In 2002, the San took the Government to the High Court to request that the decision to withdraw the basic services be ruled unlawful and to insist that those who had been illegally removed should be allowed to remain within the reserve. The case was supported by the ‘CKGR Support Coalition' formed by a number of San partners, of which WIMSA is a member, in order to ensure proper legal preparation for the case and to establish a solid foundation for future development in the CKGR.

At the time of writing, the case is continuing in the Botswanan High Court and a return to negotiations between the San and the Government seems to be a strong possibility for 2006.

[ Overview ] [ Education ] [ Human Rights ] [ San Representation & Leadership ] [ Culture & Cultural Rights ]