German Member of Parliament Niema Movassat expressed disappointment in the German Government for not shouldering its responsibility to the victims of the genocide and their descendants.

Movassat, who is a representative of the Left Party, arrived in Namibia last week to intensify inter-parliamentary dialogue, for political and civil society meetings and for talks with committees of the descendants of victims of the 1904-1908 German genocide.

At a press conference held yesterday, Movassat said that no development aid can ever justify or rectify human rights violations.

The MP also highlighted the way forward for the descendants of victims of the German genocide when he delivered a speech commemorating Herero Day. The speech was delivered at a public lecture entitled ‘The Just Demands for Reparations – What Comes Next?’

He rejected the unilateral establishment of a ‘Special Initiative’ pointing out that it is actually nothing else than development aid.

“It is crystal-clear that development cooperation differs fundamentally from restorative justice and is therefore no substitute for it. Restorative justice is not a form of aid, but a claim of an injured party arising from the recognition of injustice suffered.”

According to Movassat, the German Government never tires of emphasising that it is aware of its historical and moral responsibility by spending a particularly large per capita amount of development funding on Namibia.

It also underlines the establishment of the ‘Special Initiative’ for the affected areas, which is actually nothing else than development aid, as it is channelled through the normal development-funding scheme from the German financial-cooperation budget, he said.

“Even if the German Government continues to be reluctant to speak openly of genocide, the combined efforts and pressure have at least brought them to the point of now admitting that there were atrocities and massacres.”

According to him, the main reason for his visit was to develop and intensify the relationships that have been formed over the years with the Ovaherero and Nama representatives of the descendants of the victims as well as with the Namibian Government and Parliament.

Meanwhile, a Namibian-German parliamentary friendship group was founded in the Namibian National Assembly. Through this forum, a regular inter-parliamentary dialogue should be established.
However Movassat pointed out that this dialogue must not be conducted without the involvement of the affected communities.

It would be advisable to set up a technical steering committee for this purpose, comprised of representatives of the two governments and representatives of the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama victims, said Movassat.

According to him, that committee would have to meet regularly, without prior conditions concerning the topics to be discussed, to deliberate on all issues relating to the advancement of the reconciliation process and to draft proposals.

He stressed that whatever the next steps will be, nothing will be decided unilaterally, but any decisions have to be taken together with the affected descendants.

It is also imperative that the German and foreign organisations and companies that profited from forced labour, expropriations and displacements during the period of German colonial rule, or else their legal successors, should contribute their part in paying reparation payments.

Herero wollen kein Geld

Entschädigung dient nicht der Bereicherung – Deutsche Regierung ist rassistisch

Die Herero, die von Deutschland finanzielle Entschädigung fordern, wollen sich mit dem Geld nicht selbst bereichern, sondern die Infrastruktur in ihren Siedlungsgebieten verbessern. Das ist das Resümee eines deutschen Politikers, der jetzt im Land unterwegs war. (weiterlesen...)