Overview

• Marking the anniversary of a 1904 extermination order, Amnesty International called on Germany to acknowledge legal responsibility and provide reparations to Ovaherero and Nama descendants.
• Germany maintains it has no legal duty to pay reparations and characterizes its 2021 pledge of roughly €1.1bn over 30 years as support for reconstruction and development.
• UN treaty bodies and special mandate holders criticized the process for sidelining affected communities and affirmed that Ovaherero and Nama representatives must shape any repair mechanism.
• Representatives of Ovaherero and Nama groups filed a 2023 High Court case in Namibia seeking to invalidate the 2021 joint declaration on constitutional and international law grounds.
• Descendant communities demand the return of remains and artefacts, protection of burial grounds, access to ancestral lands, and have challenged a planned renewable energy project on Nama territory in Tsau ||Khaeb National Park.