The Indigenous Rights Movement in Africa: Perspectives from Botswana and Cameroon (original) (raw)
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This article outlines the different trajectories of the indigenous rights movement in Africa, and discusses the factors that have contributed to its success ordecline. Two case studies are compared; namely, the case of the San people of Botswana in Southern Africa, and the case of the Mbororo people of Cameroon in West Africa. On a general level, this article argues that the indigenous rights movement in different parts of Africa has gone through various phases, from expectation and success to disillusionment and pragmatism. Moreover, it demonstrates that the San and Mbororo communities and other groups not only rely on the global indigenous rights movement, but have also adopted alternative and complementary strategies to deal with the unforeseen consequences of this movement. Finally, we argue that our case studies attest to the enduring relevance of the nation-state and the ideal of ethnic coexistence in Africa.
Deusto Journal of Human Rights, 2018
This article is a practice-based elucidation of how indigenous rights can be securely protected and implemented in the broader human rights discourse. The concept of indigeneity is contested in many African countries with the primary question being: Who is indigenous? The ‘politics of recognition’ have stalled the work of the African indigenous rights movement thus far and this paper builds upon the discourse on Indigenous rights, making a proposition towards an effective machinery to facilitate their protection. Therefore, the focus is to construct a different perspective which emphasizes the need to utilize, develop and improve the existent human rights machinery. This is done through the reconceptualization of indigenous rights by utilizing the ethno-cultural protections machinery. In the last part of this article I look at the San peoples in Zimbabwe as a representative case study to bring into perspective the lived realities of indigenous peoples in Africa.Received: 28 June 201...
The term indigenous peoples', indigenous rights and the content of such rights have their origins in the events and developments leading to the formation of the international indigenous peoples' movement. And given the historical perspectives on indigenous peoples' engagement with the UN and its human rights commissions, indigenous peoples in African and the challenges they go through in their rights claims are affected by the historical development within the international arena. This in part was due to their late appearance in the international scene and in part also due to the nature of the colonial history of Africa. More so, the lack of local indigenous movements at the time of the making of the international movement and the low levels of education among African indigenous peoples were also among the factors. African indigenous peoples have had persistent violations of their rights to land, natural resources, religion and culture over the years. Despite these struggles, there have also been some improvements in recent times in how indigenous peoples and their rights and demands are perceived. African governments should do well to support these groups by recognizing their rights and making changes within the political and legal institutions that guarantee the protection of their indigenous peoples and their rights. 1 This paper was first submitted to the Department of Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Tromso, as a course paper in SOA-3006, Indigenous Culture, Resource Management and Territorial Rights, during the Autumn of 2014. It also formed the basis of my Oral exam in that same course. I am very grateful to Velina Ninkova (the Internal examiner) and the External examiner for their comments and suggestions during the Oral exam. The revision done in this current paper is based on their comments and suggestions.
Introduction to the Special Topic "Indigenous Identities and Ethnic Coexistence in Africa
African Study Monographs, 2015
In recent decades, discourses of citizenship, minority, and indigenous rights have ranked high on the agenda of the international development establishment (Niezen, 2003). They have also made their way into national and domestic politics in many parts of Africa. Among these, the concept of indigenous peoples has raised debates, both in political and academic circles, particularly in the African context (Kuper, 2003). At the same time, this and related notions have been adopted by many minority groups in their struggles for recognition, resources, and rights, yet with varied outcomes. In September 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Among its most significant assertions are indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination to lands, territories, and natural resources, and to free, prior, and informed consent. Activists and organizations concerned with human and minority rights saw the adoption of the declaration as an i...
2012
Amnesty International (2009:1) reports that despite some progress over the last decade, indigenous peoples around the world continue to live in hardship and danger. This is due to the failure of states to uphold their fundamental human rights. The persecution of minorities by intolerant majorities is still a major cause of international unrest in various parts of the world (Sohn, 1981: 272). Against this backdrop, this study set out to investigate the extent to which the rights of the Basarwa in Botswana are promoted and protected by the government. Methods of data collection included questionnaire, interviews, books, journal articles and internet publications. The study found out that the government of Botswana does not promote and protect the rights of the Basarwa in Botswana. They are instead being considered as a primitive and backward people and hence, a developmental problem by the government of Botswana. Other violations of their rights include: non-recognition as the indigenous people of Botswana, derogatory names-calling, forced land evictions and other forms of social and economic exclusion. The study recommends the following: The need for the government of Botswana to recognise the Basarwa as a distinct and unique ethnic group in the country; the need for dialogue between the Basarwa, the government of Botswana and NGOs; the need for the government of Botswana to ameliorate the quality and accessibility of social services for the Basarwa, particularly in the areas of health and education; and the need for both the public and private sectors alike to provide the necessary skills for employment of the Basarwa.
Journal of African Law, 2017
The adoption by some peoples in Africa of the indigenous rights concept has brought about new challenges regarding the application of the concept to these peoples. The indigenous rights concept was shaped by the colonial experiences of indigenous peoples in the Americas and Australasia. The international understanding of the concept presupposes the existence of a set of group rights belonging to peoples who are descendants of the earlier inhabitants of the territory on which a state is located, in contrast to other citizens of that state who are considered colonial settlers. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has attempted to overcome this challenge by evolving a description of indigenousness for Africa. This article argues that, although the conceptual challenges that flow from the foreign origin of the concept have not been fully overcome, the African Commission's description has successfully located Africa within the global indigenous rights framework.
Indigenous rights in southern Africa: international mechanisms and local contexts
The San are the indigenous peoples of southern Africa, numbering approximately 100,0001 and representing three linguistic families.2 Once living throughout the southern part of the continent, today the San live primarily in Botswana and Namibia, to a lesser extent in Angola and South Africa, with very small numbers also residing in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Like indigenous peoples worldwide, San communities are currently facing drastic social change, extreme marginalisation and poverty.3 Hitchcock and Garcia-Alex emphasise the starkness of indigenous peoples’ deprivation, noting that ‘they tend to have the lowest health and nutritional standards, the highest rates of unemployment, illiteracy, and mortality, the shortest life spans, the lowest incomes, and the lowest degrees of political participation of the various categories of people in the countries in which they reside’.4 This description fits for the San of southern Africa, who have played an important role in the collective global imagination about human ancestry, and have been a prime focus of much anthropological research. Despite all this attention, the standards of living have continued to deteriorate. Can a rights-based approach help?Will the signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have any impact? How do local, national and regional contexts come into play? What do anthropologists have to contribute to a discussion of indigenous rights in southern Africa?