“Nama, Ovaherero take Shark Island fight to UN
Mathias Haufiku
2024-08-12
In a bid to stop the planned expansion of the Lüderitz port due to fears the development might erase the site of the former Shark Island concentration camp, the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) and Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) last month submitted an urgent appeal to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
CERD is a United Nations (UN) body which consists of independent experts who monitor implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
In a statement issued yesterday, the two groups said the planned extension poses imminent risk to the former concentration camp, a key site in the German colonial genocide perpetrated against the Nama and Ovaherero people between 1904 and 1908.
The expansion is part of the government’s broader plan to put infrastructure in place which will play a key role in the budding green hydrogen industry.
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- Full report on the website of the Namibian Sun (last checked in August 2024)
- Background on concentration camps in German South West Africa: 9 December 1904 – Order to erect concentration camps