The UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released its annual report yesterday in which it bemoans the fact that the 1998 Racial Discrimination Prohibition Amendment Act continues to restrict action against those practising hate speech.

"It (CERD) regrets that it did not receive any information on concrete measures taken to ensure that verbal attacks on minority groups by Government officials or other actors are subject to sanctions," the report said.

CERD issued its comments after it reviewed a report presented by Namibia during its 73rd session between July 28 and August 15.

Namibia is one of the 173 states party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

The Namibian delegation included Tousy Namiseb, Chief of Law Reform in the Ministry of Justice, and Gerson Kamatuka, Deputy Director in the Office of the Prime Minister, who both made presentations.

CERD said Namibia must review its laws in order to prevent, combat and punish hate speech.

"The committee reminds the state party that the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression carries special duties and responsibilities, and that the prohibition of the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or racial hatred is compatible with the right to freedom of opinion and expression," CERD said in its findings.

It called for firm action to counter any tendency to target, stigmatise, stereotype or profile people and communities on the basis of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic group, "especially by politicians".

During deliberations, Namiseb told the committee that Namibia had come out of the apartheid era of South Africa and did not intend to go back to such an era.

The country had also signed several international instruments and upheld the rules of international law while there were acts in the Constitution that criminalised racial discrimination, he said.

However, the committee pointed out that hate speech, mostly by politicians, continued at an unacceptable rate and must be stopped.

It also said Namibia failed to provide sufficient information on the criteria used to recognise traditional leaders.

One concern of the committee was the exclusion of some San and Damara communities from recognition by the Government.

The Namibian delegation informed the committee that the Government recognised 42 traditional authorities, which included all indigenous groups, including the San and Damara ethnic groups.

It said five Damara ethnic groups had been recognised with two still pending recognition, but they were in the process of recognition before the courts.

In addition three of the San ethnic groups had been recognised with two still pending.

Government has also refused to recognise over 40 Herero and Ovahimba traditional leaders as chiefs.

CERD requested the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the criteria used to recognise traditional leaders.

"The state party must ensure that the criteria used for the recognition of traditional leaders under the Traditional Authorities Act of 2001 are objective and fair and that their application process is monitored by an independent body charged with assessing the legitimacy of applications for recognition by indigenous groups," the UN report said.

Other questions and concerns raised by the committee experts included land redistribution and rights granted to the San people; discriminatory employment practices against the black population; discriminatory measures and policies on land appropriation; the absence of national identification documents; cases of discrimination towards the San people and discrepancies between Government funding for the San and the Ovahimba people, where the Ovahimba people benefited more.

Last month the National Society for Human Rights claimed that Namibia's report was not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.

The rights body said racism existed in the white-dominated private sector where blacks suffered abuse while there was also a widespread perception among minority ethnic groups that Government was involved discriminating against whites and members of other ethnic groups in respect of access to the public service.

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