The Genocide Reparations Advocacy Forum (Graf) has called on German civil societies to stand against the 2021 joint declaration, a bilateral government agreement addressing the 1904-1908 genocide against Ovaherero and Nama people.
The forum, established in June, issued their statement on Saturday in advance of a plenary debate in the German Bundestag (parliament) to finalise the joint declaration.
“The debate must lead to a concrete and determined positive and constructive action by the goodwill of German civil societies to persuade its German government not to go ahead with the joint declaration,” the forum’s statement says.
According to the advocacy forum, the joint declaration has been rejected by many descendants of the survivors of the genocide.
The declaration is a development package, and should not be considered reparations for Ovaherero and Nama communities, the statement says.
“Graf calls for international communities, inclusive of all conversational partners at the plenary debate in the German Bundestag, to consider the joint declaration as an unlawful instrument, requiring immediate discontinuation. Both governments must abandon the joint declaration with immediate effect,” the forum says.
