Germany refuses to pay reparations to Namibia

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has sharply criticized the German government's announcement that it does not intend to pay reparations to Namibia for the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama. The German government confirmed this in its response to a minor interpellation by the Green Party.

“This stance by the German government is nothing less than a slap in the face for the descendants of the victims,” said Laura Mahler, STP's expert on Sub-Saharan Africa. “Germany continues to profit from the colonial era to this day, but when it comes to genuine reparations, the German government refuses to accept its responsibility.”

The rejection is justified by the fact that at the time of the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama, there was no international criminal law—an argument that trivializes the crimes and once again deprives the descendants of the victims of their rights. “With this cynical reasoning, the federal government is making itself an accomplice to colonial crimes instead of taking responsibility,” Mahler criticizes. “Whether or not there was a legal category for genocide at the time is completely irrelevant. Germany murdered hundreds of thousands of people. Using such sophistry to avoid reparations is shabby and unacceptable.”

In the so-called Joint Declaration between Namibia and Germany of 2021, which has still not been signed, the German government also only recognized the genocide “from today's perspective.” Mahler criticizes that this was also an attempt to use linguistic and legal relativization to avoid taking real responsibility. Once again, according to the human rights activist, it is evident that the German government wants to evade the moral and material consequences of recognizing the genocide. The human rights organization calls on the German government to immediately correct its position and finally enter into serious negotiations with the legitimate representatives of the Ovaherero and Nama. “Anything else is a betrayal of universal human rights and a mockery of the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century,” Mahler said.

Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial troops murdered up to 100,000 Ovaherero and Nama, drove them into the desert or deported them to concentration camps. Nevertheless, the German government refuses to pay reparations and is instead simply providing development aid and making symbolic gestures. “The victims' families are not asking for handouts, but for justice,” Mahler said. “Anyone who acknowledges that genocide was committed cannot at the same time pretend that it has no legal consequences. Development aid is no substitute for reparations. Those who refuse to pay for their own crimes are ultimately defending the colonial logic that the lives of the victims are worth less.”

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de.