E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.2 page 3 priority attention. The Griqua communities of the Western and Northern Cape, who are also present in other parts of the country, have long struggled politically for the recognition of their lost cultural identity as part of the Khoi-San people. Having been included during the apartheid regime in the amorphous category of “Coloureds”, they demand statutory recognition as a distinct indigenous community and respect for their particular ethnic identity. The Special Rapporteur concludes his report by a number of recommendations intended to help the concerned parties to fill the existing gaps and to find durable solutions that contribute to the improvement of the human rights situation of the indigenous peoples in the country. The Special Rapporteur recommends, inter alia, that indigenous communities be recognized as such constitutionally and that the legal institutions maintaining the stigma of their classification as “Coloureds” by the apartheid regime be removed. The Government is advised to maintain a national register of officially recognized indigenous communities, and to give statutory recognition to their associations and chieftaincies wherever relevant. He also recommends that Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989) of the International Labour Organization be ratified promptly. The Special Rapporteur further recommends that the restitution of land claims by indigenous communities not be limited to the cut-off date of 1913; the launching of a systematic land needs and land rights study of indigenous communities; and the acceleration of the land restitution process. The Government must also provide indigenous communities with the resources and technical cooperation to pursue these claims successfully. He also recommends the use of economic, social and human development indicators for indigenous peoples, and the improvement of access of indigenous persons and communities to the justice system through the establishment of visiting circuit courts in outlying areas.

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