E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.2 page 7 13. There are six large groups who identify themselves as indigenous and who claim this status. Under each of these groups there can be various sub-groups which differ from each other either for their striking difference in demography or in the institutions they have adopted or again for differences in their subsistence economy. These ethnic groups include the three main San peoples (!Xun, Khwe and Khomani), the various Nama communities (Khoekhoen), the major Griqua associations and representatives of the Koranna descendants, as well as several constituencies of so-called “revivalist Khoisan”, people reclaiming their historical heritage. 14. According to the documentation provided to the Special Rapporteur during his visit, the various indigenous groups, known collectively as Khoi-San, are estimated to include approximately 1,000 Khomani San, 1,100 Khwe San, 4,500 !Xun San and 10,000 Nama people, who are mostly resident in the sparsely populated Northern Cape Province. There are a further 300,000 Griquas, mostly located in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces, but with significant communities in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. There is furthermore an unspecified number of “revivalists” Khoisan people associated with the Cape Cultural Heritage Development Council (CCHDC). Most of the indigenous peoples in the western part of the country were forced to adopt Afrikaans as their primary language. The use of Khoe-San languages was strongly discouraged under apartheid.1 15. Although indigenous peoples are still not officially recognized as such in South Africa, the 1996 Constitution, for the first time, included constitutional reference to Khoe and San people. Article 6 (2) states: “Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages”. Here the word “indigenous” is used in reference to the majority of the languages recognized under apartheid, which became the 11 official languages of the Republic in 1994, but it does not include the Khoi-San languages. However, article 6 (5) indicates that “A Pan South African Language Board established by national legislation must promote, and create conditions for, the development and use of … the Khoi, Nama and San languages”, thus opening a whole new constitutional chapter by recognizing the presence of Khoi and San people and their endangered languages. 16. The South African Human Rights Commission prepared an extensive study on indigenous peoples’ rights in 2000, which raised some of the major issues concerning the identification of indigenous peoples in the country. In this process a number of factors would need to be taken into account. These factors include the fact that some indigenous groups were historically stripped of their indigenous identity; that inter-marriages occurred over decades between the various African indigenous groups, and also with white settlers; and that historically there has been a lack of adequate registration mechanisms of indigenous communities and their members in the country. 17. The Commission recommends that self-identification should be accepted as a criterion of definition within the context of what constitutes an indigenous community, and that individual membership should be by lineage. It further recommends that all South African indigenous communities should be afforded the same limited self-determination rights and measures, meaning that Khoi and San and related groups should be included in the framework the Constitution has set up for traditional leaders under Chapter 12. It also recommends that the Government should maintain a national register of South African indigenous communities. The