A/HRC/15/37/Add.2 53. However, at all the villages and settlements visited, the Special Rapporteur heard accounts of inadequate participation in development planning. The sentiment repeatedly expressed was that decisions are made by the Government at the national or district levels and that kgotla or other local community processes are usually at best opportunities to comment on development planning with little real influence in outcomes of that planning. In Basarwa communities, concerns were also raised that the consultation processes, like the kgotla system, do not always reflect their own traditional decision-making institutions. 54. Exemplifying the shortcomings of the current system, residents of Mababe stated that they were simply informed of the decision to place their traditional lands within the restrictive regime of a wildlife management area, and were not allowed to take part in that decision. Residents of West Hanahai complained that the village development committee did not, in fact, function as an effective vehicle for consultation, stating that in practice they were excluded from the dialogue between the committee and the Government, and that the committee failed to consult with community members on such issues as partitioning land and funding priorities. 55. The Government, in its 2003 review of the Remote Area Development Programme and its 2009 Revised Remote Area Development Programme, states that community organizations and leadership structures in remote communities are generally weak and lacking in capacity, with participation in development planning remaining low.8 The Special Rapporteur observed that, at least to some extent, such perception of a lack of skills at the local level contributes to a tendency for the Government to take control of project development with the intention that communities be persuaded to accept the initiatives. Yet, the Special Rapporteur is encouraged by the Government’s apparent willingness to address these issues, as discussed in part III (B) above, and stresses the need to strengthen local capacity and institutions and ensure that mechanisms of consultation are appropriate to the relevant cultural patterns. 56. It is evident that particular indigenous groups remain underrepresented in the decision-making bodies in Botswana, and that development and other decisions affect these groups in ways that are unique to them or not felt by the general population. Hence, the normal avenues of political participation and consultation that are devised to apply to the general population are inadequate for these groups. In accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (arts. 19 and 32, inter alia), it is important that such underrepresented indigenous communities be consulted directly, through special procedures that accommodate to their own cultural patterns and institutions, in the making of decisions affecting them, with the objective of obtaining their free, prior and informed consent. C. Historical grievances, in particular with regard to land 57. In the courses of history that accompany the development of many countries, especially those that have experienced European colonization and waves of migration, it is common for indigenous groups that are in the minority to have suffered injustices that leave them disadvantaged in the present. Botswana is such a country. In its 2009 Revised Remote Area Development Programme, the Government acknowledges that certain communities “find particular and intractable disadvantages, either for logistical reasons, or because of long standing historical prejudice and subjugation by the dominant groups”. Thus, the Government commits to “adopt affirmative action across a variety of sectors to improve their access to education, health, employment and economic development opportunities, 8 14 Botswana, “2009 Revised Remote Area Development Programme”, para. 12.1.1. GE.10-13968