A/HRC/24/41/Add.1 San people to the lands bought. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur was informed that Hai//om representatives had requested that their community be moved to lands along a major road leading into Etosha National Park, which they saw as having greater economic development value, but were told that it was not possible for reasons unknown. In most cases, the purchased lands are also reportedly too small to sustain economically viable farms. 37. An additional problem has been that the communities that are resettled do not receive sufficient support following resettlement. This concern was uniformly expressed during the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Seringkop, one of the more developed resettlement farms. At Seringkop, as at most resettlement farms, basic infrastructure, including for water and sanitation, has for the most part not yet been installed. Viable economies in these farms are very far from taking root and people have thus far been living on assistance from the Government or non-governmental organizations for almost everything. This situation exists despite the fact that the National Resettlement Policy states that resettlement beneficiaries will be expected to be “self-reliant and self-sufficient by the fourth year”.11 While some resettlement farms have agriculture and tourist potential, San people reported to the Special Rapporteur that they currently lack the experience and know-how to build thriving commercial farms or tourism ventures. 38. The Special Rapporteur heard that there is some discomfort on the part of the Government about restoring to San groups their traditional lands or resettling them to prescribed areas, given that doing so is sometimes viewed as reminiscent of apartheid policies in which ethnic groups were divided into administrative territories based on race. Yet, if the Government is to carry out a land reform process, which by all accounts is imperative in Namibia, it must move forward in accordance with the right of the San and other indigenous peoples to hold land collectively, a right that is affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (art. 26, ff.). Programmes to secure this right are instrumental to promoting equality and providing all Namibians with opportunities for development, as contrasted with the racially discriminatory policies of apartheid. Despite the challenges, the Special Rapporteur observed some level of optimism for land reform in Namibia, given that it is a geographically large country with a relatively low population density, and the fact that there is a good level of political will and a legal framework to carry out land reform. 4. National parks 39. National parks in Namibia comprise lands that historically were used and occupied, and in some cases continue to be used and occupied, by San people. In multiple encounters with San groups and other knowledgeable sources, it was evident to the Special Rapporteur that San people continue to maintain a strong cultural attachment to their traditional lands within the parks. 40. The principal two parks in which San people live or have lived in are Etosha National Park, in the Kunene Region, and Bwabwata National Park, spanning the Caprivi and Kavango regions. Despite the fact that there exist strong indications that San groups have rights over lands and resources within the Etosha and Bwabwata national parks under international and common law standards, the Government of Namibia has not to date acknowledged San rights to lands within these parks. Thus, as discussed in the present section, while the Government has been, especially in recent years, demonstrating an increased openness to developing measures for San participation in managing and 11 Ibid., p. 7. 11