A/HRC/24/41/Add.1 46. There is still one group of Hai//om people living within the boundaries of Etosha National Park, namely in Okaukuejo, a community established for park workers that is situated on the outskirts of a large tourist lodge. Most of these people are current or former park employees. The Government is encouraging San people living in Okaukuejo to move to the resettlement farms that it has purchased adjacent to the park. Representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism informed the Special Rapporteur that the reason for moving the members of the community is because they make “too much noise”, especially “wailing during funerals”, which according to the Government disturbs tourists and wild animals. The Minister stated: “We must protect the tourists … they pay a lot of money.” However, from a human rights perspective, this is clearly an inadequate justification for removals. The community has lodged a legal complaint against the Government, asserting their right to stay and their rights over lands within Etosha National Park. (b) The Khwe San in and around Bwabwata National Park 47. Bwabwata National Park was created in 2007 on the area that had been designated as a game reserve prior to the independence of Namibia. The designations of both the game reserve and the national park were made without consultations with the some 1,000 to 2,000 Khwe San people living within the park’s boundaries, who were also excluded from participating in the design or management of the park. Khwe people living in the park have a still undefined legal status with respect to park lands (there is not even any written acknowledgment of the right of the Khwe to continue to occupy these lands), and there does not appear to be any intention on the part of the Government to resolve this issue in the short or medium term. The Khwe likewise have no right to hunt game, traditionally or otherwise, within the park’s boundaries, and may only gather, in specific ungazetted areas, some essential subsistence items, including firewood. 48. Decisions regarding natural resource management within Bwabwata National Park are made by the Ministry of Tourism in consultation with the Kyaramacan Association, a non-governmental organization that represents people living within the park. Importantly, in recent years, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has facilitated the establishment of some innovative land-use and benefit-sharing arrangements for the people within Bwabwata National Park. The Khwe, with the assistance of the Kyaramacan Association, have been granted hard-won concessions to benefit economically from big game trophy hunting and to build a tourism lodge near the Popa waterfalls. However, despite these promising developments, the Khwe communities undoubtedly face numerous challenges ahead. The Khwe will need significant assistance, both economic and in terms of capacitybuilding, to get their development initiatives off the ground. 49. The majority of Khwe people in the area of Bwabwata National Park are living in situations of abject poverty and marginalization. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the Khwe face heightened discrimination because of their prior association with the South African Defence Force, which occupied the Bwabwata park area during the apartheid regime and used Khwe San people as trackers because of their keen knowledge of the area’s lands and resources. Further, as discussed in the following section, the Khwe are the only San group in the country to not have their traditional authorities recognized under the Traditional Authorities Act, which contributes to their condition of marginalization and lack of voice in decision-making in the area. B. Participation and self-governance 50. An important aspect of the ability of indigenous peoples to maintain their distinct identities is the capacity to maintain and develop their own institutions of authority and effectively participate in all decisions affecting them. Yet representatives of indigenous 13