A/HRC/24/41/Add.1 Government policy in Namibia that assigns a positive value to the distinctive identities and practices of these indigenous peoples, or that promotes their ability to survive as peoples with their distinct cultures intact in the fullest sense, including in relation to their traditional lands, authorities and languages. 76. The Government should strengthen and adopt affirmative measures to protect the right of non-dominant indigenous groups to retain and develop the various attributes of their distinctive cultural identities. Laws and government programmes should be reviewed and reformed as needed to ensure that they do not discriminate against particular indigenous groups, and that they accommodate and strengthen cultural diversity and adhere to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, in consultation with indigenous peoples, the Government should look to ratify International Labour Organization Convention No. 169 (1989) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. Lands and resources 77. Especially in recent years, the Government has entered into some innovative arrangements with San and other groups through which they have been able to increase their control over management of lands and natural resources, and derive some substantial benefits. However, in accordance with international standards, much more needs to be done to recognize and respect the rights of marginalized indigenous peoples over their traditional lands and resources, and to provide redress for any land that has been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent. 78. The Government of Namibia should step up efforts to address the problem of landlessness of San groups and to carry out initiatives to secure for them rights to land, and do so, to the extent compatible with the rights of others, in accordance with their historical or traditional land tenure patterns. 79. The Ministry of Lands and Resettlement should be provided with an increased budget to purchase lands for the purpose of resettlement. The selection of lands should be done in close coordination with the groups concerned and in accordance with prior feasibility studies. Lands purchased should be sufficient in size, location, and quality to guarantee that resettled groups have a sustainable basis for their economic, social and cultural development. 80. Resettled San groups should be provided with the necessary financial and technical support to ensure that they are able to establish viable communities, and support should continue for as long as may be required to achieve this purpose. Nongovernmental organizations in Namibia and abroad should also consider providing assistance to resettled San communities. 81. The Government should give high priority to purchasing adequate resettlement lands for the Hai//om people living in Oshivelo and other similarly situated San groups who were removed from the Etosha National Park in the 1950s. When selecting lands, the Government should make all efforts to accommodate the Oshivelo community’s desire to have access to lands in Etosha National Park for tourism purposes and also receive lands adjacent to the park suitable for agricultural and other economic activities. 82. Namibia should take measures to reform protected-area laws and policies that now prohibit San people, especially the Khwe in Bwabwata National Park and the Hai//om in Etosha National Park, from securing rights to lands and resources that they have traditionally occupied and used within those parks. The Government should 19

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