Genocide Remembrance Day in the spotlight

With talks around genocide crimes committed by Germany in Namibia more than a century ago heating up, parliament has made a decision to consult Namibians about the envisaged Genocide Remembrance Day.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs is currently considering a motion on the Genocide Remembrance Day which was referred to it by the National Assembly in April this year.
The committee plans to consult the affected communities, relevant authorities, historians and other stakeholders to determine and cause the enactment or declaration of a Genocide Remembrance Memorial Day. According to the public notice, the motion further seeks to recognise that the OvaHerero and Nama genocide was the first tragically defining episode of the 20th century, as a crisis for European civilisation and a universal catastrophe for humanity.
It also seeks to provide a national mark of respect of all victims of Germany’s persecution and demonstrate understanding with all those who still suffer from its consequences.
The motion further seeks to raise awareness and understanding of the events of the genocide as continuing issues of fundamental importance for all humanity as well as provide a national focus of educating subsequent generations about the OvaHerero and Nama genocide and the continued relevance of lessons learned from them.
“It was proposed that the date of May 28 of every year be the National Genocide Remembrance Day because on 28 May 1908, is when all concentration camps in Namibia were ordered to close, political prisoners started being released from notorious German concentration camps and this marked the official and formal end to the OvaHerero and Nama genocide episode,” the public notice reads.
The parliamentary committee invited the public, affected communities and other stakeholders to submit their opinions on the proposed date to the National Assembly’s secretary before 31 August. Germany recently announced that it intends to apologise to Namibia for the genocide.
With regard to reparations, German ambassador to Namibia Christian Schlaga recently said that no money would be channelled directly to the descendants of the genocide victims.

GORDON JOSEPH