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The Human Rights
Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Africa
Moringe Parkipuny
Member of Parliament
Ngorongoro, Tanzania
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Mr. Parkipuny delivered these remarks before the Sixth Session of
the United Nations
Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneve, Switzerland on
August 3, 1989.
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Madam Chairperson, fellow representatives and friends in the
struggles of indigenous peoples rights, first, I convey from Africa
the message of unity and resolute determination to consolidate the
strive for our common course.
I have learnt that this is the first time that representatives of
any community in Africa have been able to attend this very important
forum. This is a historic moment for us. We are only two in
attendance, both from Tanzania, of the Haxza and Maasai communities.
I take this opportunity to express our very profound appreciation of
the generosity of the United Nations Voluntary Fund and the NGO
Human Rights Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which have helped to
sponsor our trip to Geneva. We look forward to the future when more
delegates from Africa will be able to make use of this valuable
forum. Also would you please accept my wish for your attention and
time to introduce our plight and to provide you with some basic
information about the situation in Africa, which has not been aired
in this forum before.
The environment for human rights in Africa is severely polluted by
the ramifications of colonialism and neo-colonial social and
economic relationships in which we are compelled to pursue our
development and sovereignty in a global system replete with
injustices and exploitation. Let us keep in mind the fact that the
over whelming majority of African countries attainted political
independence only in the decade of the 1960s. That is, most have
existed sovereign political entities for a period of less than three
decades. And indeed the process of decolonialization is still in
progress in Africa. The struggle of peoples of South Africa against
direct and indirect bondage of apartheid allied with the might of
Western economic hegemony provides ample testimony of the agonies of
Africa in its determination to overcome the inhumanities of
colonialism and neo-colonialism.
In that historical context, African countries are at present going
through a necessary phase of consolidating the fabric of national
identity and unity of all their peoples, free from the destructive
afflictions of tribalism which have already created massive losses
of life in several countries. These historical factors are crucial
in seeking to place into perspective the question of human rights of
indigenous and distinctive cultural communities in Africa.
However, in common with other regions of the world, Africa is not
composed of a monolithic human cultural population. This holds
equally true in the case of the different countries of our continent.
Most African counties have people of diverse cultural roots. What is
more, almost a century of colonialism has left a legacy of very
unequal access to education, which has in turn created wide
disparities in participation in the apparatus of the state and
national economy. Yet there is hardly any African state that has a
charter of rights that gives recognition to the existing cultural
diversity.
Preoccupation with the promotion of rights of the majority and vital
need to consolidate national identity and unity are beyond doubt
necessary undertakings. But these concerns should never be pursued
to exclusion of the protection of the legitimate rights vulnerable
minorities. To do that undermines the very objective of national
unity and places a primary component of human rights to cultural
diversity outside the agenda of national ethics, integrity and
freedom to developmental options.
In Africa, uniformity of approach and state monopoly of
interpretation of national identities have also the conception of
what development actually means have thrown wide open the floor for
prejudices against the fundamental rights and social values of those
peoples with cultures that are distinctly different from those of
the mainstream of national population. Such prejudices have
crystallized in many African countries into blatant cultural
intolerance, domination and persistent violations of the fundamental
rights of minorities.
In East Africa there are two main categories of vulnerable minority
peoples who have been in consequence subjected to flagrant
violations of community and individual rights. These are hunters and
gatherers, namely the Hadza, Dorobo and Sandawe together with many
ethnic groups who are pastoralists. The Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya
are the largest and most widely known of he many pastoral peoples of
East Africa. These minorities suffer from the common problems which
characterize the plight of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
The most fundamental rights to maintain our specific cultural
identity and the land that constitutes the foundation of our
existence as a people are not respe3cted by the state and fellow
citizens who belong to the mainstream population. In our societies
the land and natural resources are the means of livelihood, the
media of cultural and spiritual integrity for the entire community
as opposed to the individual appropriation.
The process of alienation of our land and its resources was launched
by European colonial authorities at the beginning of this century
and has been carried on, to date, after the attainment of national
independence. Our cultures and way of life are viewed as outmoded,
inimical to national pride and a hindrance to progress. What is more,
access to education and other basic services are minimal relative to
the mainstream of the population of the countries to which we are
citizens in common whit other peoples.
Let it be understood, we do not advocate separatism, but assert the
fundamental human right to maintain our cultural identity within the
framework of united nations of Africa. We do not expect overnight
change.
We trust that our modest plea in this most appropriate forum of the
United Nations has been understood. We speak with the total
conviction that respect for our differences strengthen unity and
national identity in our countries and the world at large.
With the greatest respect to Mother Earth, the cradle of all life, I
salute you all. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
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