SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO VISIT SOUTH AFRICA

26 July 2005


The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, will visit South Africa at the invitation of the Government from 28 July to 8 August 2005.

With this first official visit to an African country, Mr. Stavenhagen aims to gain a better understanding of the situation indigenous peoples in South Africa. The Special Rapporteur, along with relevant parties in the country, will be focusing particular attention on such issues as the situation of the economic and social rights of the indigenous, including the access to land, and on the difficulties in protecting effectively their identity within the country’s overall context. More broadly, Mr. Stavenhagen will explore with the Government, indigenous communities and civil society how to enhance national responses to the needs of the indigenous in the country on issues such as health, food security or education.

The Special Rapporteur is expected to visit several communities in Kimberley, Griquland, Upington, Platternberg Bay, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. In the capital Pretoria, Mr. Stavenhagen is expected to meet with officials from, among others, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Land Affairs, Justice and Constitutional Development, and Provincial and Local Government, as well as with other relevant actors. In Cape Town Mr. Stavenhagen will meet with representatives of the Ministry of Arts and Culture, as well as with members of Parliament. The Rapporteur will also meet in the capital with representatives from indigenous communities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and members of academia.

Before ending his mission on 8 August, the Special Rapporteur will participate in a press conference. The Rapporteur’s findings and recommendations will be presented to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights in April 2006.