Germany sued for damages of ‘forgotten genocide’ in Namibia

Posted by:
Greg Lance – Watkins
Greg_L-W

eMail: Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com

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Hi,

Germany sued for damages
of ‘forgotten genocide’ in Namibia

Reuters in New York
Thursday 5 January 2017 17.07 EST Last modified on Thursday 5 January 2017 17.19 EST

Germany has been sued for damages in the United States by descendants of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia, for what they called a campaign of genocide by German colonial troops in the early 1900s that led to more than 100,000 deaths.

According to a complaint filed on Thursday with the US district court in Manhattan, Germany has excluded the plaintiffs from talks with Namibia regarding what occurred, and has publicly said any settlement will not include reparations to victims, even if compensation is awarded to Namibia itself.

“There is no assurance that any of the proposed foreign aid by Germany will actually reach or assist the minority indigenous communities that were directly harmed,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer Ken McCallion said in an email. “There can be no negotiations or settlement about them that is made without them.“

The proposed class-action lawsuit seeks unspecified sums for thousands of descendants of the victims, for the “incalculable damages” that were caused.

US representatives of the German government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Germany moves to atone for ‘forgotten genocide’ in Namibia

The slaughter took place from roughly 1904 to 1908, when Namibia was a German colony known as South-West Africa, after the Herero and Nama groups rebelled against German rule.

According to many published reports, victims were also subjected to harsh conditions in concentration camps, and some had their skulls sent to Germany for scientific experiments.

Some historians view what occurred as the 20th century’s first genocide, and a 1985 United Nations report said the “massacre” of Hereros qualified as a genocide.

Germany has paid victims of the Holocaust, which occurred during the second world war.

The plaintiffs on Thursday sued under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 US law often invoked in human rights cases.

The US supreme court narrowed the law’s reach in a 2013 decision, Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, saying it was presumed not to cover foreign conduct unless the claims sufficiently “touch and concern” the US.

McCallion said Kiobel and later rulings “leave the door open” for US courts to assert jurisdiction in genocide cases.

The plaintiffs, including some from New York, also brought federal common law and New York state law claims.

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Regards,
Greg