BUSHMEN OF THE CENTRAL KALAHARI GAME RESERVE, BOTSWANA

Early day motion 1168, tabled 11 May 2004 by Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party). Signed by 51 members.

That this House recognises the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, as the ancestral land of the Gana and Gwi bushmen and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi; notes that the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was established in 1961 by the British colonial administration as a home for the bushmen and as a means of protecting their rights; expresses its concern over continuing reports of the Government of Botswana forcibly evicting the bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; believes such evictions and reported harassments of bushmen to be inexcusable, immoral and illegal; and calls upon the Government urgently to investigate these reports and to use its political and diplomatic ties with the Government of Botswana to encourage the respect and further strengthening of the rights and freedoms of the bushmen as established under international law and their right to return to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and freely to live there in the way they choose.

Signatures by party: Labour 21, Liberal Democrat 12, Conservative 5, Labour/Co-operative 4, Scottish National Party 4, Plaid Cymru 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1, UUP 1.