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UN special representatives slammed Berlin and Namibia for excluding Herero and Nama ethnic minorities from talks over compensations for crimes against their ancestors during Germany's colonial period.

Seven UN officials published their talks with the governments of both countries and requested that Germany take responsibility for the crimes it committed, including mass murder, when it colonized Namibia and directly pay compensation to the Herero and Nama rather than to the Namibian government.

The UN representatives said that sidelining the ethnic minorities from direct talks - they were communicated with only through an advisory committee - is wrong.

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The independent experts, who were assigned by the UN Human Rights Council UNHRC, are looking into suspected violations of international law by the conduct of both governments on the matter. However, the concluding report is not considered as a legal document.

During Germany's colonization of Namibia between 1904 and 1908, the European country carried out mass murders of tens of thousands of Herero and Nama groups.

Lawyers representing both ethnic groups filed a complaint to a Namibian court demanding that the "joint declaration" with Germany be invalidated as it violates the country's constitution.

In 2021, Berlin and Windhoek announced the declaration following years of talks. But the document was never signed upon objections from Herero and Nama associations, who demanded to participate in the official talks between the two countries and be directly offered reparations.

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The agreement entails that Germany must pay around €1.1bn ($1.2) over a period of three decades to fund projects in the African country.

Last February, the UN experts submitted a letter to Germany and Namibia expressing “grave concerns” over violations of international law and asked that they respond within 60 days. Until the period passes, the letters would remain confidential.

Berlin said it recognizes the important efforts made by the representatives and asked that the period be extended, while the Namibian government has not responded yet.

Germany must take responsibility “for the crimes carried out during its era of colonial rule," the experts confirmed in the letter.

The development programs offered by Berlin were insufficient to compensate the ethnic groups for the “scale of the damage that was done to them."

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The reparations cover the damage caused as a result of the mass murders, including “starvation, torture, gendered violence, forced labour and loss of property” that the Herera and Nama still suffer from to this day.

The development aid as a form of compensation was also in danger of “perpetuating rather than rectifying, colonial dynamics," the experts added.

A new negotiation process would be necessary, an expert in international law and an advisor to lawyers in Namibia said.

“This must be transparent and in compliance with legal minimum standards," Karina Theuer told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Gaob Johannes Isaak, the head of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association, told The Guardian in February that "reparations would bring back dignity, self-worth and play a meaningful role in our own development and education for the Nama people so we can share equally in the resources of Namibia.”