*Discrimination based on descent in Africa1*
 
 1 
It should be noted that although this paper aims to cover the main 
indigenous forms of descent 

based discrimination in Africa, with examples, it cannot be considered as 
exhaustive
* 

1. Introduction
* 

This paper summarises descent-based forms of discrimination across Africa, 
covered by the

descent limb of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms 
of Racial

Discrimination (ICERD). These forms of discrimination range from the 
existence of caste

systems in many societies across the Sahel region, discrimination and 
marginalisation faced by

the descendents of hunter-gather societies and the discrimination and even 
enslavement still

suffered by descendents of slaves in Western and North-Western Sub-Saharan 
Africa
* 

2. Caste systems in Africa
* 

Although it is not necessarily accurate to speak of the existence of "caste 
societies" in Africa,

there are certainly societies in which there are sections of the population 
who are members of

caste groups. These systems can be called "caste systems" using the 
definition of "occupational

specialisation of endogamous groups, in which membership is based on 
ascription, and between

which social distance is regulated by the concept of pollution". 
2 Although the percentage of the 

population in these societies belonging to a caste is generally low (between 
1% and 20%), they

suffer from forms of discrimination ranging from mild segregation, forced 
endogamy and

restrictions on commensality to extreme segregation, denial of rights and 
even violence.

Countries in Africa who have societies with caste systems within their 
borders include Mali;

Mauritania; Senegal; Gambia; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Ivory Coast; Niger; 
Burkina Faso;

Cameroon; Ghana; Liberia; Sierra Leone; Algeria; Nigeria; Chad; Ethiopia and 
Somalia.
* 

2.1 West Africa
* 

West African societies have some of the more enduring and well-researched 
caste systems

include the Wolof and the Mande speaking populations, and the people living 
in the Mandara

Hills region of West Central Africa. The similarities between the separate 
hierarchical social

systems with caste peoples are striking. Society is generally divided into 
three, with the

nobles/freemen at the top, caste people at the bottom and a third category 
of slaves and their

descendents. The caste people are usually members of a craft-caste 
profession such as

blacksmithing, tanning, potting, leatherworking, brasscasting and weaving. 
There are also in

most areas bard/jester castes, whose role may have traditionally have been 
to sing praise songs

for the nobles. In many, but not all, of these areas the caste people also 
perform other specialised

tasks ranging from undertaking and message bearing to circumcision and 
excision, often as a

non-paid "duty".

Concepts of pollution are traditionally strong and have faded little. 
Generally the ideas that caste

people are "dirty" or "impure" are reinforced by myths of their ancestors 
committing a food

transgression or an act that committed his ancestors to be forever impure. 
They are also backedup

by ideas that the work of caste people, particularly those using fire such 
as blacksmithing and

potting, is polluting. The specialised tasks often fulfil a similar role. In 
other areas, such as the

Mandara Hills on the Nigeria and Cameroon border, there are stories that 
caste people are

descended from unions with animals, helping to dehumanise them in the eyes 
of the non-caste.

These concepts of impurity help to reinforce the segregation and forced 
endogamy that caste

people suffer.

In terms of the effects of being a caste member, there is huge variation in 
the degree and nature

of discrimination. Much of the specifics are geographically and culturally 
context-dependent.

Forms of discrimination include; exclusion from, or segregation within, key 
initiation societies

and cultural events; segregation in housing and also in burial; refusal of 
burial (Griots in Wolof

society); denial of the equal right to bear arms; denial of right to own 
land and/or animals;

refusal of right to marry outside their caste; denial of a role in key 
political institutions, or a

2 
A. Tuden and L Plotnicov (1970) Social Stratification in Africa, The Free 
Press: New York 

separate but inferior role; practise of "untouchability"; denial of a 
judicial role, either as witness

or judge; and denial of education, or segregation within educational 
institutions. These are not

necessarily all practised in every society with a caste system across West 
Africa, but all are

examples of practices that exist and lead to the marginalisation of caste 
people.

Although some of these systems are beginning to break down under the 
pressures of

urbanisation, greater contact with other societies and new forms of 
employment, with some

reports of caste-non-caste marriages and reduction in segregation and 
occupational

specialisation, these forms of discrimination do generally persist. Many are 
taboo subjects and

in-built prejudices are hard to overcome. Much work is still needed to 
ensure an effective end to

the practice of descent based discrimination in these areas.
* 

2.2 East Africa
* 

In both Somalia and Ethiopia there are marginalised social groups who are 
discriminated against

on the basis of caste. Somali clans known as Sab, or "low-caste", are 
generally denied equal

rights amongst clans, forcing them to form patron-client relationships with 
other powerful clans.

They are regarded as impure and polluting, backed up with myths of food 
transgressions

(particularly important in Islamic society) and are viewed with distaste, 
fear and mistrust.

Specialised occupational roles vary but include blacksmithing, 
leatherworking and hunting.

Effects of their Sab status include; denial of right to own land, cattle or 
horses; no right to claim

compensation for murder (diya), a right of all other Somalia clans; social 
segregation and

enforced endogamy; denial of education; and restriction of employment to 
traditional or menial

tasks. These effects persist in Somali society today and amongst the Somali 
diasporas across the

West, Africa and in refugee and IDP camps.

The situation in Ethiopia is similar, with occupational specialisation, 
concepts of pollution,

inferior social position, all ascribed from birth, occurring in some areas 
of the South West.

Tanning, blacksmithing, potting and weaving are some of the occupational 
specialisations with

food transgressions, "falls from grace" and animal union myths used to 
reinforce the concepts of

pollution. Effects include denial of political and judicial rights; 
segregation in housing; denial of

roles in key cultural institutions; and enforced endogamy. The 
discrimination continues to exist

and, as in the other cases, prevents their attainment of equal rights within 
their communities.
* 

2.3 The Nigerian "Osu" system
* 

The Nigerian "Osu" system is a unique social institution found in Igboland, 
Nigeria, where

certain clans were traditionally dedicated to deities and segregated due to 
their position. The

descendents of these clans still face discrimination due to their descent, 
with enforced endogamy

and severe restrictions on commensality still widely practised against the 
"Osu". They are also

prevented from holding positions of political, cultural or social 
responsibility and power. Reports

also exist of the use of violence against transgressors to reinforce the 
system, with the use of

sexual violence, murder and arson to prevent "Osu" communities resettling to 
escape the stigma.
* 

3. Slave descent
* 

Amongst the Tuareg people of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as 
Mauritanian society and

amongst the societies with caste systems in West Africa there exists a 
marginalised social group

of slaves, former slaves and their descendents. The continued enslavement of 
many of these

peoples, leading to severe denial of their rights, mainly continues in 
isolated areas where the

illegality of the practice is ignored and laws hard to enforce. The greatest 
proportions of these

people are not made slaves, but are born this way due to their descent from 
slaves. Even those

who have descended from freed slaves, such as the Haratin of Mauritania, 
continue to suffer

discrimination and economic, social and political marginalisation due to 
their status. The

situation is an issue of descent as the continued marginalisation and even 
enslavement of these

people is carried out exclusively on the basis of their descent.
* 

4. Hunter-Gatherer societies
* 

Many contemporary African societies make a distinction between their farming 
and urban

populations on one-hand, and the hunter-gatherer groups and their 
descendents on the other.

Although this way of life is in decline and has disappeared amongst many of 
these people, the

fact that they are labelled as hunter-gatherer descendents is often enough 
to legitimise many

forms of discrimination and marginalisation.

The Watta in Kenya and the Twa in Rwanda and Burundi are two such groups. 
Often viewed as

"sub-human" by other sectors of society and discriminated against in 
employment, political

institutions and education, these groups are often the poorest and most 
marginalised in their

societies. Often these groups have made claims to being the indigenous 
inhabitants of these

areas, and many might be thought to be racially or ethnically distinct from 
the rest of the

population. However, these groups are often largely indistinguishable from 
the larger population

but continue to suffer discrimination due to their on-going depressed and 
marginalised status.

This status is largely based on their descent.

Prepared as an information note for the CERD August 2002

Alexander Stevens

July 2002

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