Guest Lecture: The Impact of Colonial Histories on International Law

2025-11-18

On 18 November 2025, Dr Peya Mushelenga, the former Namibian Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivered a guest lecture at Leuphana University Lüneburg on the topic of ‘The Impact of Colonial Histories on International Law’. During his lecture, he discussed the extent to which the current international system is influenced by colonial structures that perpetuate inequality, power, and oppression.

He provided several vivid examples in this regard, questioning, for instance, why Africa is still predominantly seen as a supplier of raw materials, as was the case during the colonial era. He also addressed the fact that many international treaties concluded after 1945 initially excluded Africa, and that the Security Council is still dominated by the victorious powers of the Second World War with no permanent African representation. Thus, he gradually revealed the structural imbalances within the international order and convincingly explained why international law (still) favours Western states while oppressing Africa. We are very grateful to him for raising awareness of this issue, as this perspective on international law is largely overlooked or relativised in the Global North.

In the course of his lecture and the subsequent Q&A session, he also touched upon German-Namibian history. In the Joint Declaration, Germany asks for forgiveness for the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1908. It officially recognises these acts as genocide and accepts moral responsibility for them. However, as it has not yet been ratified, the declaration is not yet officially in force. Against this backdrop, he demonstrated how unresolved colonial histories pose a general problem within the international legal order, thus highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to preserve the current system.

Dr Peya Mushelenga has many years of experience as a minister in Namibia, as well as a number of academic titles. He served as the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs until April 2025, having previously served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010–18), Minister of Urban and Rural Development (2018–20), and Minister of Information and Communication Technology (2020–24). He was also a member of the Namibian Parliament for over 20 years (2005–2025).