Committee on the Rights of the Child

Concluding observations on the consolidated second and third periodic reports of Namibia, adopted by the Committee at its sixty-first session (17 September–5 October 2012)

1.The Committee considered the consolidated second and third periodic reports of Namibia (CRC/C/NAM/2-3) at its 1732nd and 1733rd meetings (see CRC/C/SR.1732 and 1733), held on 20 September 2012, and adopted, at its 1754th meeting, held on 5 October 2012, the following concluding observations.

I.Introduction

2.The Committee welcomes the submission of the consolidated second and third periodic reports of the State party (CRC/C/NAM/2-3) and the written replies to its list of issues (CRC/C/NAM/Q/2-3/Add.1), which allowed for a better understanding of the situation of children’s rights in the State party. The Committee expresses appreciation for the constructive dialogue held with the high-level and multisectoral delegation of the State party.

II.Follow-up measures undertaken and progress achieved by the State party

3.The Committee also welcomes the adoption of the following legislative measures:

(a)Children’s Status Act (Act No. 6 of 2006), which came into effect in November 2008;

(b)Labour Act (Act No. 11 of 2007);

(c)Criminal Procedure Amendment Act (Act No. 24 of December 2003);

(d)Maintenance Act (Act No. 9 of July 2003);

(e)Combating of Domestic Violence (Act No. 4 of June 2003);

(f)Education Act (Act No. 16 of December 2001);

(g)Combating of Rape Act (Act No. 8 of April 2000).

4.The Committee also welcomes the ratification of:

(a)Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (in 2002);

(b)Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (in 2002);

(c)Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in 2007);

(d)Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in 2007);

(e)Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (in 2000);

(f)United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (in 2002);

(g)International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 182 (1999) on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (in 2000).

5.The Committee also welcomes the following policy measures:

(a)The National Agenda for Children (2012–2016), June 2012;

(b)The Education for All National Plan of Action 2005-2015;

(c)The Fourth National Development Plan containing important provisions for children, including an emphasis on early childhood development (July, 2012);

(d)The National Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (January, 2008);

(e)The Education Sector Policy for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Namibia (2008);

(f)The Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (February, 2006);

(g)The National Plan of Action (2006–2010) for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (October, 2007);

(h)The National Policy on HIV/AIDS for the Education Sector (January, 2003).

6.The Committee notes as positive the invitation extended by the State party to the United Nations special procedures mandate holders.

III.Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Convention

7.The Committee takes note of the fact that the State party is one of the countries most affected by climate change and the increasing impact of natural hazards, such as floods, storms and drought, leading to changes in the disease patterns, reduced agricultural outputs and food insecurity.

IV.Main areas of concern and recommendations

A.General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6, of the Convention)

The Committee’s previous recommendations

8.The Committee, while welcoming the State party’s objective assessment of the child rights situation and its efforts to implement the concluding observationson its initial report (CRC/C/15/Add.14), adopted in 1994, regrets that some of the Committee’s recommendations contained therein have not been implemented.

9.The Committee urges the State party to take all necessary measures to address those recommendations from the previous concluding observations that have not been implemented or sufficiently implemented, particularly those relating to legislative reform, discrimination against girls and children with disabilities, the high incidence of child labour and administration of juvenile justice.

Legislation

10.While welcoming the initiatives to review laws from the pre-independence period, the Committee regrets the failure of the State party to adopt and implement key national legislation concerning children, as required by the Convention. In particular, the Committee notes with concern that despite discussions that began over a decade ago, two notable laws on children’s rights, the Child Care and Protection Bill and the Child Justice Bill, have not yet been adopted. Furthermore, noting the existence of plural legal systems, the Committee is concerned that the customary law and practices are not consistent with the principles and provisions of the Convention, in particular those relating to the minimum age of marriage, to divorce and to inheritance.

11. The Committee urges the State party to expedite the revision and adoption of pending legislation on children’s rights, particularly the Child Care and Protection Bill, and the Child Justice Bill. The Committee also recommends that the State party incorporate into all pr oposed and existing legislation the principles and provisions of the Convention, and in the meantime, take measures to ensure that in case of conflict, the constitutional provisions and statutory laws prevail over the customary law, and that children and women have full access to the formal justice system.

Comprehensive policy and strategy

12.The Committee notes with appreciation that the State party launched the National Agenda for Children, a five-year framework (2012-2016), in June 2012, guiding all sectors in the State party towards fulfilling their obligations to protect and promote children’s rights.

13. The Committee recommends that the State party allocate adequate human, financial and technical resources for the implementation of the National Agenda for Children, and set up an effective monitoring and e valuation mechanism to track the progress achieved in the implementation of the plan.

Coordination

14.The Committee notes that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare was established as the leading coordinating body for the protection and promotion of children’s rights; however, it notes with concern the information provided by the State party that the Ministry lacks adequate staff and resources. The Committee is further concerned that various government departments and ministries have different coordination frameworks for strategic policies across regions and constituencies, which leads to overlapping mandates and roles in the implementation of child rights, negatively affecting the decision-making and implementation of policies.

15. The Committee urges the State party to reinforce the coordination role of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare by ensurin g that the Ministry has a high status and authority, including adequate human, technical and financial resources to effectively coordinate actions for children’s rights across different sectors and effectively monitor the implementation of the National Agenda for Children (2012-2016). Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party review its national, regional and local coordination mechanisms to streamline coordination processes, and reduce duplication between different sectors.

Allocation of resources

16.While noting that the State party has allocated considerable resources in its national budget to the social sectors, particularly in education, the Committee is concerned that such a level of spending has not necessarily resulted in improved outcomes in many areas of children’s rights, including the education sector. The Committee also notes with concern that the State party has not yet undertaken a child rights approach to budgeting to track the allocation and use of resources for children across different sectors.

17. The Committee urges the State party:

(a) To m onitor public expenditure on children to ensure equity of resources across different sectors and positive outcomes for all children;

(b) To u tilize a child rights approach in preparing the State budget by implementing a tracking system for the allocation and use of resources for children across key ministries. The Committee also urges that this tracking system be used for impact assessments on how investments in any sector serve the best interest of the child, ensuring that any differential impact of such investment on girls and boys is adequately reflected;

(c) To e nsure transparent and participatory budgeting through public dialogue and participation, in particular that of children, and to ensure proper accountability by local authorities;

(d) To d efine strategic budgetary lines, particularly for children in marginalized situation s , those living in poverty, in rural areas or in vulnerable situations that require affirmative social measures (such as measures to eliminate discrimination against girls, strengthen birth registration programs, provide free and easy access to health care), and ensure that such budgetary lines are protected even in situations of crisis;

(e) T o t ake into account the recommendations of the d ay of g eneral d iscussion of 2007 on “ Resources for the rights of the child – r esponsibility of States ” .

Data collection

18.While the Committee welcomes that the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2009/10 included for the first time a child poverty assessment, it is concerned about the absence of a comprehensive data collection system for the disaggregation and analysis of data on all children under the age of 18. The Committee also regrets the lack of information on the cases of violence against children, including corporal punishment and children with disabilities, disaggregated by sex, age, socioeconomic background, geographic location, and those attending and/or out of schools.

19. The Committee encourages the State party to set up a comprehensive data collection system with the support of its partners and analyse the data collected on children as a basis for assessing progress achieved in the realization of children’s rights. The data collected should be disaggregated by , inter alia, age, sex, ethnicity, geographic location and socioeconomic background to facilitate analysis of the situation of all children, in particular those groups of children who are in need of special protection, such as girls, children with disabilities and those living in poverty. The Committee also recommends that the State party collect systematic data on cases of violence against children, in particular sexual violence and corporal punishment, including by requiring all schools, alternative care institutions and state structures to report all instances of violence against children.

Independent monitoring

20.The Committee is concerned about the lack of a children’s rights division within the Office of the Ombudsman that is accessible to all children. The Committee is also concerned that only limited staff and resources have been provided to the Office of the Ombudsman and that the staff have not received any specific training on children’s rights, which severely constrains the capacity of the office to monitor and respond to violations, as reflected by the small number of children’s complaints before this mechanism.

21. Drawing attention to its general c omment No. 2 (CRC/GC/2002/2, 2002), the Committe e calls upon the State party to establish a children’s rights division in the Office of the Ombudsman that would be responsible for monitoring children’s rights violations and addressing children’s complaints in a child ‑sensitive manner. The Committee also urges the State party to ensure that this mechanism is provided with the necessary human, technical and financial resources to ensure its independence and efficacy. In this regard, the Committee encourages the State party to seek technical assistance from, inter alia, the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) , the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights .

Dissemination and awareness-raising

22.The Committee notes as positive the State party’s initiatives to raise awareness of children’s rights, including through the “Day of the Namibian Child”, the “Day of the African Child” and the publication of a child-friendly version of the Convention in English, but remains concerned that the Convention and the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.14) have not been translated into local languages and widely disseminated.

23. The Committee recommends that the State party continue and strengthen its programs to raise awareness of children’s rights , and encourages the State party to translate the Convention and the c oncluding observations into local languages, and incorporate them in to its awareness - raising programs.

Training

24.The Committee is concerned that all professionals working with or for children, including government staff, law enforcement officials, health professionals, and social workers, do not receive adequate and systematic training on children’s rights.

25. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure that professionals working with or for children are adequately and systematically trained on children’s rights, in particular teachers, school administrators, law enforcement officers, staff at the Office of the Ombudsman, Women and Children’s Protection Units and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, journalists and civil society organizations. In this regard, the Committee reminds the State party of its obligations to ensure that adequate human, technical and financial resources are available for systematic and long-term training on children’s rights.

Child rights and the business sector

26.The Committee notes the State party’s information that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has complied with its international obligations to guarantee the safety of uranium activities. However, it is concerned that multinational and national companies in the country, notably the mining and uranium-producing industries, are operating in the absence of clear regulatory frameworks to ensure that international human rights, environment and other standards, especially relating to child and women’s rights, are adhered to, in order to protect natural resources such as land, air and water and the persons, families and communities affected by high levels of radioactive toxicity and pollution. In addition, the Committee notes with concern that the Environmental Management Act, which has important safeguards relating to environmental impact assessments prior to licensing and monitoring compliance with the law, has also not entered into force. It also notes with concern that issues relating to the environmental and health impact of uranium mining are neither discussed nor communicated to the persons concerned or disclosed to the public.

27. The Committee recommends that the State p arty establish and implement regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with international and national human rights, labour, environment and other standards, particularly with regard to child rights, and in the light