Human Trafficking in [Namibia] [other countries]
Street Children in [Namibia] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Namibia] [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21^st Century - 2000 to 2009

Republic of Namibia The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 8% of GDP, but provides more than 50% of foreign exchange earnings. The mining sector employs only about 3% of the population while about half of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. Namibia normally imports about 50% of its cereal requirements; in drought years food shortages are a major problem in rural areas. A high per capita GDP, relative to the region, hides one of the world's most unequal income distributions. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Namibia is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Namibian children are trafficked within the country for domestic servitude and forced agricultural labor, cattle herding, vending, and commercial sexual exploitation. In some cases, Namibian parents may have unwittingly sold their children into trafficking conditions, including child prostitution. There have been reports of Namibian children being trafficked to South Africa, typically by truck drivers, for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Zambian and Angolan children are trafficked to Namibia for domestic servitude, agricultural labor, and livestock herding. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Namibia. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to verify their authenticity or to validate their content.

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Namibia: Human Trafficking A Headache for Police

allafrica.com/stories/200809240219.html

"After 10 years of Interpol working group meetings on trafficking, I would argue that we still know amazingly little. We have only a vague idea of the scale of the crime and the way it is organized. We know fairly little about the traffickers. We understand fragments of the recruitment process, we know a little about how the money is moved but not enough to make an impact through the seizing of assets." Kvigne said the gaps in understanding this problem could be attributed to the diversity of the crime as it differs from one country to another.

Deputy Inspector General for Administration at the Namibian Police, Major General James Tjivikua said trafficking has become a major concern in the region. Tjivikua added that the trafficking of persons especially women and children is worsened by a number of factors, the leading cause being that of profit. The trafficking of human beings is a multi-faceted area of crime incorporating crimes as diverse as trafficking for forced labour into the agriculture sector or manufacturing industries, trafficking in human organs and sexual services for promised better opportunities. The clandestine nature of human trafficking makes the scale of the illicit industry difficult to assess and there are few reliable statistics on the number of persons trafficked in the Southern African region.

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs [PDF]

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - In 1999, approximately 15.5 percent of boys and 13.9 percent of girls ages 5 to 14 were working in Namibia. The majority of working children were found in the agricultural sector (91.4 percent), followed by services (8.2 percent), manufacturing (0.4 percent), and other sectors (0.1 percent). Children work in commercial and subsistence agriculture, the informal sector, and domestic service. Children find self-employment in basket weaving, traditional beer making, selling fruits and vegetables, barbering, milking cows, and farming communal land. To support their households, children also tend livestock, hunt, fish, and gather wild foods. Children from Angola, Zambia, and other countries neighboring Namibia reportedly enter the country illegally and work on communal farms. Children from poor rural households frequently assist extended family in urban centers with house cleaning, cooking, and child care, in exchange for food, shelter, and sometimes clothes and money. Numerous HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children are reportedly engaged in commercial sexual exploitation.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The law specifically prohibits trafficking in persons, and there were no reports of persons being trafficked to, from, or within the country; however, child prostitution occurred. The law also prohibits slavery, kidnapping, and forced labor, including forced prostitution, child labor, and alien smuggling. Traffickers were subject to fines of up to $166,000 (N$ one million) or up to 50 years' imprisonment.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1994 [DOC]

[10] Equally, the Committee is concerned at the situation of children in especially difficult circumstances, including the incidence of child labour, particularly on farms and in the informal sector, and the number of children dropping out of school.

Namibia: Human Trafficking A Headache for Police

allafrica.com/stories/200809240219.html

"After 10 years of Interpol working group meetings on trafficking, I would argue that we still know amazingly little. We have only a vague idea of the scale of the crime and the way it is organized. We know fairly little about the traffickers. We understand fragments of the recruitment process, we know a little about how the money is moved but not enough to make an impact through the seizing of assets." Kvigne said the gaps in understanding this problem could be attributed to the diversity of the crime as it differs from one country to another.

Deputy Inspector General for Administration at the Namibian Police, Major General James Tjivikua said trafficking has become a major concern in the region. Tjivikua added that the trafficking of persons especially women and children is worsened by a number of factors, the leading cause being that of profit. The trafficking of human beings is a multi-faceted area of crime incorporating crimes as diverse as trafficking for forced labour into the agriculture sector or manufacturing industries, trafficking in human organs and sexual services for promised better opportunities. The clandestine nature of human trafficking makes the scale of the illicit industry difficult to assess and there are few reliable statistics on the number of persons trafficked in the Southern African region.

The Protection Project - Namibia [DOC]

FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - There is little evidence that trafficking for prostitution is widespread in Namibia; however, at least one case has been reported, which involves the transport of young Namibian women to South Africa for forced prostitution. In 2002, a member of parliament appealed to other legislators to enact a bill to outlaw domestic and other forms of abuse with respect to children who were being trafficked for the sex trade at a farm in the Aris area near the outskirts of Windhoek. There, parents and grandparents were reportedly forcing their children into prostitution in return for alcohol.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 2 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free

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Human Trafficking in [Namibia] [other countries]
Street Children in [Namibia] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Namibia] [other countries]