Human Trafficking in [Namibia] [other countries]Street Children in [Namibia Child Prostitution in [Namibia] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/streetchildren/Namibia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text 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 validate their authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Namibia: Omaheke Kids Turn to Crime Surihe Gaomas,
New Era ( This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] There is an upsurge in serious
crime among street children in Omaheke region, with
children as young as 10 years counting among the suspects accused of murder,
rape, stock theft and the abuse of dagga.
Revealing these findings to New Era on Tuesday, Rahimisa
Ndjarakana, a social worker at the Ministry of
Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Gobabis, said
the trend now in the region was that minors end up raping other minors. "There are in fact much fewer cases of
adults raping children, as compared to children raping children. Early this
year, there was also a case where three boys all aged 10 years raped a girl
who was even younger than them," said Ndjarakana. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/PDF/2006OCFTreport.pdf [accessed 9 December 2010] 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 Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78749.htm [accessed 23 February 2011] CHILDREN - Although the constitution
provides children with the right to primary and junior secondary education
(grades one to 10), the numerous fees, which included fees for uniforms,
books, boarding costs, and school improvement, placed a heavy burden on
students' families and precluded some children from attending school. SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace;
however, child labor continued to be a problem. Criminal penalties and court
orders were available to the government to enforce child labor laws, but such
action involved a complicated legal procedure. Under the law, the minimum age
for employment is 14 years, with higher age requirements for night work and
in certain sectors such as mining and construction. The minimum age was
inconsistent with the age for completing education requirements (see section
5). Children below the age of 14 often worked on family owned commercial
farms and in the informal sector, and some also worked in communal areas. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 28 January 1994 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/NAMIBIA.htm [accessed 23 February 2011] [3} The Committee welcomes the political commitment
within the country to improve the situation of children. The Committee also
wishes to express its appreciation as regards the Government's willingness to
be self-critical and to search for creative and innovative approaches to
address the problems facing children in society. The Committee takes
particular note of the following initiatives: the activities undertaken to
promote greater public awareness of the rights of the child, also among
children themselves; the encouragement of cooperation with the local,
national and international communities in efforts to promote and protect the
rights of the child; the Early Childhood Protection and Development Programme; the
"street children" programme; the
"Discipline from Within" Programme in the
schools; and the development of Youth Councils. Flood Camps Develop Own ‘Culture’ Helvy Tueumuna,
New Era, Oshakati, 14 Apr 2009 [accessed 20 September 2011] A group of boys are said to have
been sleeping in the dry drainage pipe situated at the centre of the
camp. According to the women at the
camp, these children wait until everyone at the flood camp is asleep before
they sneak into their ‘bedroom’.
During a recent meeting held by Oshana
Regional Governor Clemens Kashuupulwa and flood
victims at Oshoopala Flood Camp, the street kids’
situation was among the issues discussed. Since then, it was decided that the
street children would get a tent, bedding, food and pots. “The governor and other officials were
shocked to see where the boys were sleeping. The drainage is very
dangerous. “If it rains heavily while
they (boys) are sleeping, they will all drown and it will take time before
someone discovers them,” said another woman. Mbatjiua Ngavirue,
New Era, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] The majority of street children were heavily steeped in a dagga and mandrax drug culture, as well as glue and petrol sniffing. Fisch originally planned to operate the
home as a day-care centre, where children arrived at 08h00 and left at 17h00 in
the afternoon. This arrangement, however, failed to break the cycle of
negative and destructive behaviour they had caught
their lives up in. They would start abusing drugs again when they left
the centre in the afternoons - and in some cases even criminal activity -
returning in a morose and dulled state the next morning. Wezi Tjaronda,
New Era, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] She said the concerned children
had not committed any crimes and were not charged. But City Police
spokesperson Marx Hipandwa said street children
were a problem in that they robbed tourists, caused malicious damage to
property, shop lifted and broke into people's houses. He said in January and
February alone, the kids committed seven crimes. Big Step's Mathew Rukoro said most kids were not criminals but some robbed
people of their belongings in a bid to survive. Kakunawe Shinana,
The Namibian, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] Fourteen of 16 street children
picked up by the City Police in She called on the public to
contact the Ministry whenever they saw street children so that their parents
could be traced and reminded of their parental responsibilities. This would also give the Ministry a chance
to investigate the home circumstances of these children, she said. The Minister pointed out that it was a
criminal offence for parents to neglect, ill treat or abandon their children
in terms of the Children's Act of 1960.
She said, however, that many children ran away from their homes
because of poverty, while others were abandoned because their parents or
guardians were unfit to give them the proper care. Surihe Gaomas,
New Era, This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 June 2011] "When my mom passed away two
years ago, I noticed some street children crowding at the funeral. They would
in fact move from one funeral to the next, looking for food. You look at each
child closely, the ragged clothes and the dirtiness of the skin," said Hilger. "You see in their eyes that something
is wrong - they are sad, and it really touches me a lot," she
said. Soon after the burial, Hilger decided
to investigate into the background of these street children to know more
about them. Surihe Gaomas,
New Era ( This article has been archived by World Street Children
News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] There is an upsurge in serious
crime among street children in Omaheke region, with
children as young as 10 years counting among the suspects accused of murder,
rape, stock theft and the abuse of dagga.
Revealing these findings to New Era on Tuesday, Rahimisa
Ndjarakana, a social worker at the Ministry of
Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Gobabis, said
the trend now in the region was that minors end up raping other minors. "There are in fact much fewer cases of
adults raping children, as compared to children raping children. Early this
year, there was also a case where three boys all aged 10 years raped a girl
who was even younger than them," said Ndjarakana. The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/namibia.doc [accessed 2009] GOVERNMENT RESPONSES- The Labor Code of Namibia
prohibits employing any child younger than 14 years of age. In addition, the
code provides that no child under the age of 15 may be employed in an industrial
undertaking or mine, no child under the age of 16 may work underground, and
no child under the age of 18 may work at night. The constitution protects
children under the age of 16 from hazardous work that would conflict with
their education. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Street Children - |
Human Trafficking in [Namibia] [other countries]Street Children in [Namibia Child Prostitution in [Namibia] [other countries]