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CURRENT NEWS, EVENTS AND PROJECTS
Seminar on Human Rights for Traditional Leaders in Southern Africa Safari Court Hotel & Conference Centre, Windhoek, Namibia
06 - 12 June 2010
Organized by the Human Rights and Documentation Centre (HRDC), Faculty of Law, UNAM
and
Women for Change (WFC), Lusaka, Zambia
and
the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights (RWI), Lund, Sweden
Financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
Children’s Book in Namibia was launched on the 20th November 2009 On 20. November 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the 435-page publication Children’s Rights in Namibia was officially launched during the preceedings bordering the AGM of the Law Society of Namibia, Windhoek Country Club Resort. The foto taken at the booklaunch reflects from left to right Dr Oliver C Ruppel (Editor of the publication, Director Human Rights and Documentation Centre/HRDC/Faculty of Law/UNAM), Mr Bernd Busemann (Minister of Justice, Lower Saxony, Germany), keynote speaker Adv. John Walters (Ombudsman of Namibia), and funding partner Dr Anton Boesl (Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Namibia). Children’s Rights in Namibia brings together various articles that shed light from different angles on the protection and promotion of children’s rights. Inter alia, the book aims at determining the extent to which Namibia complies with its obligations under national and international law, the extent to which the various institutions and statutory enactments aimed at affording the necessary respect and protection to children’s rights in Namibia exist, and the extent to which such rights are implemented successfully. The articles not only cover methodological aspects of implementing children’s rights but more practically refer to issues such as adoption, citizenship, access to information, majority, the best interest of the child, child labour, teenage pregnancy, and custody and guardianship. Specific aspects of Namibian customary law in this context have also been addressed, considering that Namibia is a country with a pluralistic legal system. Further issues addressed in this publication relate to certain law reform activities, restorative justice, child suggestibility in the Namibian justice system, understanding the perpetrators of violent crimes against children, children’s accessibility of social assistance benefits, access to information for orphans and other vulnerable children, and the model of an Ombudsman with a specific mandate for children. The article on the High Court of Namibia’s Vulnerable Witnesses’ Project has immediate relevance to children’s rights, as is the one outlining the possible impacts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with its focus on child trafficking and child prostitution. Dr Ruppel says that this publication is somewhat special: a good number of the contributor’s consisted of under- and postgraduate students. Ms Lena Kangandjela (who is at the same time employed at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare), Mr Willard Mugadza and Ms Ruusa Ntinda are third-year B Juris students. Ms Lotta Ambunda and Mr Pombili Shipila are – like Mr Mugadza and Ms Ntinda – student assistants at the Human Rights and Documentation Centre (HRDC) and fourth-year LL B students. Ms Moudy Hangula is a final-year LL B student. Both Ms Prisca Anyolo and Mr Clever Mapaure are currently in the process of finalising their LL M studies, while Mr Joab Mudzanapabwe (Ministry of Labour) is a Ph D candidate in Forensic Psychology. All of them are currently enrolled with the University of Namibia. Dr Ruppel is particularly proud of their contributions, as he considers “their achievement as an exemplary reflection of how capacity-building measures and young professional empowerment can be achieved successfully”. The students’ contributions amalgamated in this publication with articles by internationally renowned legal academics such as Prof. Manfred Hinz (who holds the UNESCO Chair, Human Rights and Democracy, University of Namibia), Prof. Julie Stewart (Southern and Eastern African Regional Centre for Women’s Law, University of Zimbabwe) and Dr Stefan Schulz (Department of Legal Studies, Polytechnic of Namibia). Their contributions, next to those of more junior colleagues like Ms Yvonne Dausab (Faculty of Law, UNAM) and Ms Gugulethu Nkosi (Faculty of Law, University of South Africa), also blended in with the excellent papers by members from within the legal fraternity at large (eg. Ms Dianne Hubbard / LAC and Ms Felicity !Owoses-/Goagoses / Ministry of Justice and others), and with interdisciplinary contributions by Mr Michael Conteh (MRC/UNAM) and Ms Chiku Mchombu (HRDC). Dr Ruppel was particularly grateful for the contributions by Public Prosecutor Ms Faith Chipepera (a 2009 UNAM LL B graduate) and by His Lordship the Honourable Mr Justice Annel Silungwe, High Court of Namibia. The publication is published by Macmillan Education Namibia and can be downloaded freely from the HRDC website.
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