Children's Rights in Namibia

2015

Children’s rights are the human rights of children, with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to – • association with both biological parents • human identity

September 1990. It then briefly looks into prevailing economic challenges which have an impact on the livelihood of many children in Namibia and the ways in which they are socialised. Eventually an outline of the report will be given. A short history of Child/Juvenile Justice in Namibia 5 The purpose of this paragraph is to give an historical aperçu on "Justice for Children" in Namibia, however from a limited criminal justice perspective, 6 in order to demonstrate that the justice for children (including child justice) debate is not a new token, but had been extensively deliberated with remarkable outputs from the mids-90s until about 2005/6a discourse which can be easily resumed. Namibian law reform efforts on child/juvenile justice can be traced back to shortly after national Independence in 1990. In September 1990, the Founding President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma led the country"s delegation to the World Summit for Children (New York). 7 The World Summit adopted the Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and a Plan of Action for its implementation. Together with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this Plan of Action formed the agenda to be achieved by the year 2000 by all countries. Following the World Summit, an Inter-Ministerial Policy Committee was established, tasked to draft a National Programme of Action for the Children of Namibia (NPA), and "to consider steps to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child". 8 In January 1994 Namibia submitted a first report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee noted the existence of "political commitment within the country to improve the situation of children." 9 The Committee acknowledged the legacy of war and Apartheid in Namibia, the constraining influence of poverty, and the inherited mire of colonial legislation which is at odds with international standards. In considering Namibia"s country report submitted in terms of Article 44 of the CRC, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (1994) concluded the following: 5 This paragraph on the history of Child/Juvenile Justice in Namibia is partially based on the text Restorative Justice: The Case for a Child Justice Act (Schulz, 2009). 6 A perspective on the whole continuum of Justice for Children would mean the Namibian development with regard to the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Book Chapter

In any caring society the importance of child welfare cannot be overemphasised, because the future welfare of the entire community, its growth and development, depends on the health and well-being of its children. Children need to be regarded as valuable national assets because the future well-being of the nation depends on how its children grow up and develop. Since Independence, Namibia has ratified several key international legal instruments aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of children. However, despite considerable achievements over the past 19 years, the Children’s Act, 13 of 2015 that regulates the welfare of children is not yet in line with recent international, regional and national developments and challenges.

African Human Rights Law Journal, 2009

Obiter, 2014

Children are considered to be vulnerable, and therefore need to be protected against parents, strangers and even themselves. As a consequence, the State’s quest for the protection of children in South Africa is expressed in the implementation of legislation designed to offer greater care and protection. For instance, section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, offers a wide range of rights which are designed to offer greater protection to children. The rights of children can, in effect, be categorized into two themes. The first relates to the protection of children – as the child is dependent on those around him or her due to a lack of capacity, and is therefore vulnerable. The second theme relates to the autonomy of children. Section 28(2) of the Constitution provides that in any matter concerning a child, the best interests of the child are of paramount importance. However, most South African legislative provisions that deal with minor children seem to mi...

This article represents the next in a series of five-year overviews of children's rights in the courts in South Africa. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare of Children as a point of departure, the study suggests that it is in the public sphere that children's rights have had their most impact in the period under review. The article highlights eight areas of distinction in this five-year period: these include judicial approval of resource mobilisation for the fulfilment of children's rights, emphasis on the quality of and standards in education; the development of innovative remedies to deal with unreasonable state measures affecting children, and an increasing focus on the right to dignity of the child. The authors conclude that the scope of the cases cited points to the growing insertion of chil-dren's rights considerations in increasingly diverse areas of legal interaction. Furthermore, the authors posit that the CRC and ACRWC-together with non-binding sources of international law-have substantively informed and enriched the jurisprudence of South African courts.

South African Yearbook of International Law

School Psychology International, 2014

This article reports on an attempt to demonstrate the importance of putting theory into practice in a way that will impact on the lives of children who are currently being denied their basic rights. Purposive sampling of schools in urban areas in Harare Province, Zimbabwe, was used with data collected from 147 participants (M age ¼ 16.9, SD ¼ 1.38) that was subjected to quantitative analysis. Data were gathered on participants' views on children's rights and obligations and their understanding and implementation of the Bills of Rights. Children acknowledged that their rights were being implemented although inadequately; adults living in urban areas were perceived to have knowledge of children's rights and were said to implement them. To resolve the challenges to the implementation of children's rights and obligations, a multi-sectoral approach is required.

The International Journal of Children's Rights, 2013

This article represents the next in a series of five-year overviews of children’s rights in the courts in South Africa. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare of Children as a point of departure, the study suggests that it is in the public sphere that children’s rights have had their most impact in the period under review. The article highlights eight areas of distinction in this five-year period: these include judicial approval of resource mobilisation for the fulfilment of children’s rights, emphasis on the quality of and standards in education; the development of innovative remedies to deal with unreasonable state measures affecting children, and an increasing focus on the right to dignity of the child. The authors conclude that the scope of the cases cited points to the growing insertion of children’s rights considerations in increasingly diverse areas of legal interaction. Furthermore, the authors posit that the CRC and ACRWC – to...

Study explores the content of the international obligations to children's right to family life in South Africa. It also has a comparative analysis with Zimbabwe and Canada