A/HRC/17/14 10. Namibia has made significant strides in gender equality, education, law reform, land reform and the transformation of the public service and economic sector. Significant progress has also been made in enabling Namibians to share in its natural resources. A food security strategy had been adopted. 11. Namibia has adopted policies and laws to strengthen the social protection of vulnerable groups by providing a monthly social grant to war veterans, the elderly, persons with disabilities, orphans and vulnerable children. Special assistance programmes have been put in place to provide free access to health services, housing, employment and other services to previously marginalized communities. The Social Security Commission administers a number of social welfare funds. 12. Namibia has enacted labour laws to promote good industrial relations, recognizing the freedom to organize, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. 13. Regarding civil and political rights, there is an open playing field for political parties to contest elections, supervised by the Electoral Commission of Namibia. Individuals are free to associate and form political parties. Since independence, Namibia has held regular presidential and national elections. 14. Regarding the rights of indigenous communities, the Government identified certain communities that were particularly deprived (the San, the Ovatue and the Ovatjimba) and had implemented support programmes to raise their standard of living. 15. There are approximately 60,000 San people in Namibia, but only about 2,000 of them still follow a traditional way of life. As Namibia is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, it is committed to ensuring that these formerly marginalized groups are fully integrated in mainstream society and the economy. 16. The 1991 Land Conference resolved that there would be no claims to ancestral lands by any person in Namibia. In an effort to assist indigenous groups, the Government bought and continues to acquire land for formally disadvantaged Namibians for resettlement. 17. All the indigenous communities have free access to health facilities and antiretroviral medicine is offered to them free of charge. 18. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration employed mobile teams in all 13 regions to go to the remote areas and assist citizens, and especially the formally marginalized groups, in obtaining national identity documents. Parliament had passed legislation to enable members of the formally marginalized groups to actively take part in economic activities without being discriminated against as was the case before independence. 19. Violence against women and children is a serious problem and had increased in recent years. A number of rape cases had been prosecuted, resulting in sentences of 5 to 45 years’ imprisonment for convicted rapists, while other cases were pending before the courts for further police investigation. However, a lack of police vehicles, of expertise in dealing with violence against women and children, and of facilities to accommodate vulnerable witnesses, as well as the withdrawal of complaints by victims, continued to hamper investigations and prosecution. Legislation that the Government had enacted to curb violence against women and children included the Combating of Domestic Violence Act No. 4 of 2003, the Combating of Rape Act No. 8 of 2000, the Combating of Immoral Practices Amendment Act No. 7 of 2000 and the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act No. 24 of 2003. 20. Women and Child Protection Units have been established in all 13 regions in Namibia to handle and investigate cases relating to sexual offences. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and various stakeholders launched an annual awareness 4