A/HRC/32/4
mechanism. In the absence of a national preventive mechanism, the Ombudsman visited
prisons and places of detention to receive complaints from inmates and to inspected the
facilities. The Correctional Service Act (Act No. 9 of 2012) provided for visiting justices to
visit correctional facilities.
63.
The Namibian Correctional Service provided a health-care services section at each
of the bigger correctional facilities and nursing services at each of the smaller facilities.
Inmates were treated on the premises and serious cases were referred to State health
facilities. All HIV-positive inmates had access to free antiretroviral treatment. All inmates
had access to hygiene products and received three meals a day, while those with “lifestyle
diseases” such as HIV and AIDS received a special diet, as stipulated in the Correctional
Service menu. Several measures to improve the standards of living in correctional facilities
were being implemented. A new law, the Correctional Service Act (Act No. 9 of 2012) and
its regulations had come into force, which had repealed the Prisons Act (Act No. 17 of
1998). The Inmate Information Handbook allowed inmates to lodge complaints with the
correctional authorities or with the Namibian Police Force. A code of conduct had been
issued by the Office of the Commissioner-General in 2008 and had been revised in 2014.
64.
After the National Land Conference of 1991, two approaches to land reform had
been adopted, with the aim of acquiring and redistributing commercial agricultural land to
redress past imbalances in land ownership. The Government had aquired land from
commercial farm owners through the willing seller willing buyer and the expropriation
principles and through tenure reform in the communal areas to ensure tenure security via
the registration of communal land rights. This had resulted in the adoption of policies
including the National Resettlement Policy of 2001 and the Communal Land Reform Act
(Act No. 5 of 2002). Land reform had contributed to the reduction of poverty. It had given
target groups an opportunity to produce their own food with a view to self-sufficiency. It
created employment through farming and related activities and brought smallholder farmers
into the mainstream economy via their participation in an open market economy. It had also
allowed previously disadvantaged groups to have subsidized loans to buy commercial
farms.
65.
The delegation stated that the Cabinet had directed that specific legislation to
combat trafficking in persons should be drafted and be tabled before Parliament as soon as
possible. It was anticipated that the bill would be tabled in Parliament in 2016. In the
meantime, there was a provision criminalizing this offence under the Prevention of
Organized Crime Act (Act No. 29 of 2004).
66.
Steady progress had been made in combating and eliminating child labour through
an action programme developed in 2011. A technical cooperation programme on
elimination of child labour in the country had also been produced. The Directorate of
Labour Inspectors in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare had conducted periodic
inspections on farms and at other places of employment in order to identify cases of child
labour. The Labour Act (Act No. 11 of 2007) had statutory provisions in place to regulate
child labour. The Child Care and Protection Act had been passed by Parliament in 2015 and
would be implemented once the relevant regulations had been passed.
67.
The delegation stated that Namibia recognized the need to raise the age of criminal
responsibility of children and bring it into line with international standards. The Child
Justice Bill, along with other provisions, would set the minimum age of criminal capacity
for children in compliance with international standards.
68.
Australia appreciated the leadership that Namibia had shown in advocating for the
abolition of the death penalty, particularly through universal periodic review
recommendations. It remained concerned that traditional laws and customary practices that
were harmful to girls and women persisted.
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