Namibia nailed in slavery report

Slavery continues to take different forms with a new report finding that there are some 40 million victims of modern slavery across the world. More than half or 25 million of these people are engaged in forced labour while the remainder, around 15 million, are coerced into arranged marriages.Forced labour is a massive underground business. According to research conducted globally, the estimated profits from forced labour exceed US$150 billion annually. For Africa as a whole, the estimated annual illicit profits are more than US$13 billion: US$8.9 billion from forced sexual exploitation, US$300 million from domestic work, and US$3.9 billion from non-domestic labour. The 2017 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report found that women and girls are disproportionately affected by modern slavery, accounting for 28.7 million, or 71% of the overall total. More precisely, out of the total women and girls in slavery, 99% are victims of forced labour in the commercial sex industry.Modern slavery was most prevalent in Africa (7.6 per 1 000 people), followed by Asia and the Pacific (6.1 per 1 000) and then Europe and Central Asia (3.9 per 1 000).For forced labour specifically, the prevalence is highest in Asia and the Pacific, where four out of every 1 000 people were victims, followed by Europe and Central Asia (3.6 per 1 000), Africa (2.8 per 1 000), the Arab States (2.2 per 1 000) and the Americas (1.3 per 1 000).More than 90% of all forced marriages took place in Africa and Asia and the Pacific. The prevalence was by far the highest in Africa at 4.8 victims for every 1 000 people. The Namibian situation The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that about 16 600 people are enslaved in Namibia while government has had an inadequate response to address the problem of modern-day slavery in the country.Although the estimated number of modern-day slaves in Namibia has reduced, the country has still been ranked high on the global index rating across the world.Namibia was ranked at number 17 out of 167 countries in terms of slavery prevalence by the proportion of the population. With 0.67% of the population estimated to be living in modern slavery, it was also one of the 4th highest in Africa. In the 2014 index, Namibia received the same ranking while the report said the country had 20 900 modern-day slaves out of a population of 2.3 million.This time around the country also received a fairly poor rating for the action government has taken to address the problem of modern-day slavery in the country.According to the report, Namibia received a CCC rating. This means that the government has a limited response to modern slavery, with limited victim support services.In total, Namibia received a score of 31.33 out of 100 for its government response to modern-day slavery. In the category of Survivors Supported it received a rating of 28.15, while for Criminal Justice 22.04, for Coordination and Accountability it received 31.25, for Addressing Risk it received a score of 52.38 and for Government and Business it received a score of zero.According to the 2016 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour report, Namibia made a moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate forms of child labour. 'Dangerous tasks'These findings note that children in Namibia perform the dangerous task of cattle herding and also engage in what the report labels the “worst forms of child labour”, which includes sexual exploitation - sometimes as a result of human trafficking. According to the report, the key legislative gap is that hazardous work prohibitions in the agricultural sector are not comprehensive. “There are no existing social programmes that specifically target child labour in agriculture.” It says children aged between five and 14, form part of the working population in Namibia. However, there is no data available to show the percentage of the population involved. The report adds that children in Namibia are tending and herding livestock, doing domestic work, working in shebeens and working on the streets selling cellphone vouchers and handcrafts. They are also involved in the commercial sex industry and forced labour in the agricultural sector, usually as a result of human trafficking. “Children are trafficked within the country for forced labour in agriculture, cattle herding, domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation. The San and OvaZemba are particularly vulnerable to forced labour on farms or in homes. Children from Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe are sometimes trafficked into the country for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour in fishing and street work. Some Angolan children are trafficked into Namibia for forced labour in cattle herding. The government has not collected and published data on child labour including, its worst forms, to inform policies and social programmes, the report further say. It, however, adds while Namibia has established laws and regulations related to child labour including the “worst forms,” gaps exists in its legal framework to adequately protect children from child labour. It says the types of hazardous work prohibited for children do not specifically include livestock herding where there is evidence of work under particularly difficult conditions. Labour inspectionsAccording to the report labour inspector funding in Namibia increased from N$3.7 million in 2015 to N$4.6 million in 2016, while the number of labour inspectors remained 97 during that period. It said the number of labour inspectors dedicated to children were two. According to the report a total of 6 073 labour inspections were done during 2015 while 3 988 were done last year. During these inspections no child labour violations were found. The data was obtained from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. The report added that the labour ministry primarily conducts inspections in the formal sector in urban areas leaving self-employed children and children working in rural areas unprotected. Further, it was noted that although inspectors have the authority to inspect private farms they often encounter difficulties accessing these farms. Namibia was this year also rated poorly in the 2017 US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report which said the country is predominantly a country where children and to a lesser extent women are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. It concurs with other findings.“Some victims are initially offered legitimate work for adequate wages, but are then subjected to forced labour in urban centres and on commercial farms. Namibian children are subjected to forced labour in agriculture, cattle herding, and domestic service, and to sex trafficking in Windhoek and Walvis Bay,” the report says. A recent UN report found that although Namibia has a conducive legal and policy environment for the protection of children and criminalisation of child marriages, the practice is still a common occurrence. Statistic on child marriages in Namibia are still sketchy, though Unicef claims that annually, 5 400 young girls fall victim to child marriages after being married off in traditional ceremonies.Arranged marriages and forced marriages for young women are also common practice in some communities including the OvaHimba and San. It is reported that young women in these communities do not have a choice; parents and other clan members decide to whom they will be given in marriage. ELLANIE SMIT

Namibia nailed in slavery report

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-04

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Namibia nailed in slavery report

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-04

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