NAMIBIA UPDATE ON CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR

UNCLAS WINDHOEK 000011 DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER, DRL/ILCSR FOR TU DANG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI WA USAID SUBJECT: NAMIBIA UPDATE ON CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ACT 2008 REPORT REF: 08 STATE 127448 ¶1. Summary: The worst forms of child labor are taking place in Namibia. Evidence suggests that it is most prevalent in the agriculture and livestock, domestic service, charcoal production, and commercial sex industry sectors. Three cases were reported and investigated during the reporting period. The GRN has put in place comprehensive legislation and is party to all the international treaties and conventions against child labor and against the worst forms of child labor. The GRN has a regulatory framework in place to monitor and prosecute infractions of the labor code, but it does not have a specific regulatory body for child labor cases. Namibia's National Child Labour Project, an ongoing study examining work activities which negatively affect a child's development, produced research reports, a discussion document, and an action plan in 2008 as part of the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). End Summary. ¶2. Namibia has comprehensive and progressive labor laws, including laws prohibiting the worst forms of child labor. Section 3 of the 2007 Labour Act, which was signed into law in 2007 and was implemented during the reporting period, maintains the minimum working age at 14 years. It also states that children between the ages of 14-18 may not be employed where: work takes place between the hours of 20:00-07:00; work is done underground or in a mine; construction or demolition takes place; goods are manufactured; electricity is generated, transformed, or distributed; machinery is installed or dismantled; and any work-related activities take place that may jeopardize a child's health, safety, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. The GRN definition for the worst forms of child labor is consistent with the ILO definition. ¶3. The GRN oversaw the National Child Labour Project during the reporting period to determine the existence and prevalence of the worst forms of child labor. It found that child labor is most prevalent in the agriculture and livestock, charcoal, domestic service, and commercial sex industry sectors. There are also estimates that between 10 to 30 percent of children in conflict with the law have been coerced by adults to commit these crimes. The GRN considers this phenomenon to be a form of child labor. The study found that children were performing hazardous tasks, carrying heavy loads, making charcoal, and tending livestock in isolated areas. The study was part of two programs implemented by the Ministry of Labour with support from the U.S. Department of Labor through the ILO: Reducing Exploitative Child Labor in Southern Africa (RECLISA) and Towards Eliminating Child Labor (TECL). The programs resulted in the drafting of an action plan. The plan, which has not been implemented, is Namibia's first national strategy for comprehensively responding to child labor. ¶4. The GRN does not have a separate authority to implement and enforce child labor laws, but does this through regular labor inspections as well as other monitoring mechanisms for orphans and vulnerable children. In cases when the labor inspectors suspect the existence of the worst forms of child labor, the GRN has provisions to set up a task force to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. Labor inspectors are trained in identifying the worst forms of child labor and are familiar with the enforcement mechanisms available. The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has a Programme Advisory Committee on Child Labour (PACC) in Namibia, which includes several ministries, businesses, organized labor, and international organizations. There are 36 labor inspectors in Namibia. None of them focus exclusively on child services, but there is a police unit that concentrates solely on the welfare of women and children. ¶5. During the year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare confirmed three cases of the worst forms of child labor. All of these cases were investigated under 2004 labor legislation, which did not contain the more severe penalties found in the Labour Act of 2007. In the first, a ten-year-old boy in Aranos in the south was employed on a farm, where he was forced to carry heavy loads. He suffered serious injuries that resulted in paralysis and eventually death. The employer was given a compliance order. The second case took place in Mangetti in the north, where several Angolan children ages ten to 13 were discovered herding cattle. The employers were given compliance orders, but under the new law the case will be re-opened and the welfare of the children will be reassessed. In the third case, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare found three Zambian children in the Caprivi region, who were part of a ring of domestic child laborers. The Ministry issued a compliance order to the ring organizer and repatriated the children to Zambia. Under the new Labour Act, persons found guilty of employing children face a maximum fine of N$20,000 (US $2000) and/or up to four years imprisonment. ¶6. The GRN has several programs aimed at supporting children from impoverished families to stay in school and away from the labor market and the worst forms of child labor. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and the Ministry of Health and Social Services support social welfare programs for orphans (especially HIV/AIDS orphans) by providing them or caregivers with grants and supporting scholarships to keep them in school. These programs especially target child-headed households, a phenomenon in Namibia that results from the scourge of HIV/AIDS. In 2008, the GRN conducted a national public awareness program to introduce the 2007 Namibia Labour Act. Efforts included country-wide distribution of a general brochure that contained a section on child labor, numerous radio and television programs, and visits by Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare officials to Namibia's 13 regions. ¶7. The USG, through agencies such as USAID and Peace Corps, supports the GRN's efforts to improve access to primary education. Namibia has a primary and secondary education gross enrollment of 95.5 per cent. The GRN spends more on education than on any other sector. The GRN seeks to strengthen its social welfare programs to support those susceptible to child labor. For example, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has stated it needs an additional 64 labor inspectors, some of whom would focus exclusively on child labor, to adequately inspect labor conditions in Namibia. MATHIEU