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