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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Namibia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Namibia. Some of these
links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated
or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity
or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Namibia: Omaheke Kids Turn to Crime Surihe Gaomas,
New Era ( This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] There is an upsurge
in serious crime among street children in Omaheke
region, with children as young as 10 years counting among the suspects
accused of murder, rape, stock theft and the abuse of dagga. Revealing these findings to New Era on
Tuesday, Rahimisa Ndjarakana,
a social worker at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Gobabis, said the trend now in the region was that minors
end up raping other minors.
"There are in fact much fewer cases of adults raping children, as
compared to children raping children. Early this year, there was also a case
where three boys all aged 10 years raped a girl who was even younger than
them," said Ndjarakana. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2006 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/PDF/2006OCFTreport.pdf [accessed 9 December 2010] INCIDENCE AND NATURE
OF CHILD LABOR
- In 1999, approximately 15.5 percent of boys and 13.9 percent of girls ages
5 to 14 were working in Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78749.htm [accessed 23 February 2011] CHILDREN
-
Although the constitution provides children with the right to primary and
junior secondary education (grades one to 10), the numerous fees, which
included fees for uniforms, books, boarding costs, and school improvement,
placed a heavy burden on students' families and precluded some children from
attending school. SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [d] There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace;
however, child labor continued to be a problem. Criminal penalties and court
orders were available to the government to enforce child labor laws, but such
action involved a complicated legal procedure. Under the law, the minimum age
for employment is 14 years, with higher age requirements for night work and
in certain sectors such as mining and construction. The minimum age was
inconsistent with the age for completing education requirements (see section
5). Children below the age of 14 often worked on family owned commercial
farms and in the informal sector, and some also worked in communal areas. Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
28 January 1994 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/NAMIBIA.htm [accessed 23 February 2011] [3} The Committee
welcomes the political commitment within the country to improve the situation
of children. The Committee also wishes to express its appreciation as regards
the Government's willingness to be self-critical and to search for creative
and innovative approaches to address the problems facing children in society.
The Committee takes particular note of the following initiatives: the
activities undertaken to promote greater public awareness of the rights of
the child, also among children themselves; the encouragement of cooperation
with the local, national and international communities in efforts to promote
and protect the rights of the child; the Early Childhood Protection and
Development Programme; the "street children" programme;
the "Discipline from Within" Programme in
the schools; and the development of Youth Councils. Flood Camps Develop Own ‘Culture’ Helvy Tueumuna,
New Era, Oshakati, 14 Apr 2009 [accessed 20 September 2011] A group of boys are
said to have been sleeping in the dry drainage pipe situated at the centre of
the camp. According to the women at
the camp, these children wait until everyone at the flood camp is asleep
before they sneak into their ‘bedroom’.
During a recent meeting held by Oshana
Regional Governor Clemens Kashuupulwa and flood
victims at Oshoopala Flood Camp, the street kids’
situation was among the issues discussed. Since then, it was decided that the
street children would get a tent, bedding, food and pots. “The governor and other officials were
shocked to see where the boys were sleeping. The drainage is very
dangerous. “If it rains heavily while
they (boys) are sleeping, they will all drown and it will take time before
someone discovers them,” said another woman. Mbatjiua Ngavirue,
New Era, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] The majority of street children were heavily steeped in a dagga and mandrax drug culture, as well as glue and petrol sniffing. Fisch originally planned
to operate the home as a day-care centre, where children arrived at 08h00 and
left at 17h00 in the afternoon. This arrangement, however, failed to
break the cycle of negative and destructive behaviour
they had caught their lives up in. They would start abusing drugs again
when they left the centre in the afternoons - and in some cases even criminal
activity - returning in a morose and dulled state the next morning. Wezi Tjaronda,
New Era, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] She said the
concerned children had not committed any crimes and were not charged. But
City Police spokesperson Marx Hipandwa said street children
were a problem in that they robbed tourists, caused malicious damage to
property, shop lifted and broke into people's houses. He said in January and
February alone, the kids committed seven crimes. Big Step's Mathew Rukoro said most kids were not criminals but some robbed
people of their belongings in a bid to survive. Kakunawe Shinana,
The Namibian, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] Fourteen of 16
street children picked up by the City Police in She called on the
public to contact the Ministry whenever they saw street children so that
their parents could be traced and reminded of their parental
responsibilities. This would also give
the Ministry a chance to investigate the home circumstances of these
children, she said. The Minister
pointed out that it was a criminal offence for parents to neglect, ill treat
or abandon their children in terms of the Children's Act of 1960. She said, however, that many children ran
away from their homes because of poverty, while others were abandoned because
their parents or guardians were unfit to give them the proper care. Surihe Gaomas,
New Era, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 June 2011] "When my mom
passed away two years ago, I noticed some street children crowding at the
funeral. They would in fact move from one funeral to the next, looking for
food. You look at each child closely, the ragged clothes and the dirtiness of
the skin," said Hilger. "You see in
their eyes that something is wrong - they are sad, and it really touches me a
lot," she said. Soon after the burial, Hilger
decided to investigate into the background of these street children to know
more about them. Surihe Gaomas,
New Era ( This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 June 2011] There is an upsurge
in serious crime among street children in Omaheke
region, with children as young as 10 years counting among the suspects
accused of murder, rape, stock theft and the abuse of dagga. Revealing these findings to New Era on
Tuesday, Rahimisa Ndjarakana,
a social worker at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Gobabis, said the trend now in the region was that minors
end up raping other minors.
"There are in fact much fewer cases of adults raping children, as
compared to children raping children. Early this year, there was also a case
where three boys all aged 10 years raped a girl who was even younger than
them," said Ndjarakana. The Protection Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/namibia.doc [accessed 2009] GOVERNMENT RESPONSES- The Labor Code of
Namibia prohibits employing any child younger than 14 years of age. In
addition, the code provides that no child under the age of 15 may be employed
in an industrial undertaking or mine, no child under the age of 16 may work
underground, and no child under the age of 18 may work at night. The
constitution protects children under the age of 16 from hazardous work that
would conflict with their education. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - |
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