On the theme of social rights in Namibia, I decided to take a look at the trafficking issues within the country. It is known as a tier 2 country for trafficking, meaning that is is a government that does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victim Protection Act's minimum standards. But, it is actively trying to bring itself into compliance with those standards.
Within the country, it has both origins, transit, and destination for all types of trafficking, including that of women, men, and children. Trafficking involving children is especially common in Namibia; many adults lure children to forced agriculture labor, domestic servitude, industry work (a result of Namibia’s growing industrial sector) and in commercial sex work. Despite urban centers having a significant trafficking problem, this threat poses a larger risk for people within rural areas and especially puts women and children at risk.
The Namibian government is continuing efforts to improve the trafficking situation within the country. In 2009, it implemented a series of reforms and international rule of governance that apply certain rules to combat trafficking. These include the Prevention of Organized Crime Act, which imposes penalties (like hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and decades of imprisonment) on trafficking offenders. Further, a series of labor acts have been enacted (early 2007) in order to prevent forced labor or servitude in any industries or farms in the country. Outside of legislature, Namibia is working on gathering more data about trafficking crime and compiling it into a database to gain a better understanding of how severe the issue is. The database is also useful in tracking down potential or suspicious traffickers. This capability has not been implemented properly in Namibia, however; reports have arisen that suspected traffickers have not been prosecuted nor punished harsh enough. This is why Namibia remains a tier 2 country for trafficking— they are attempting to fix their problem, but clear structural issues remain in the application of their legislature.
What’s interesting to note is that the state reports for Namibian trafficking have not changed significantly from 2010 to 2017. Namibia has remained a tier 2 country in this entire time, and the state department reports that the country continues to not prosecute or punish suspected traffickers. It raises questions about the effectiveness of both the international organizations in applying worldwide legislature in the country, but also of Namibia’s government itself of promoting more awareness of trafficking.
When considering this issue, it may seem dire, especially in comparison to other countries. We do need to keep in mind that Namibia is a relatively young country and that a Constitution and a consolidated government had not been formed there until 1990— many of these laws simply have not been written into existence because the country itself has not been in existence for very long. That being said, Namibia should continue along the path (concerning trafficking reduction) laid out to them by international human rights committees.
~ Elizabeth
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