Zorena Jantze
NAMIBIA continues to operate without detention facilities for offending juveniles to be rehabilitated, which has resulted in a total 32 minors being detained with adult prisoners in police holding cells in the year 2020 alone.
Of the 32 minors, a total 30 were underage boys and two were underage girls.
This was revealed in the Ombudsman’s annual report for the year 2020, which was released today.
In its report, the Office of the Ombudsman explained that its office has been inundated with complaints relating to the detention of minors, most recently that of a 13-year-old boy in the Hardap Region.
“Upon inquiry, we received statistics from the Inspector-General indicating that a significant number of children are being detained in police holding cells across Namibia,” the Ombudsman’s report stated.
On 22 October 2020, the Ombudsman wrote a letter to the Minister of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare pointing out that the Child Care and Protection Act 3 of 2015 (CCPA) prohibits the pre-trial detention of children in police holding cells, and that any detention of children which is in conflict with the provisions of the CCPA at police holding cells is not only undesirable, but also illegal.
“The minister (Doreen Sioka) is responsible for the implementation of Chapter 5 of the CCPA, which provides for the establishment of places of safety and child detention facilities where children can be legally detained. The minister needs to ensure the speedy implementation of Chapter 5 of the CCPA and further that she takes the necessary steps to cause all children who are currently detained in police holding cells across the country to be immediately released or placed in places of safety, children’s homes or child detention facilities,” the Office of the Ombudsman stated.
The Officer of the Ombudsman further noted that its investigations revealed that there are currently no places of safety or children’s detention facilities approved and/or established and/or operational in Namibia.
“The Minister can approve appropriate places of safety in terms of section 64 of the CCPA; there are currently no such places approved, despite the CCPA being promulgated five years ago and being in operation for almost two years. The police have not been informed by the minister of the existence of the Chapter 5 places of safety or child detention centres and so continue (usually by court order) to detain children in police holding cells. The dereliction of the statutory mandated duty entrusted to the minister infringes upon the fundamental and statutory rights of children,” the Ombudsman’s report cited.
The Ombudsman on 8 December 2020 filed an urgent application at the Windhoek High Court seeking to protect the human and statutory rights of the 32 children who were arrested and detained in various police holding cells across Namibia.
The Windhoek High Court ruled in favour of the Ombudsman and has instructed the Doreen to come up with a divisive plan.
