R 161049Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY WINDHOEK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0289
DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

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