The Irony of the Law

There are so many laws that contain the rights of women and have the goal to protect them. The problem is the legislative texts are written in high formal and sometimes even incomprehensible words.Law seems to be a “jungle of words” and formulations most people do not understand. That’s not only a big problem I could witness in Namibia, also in Germany the law is unclear and hard to understand for general people. I asked myself why the lawmakers use such difficult and complicated words to describe the rights, people should be aware of. Isn´t it ironic that the law is made for people and should protect them but on the other hand the people do not understand it because of the way it is written. Isn´t the goal of law, that people should understand their rightsand will be able to exercise them?

At Sister Namibia I have the opportunity to create “Presentations” on topics of law. The Presentations will explain the difficult and long legislative texts of law in a short and simple way so that everyone is able to understand their rights. I just finished my first presentation on the “”CEDAW”- The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women-and learnt, there is a big necessity to reformulate the law in a language general people will understand. Without knowing what your rights are, you are not be able to exercise them. A lot of women still do not know about their basic rights. Often there is no punishment for the violation of women`s rights because the women do not know it is wrong what happen to them and report the offence to the police, for example “child marriage”, “any kind of violation” or “widow grabbing”. As long as women do not know about their rights it is impossible to stop the violation of them.

I enjoy working for Sister Namibia and feel blessed to be part of the organization and be given the chance to inform women about the rights they have. 

Written by Sonja Monger, Intern.

Access to Information for Development

On Tuesday, 19 April 2016 19^th I attended a panel discussion on Access to information and how it impacts development. The evening started off with an eleven minute short film (on how accessible information is in Namibia as well as the importance of this accessibility).

All in all, the evening was certainly a very interesting and informative one, I would just like to make a response that I wasn’t able to make then, because there was a bit of a time crunch.

There was a gentleman behind me, I believe a lecturer at the University of Namibia (UNAM) who lamented about how we can hardly expect the general masses to know and exercise their right of access to information when the “learned” combined students of 20 000 (give or take) students of UNAM and the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST, former Polytechnic of Namibia) readily have access to information, but they don’t use it: There are no riots, no protests, no one truly questions anything. 

I heard what he was saying, didn’t disagree with him, but also found myself wanting to get a little defensive. I’ve always said the worst thing about the Namibian youth is how passive we are and how we take everything (access to information included, maybe especially) for granted. I have also, however, been aware that when I speak of the passive Namibian youth who takes things for granted, I am she. I hate to watch the news and/ or read the papers. I find keeping up with current affairs depressing and frustrating, to say the least. In part, it’s because I really do not feel like I have the energy to care about everything that’s going on, and I think it’s difficult to be aware without caring. Mostly though, it is because caring and feeling like there is not much you can do, is exhausting and leaves me defeated and feeling powerless.

It’s always the same crowd. I can almost guess, name for name, face for face, who will show up at what events: The protests, the public discussions, the forums, the awareness events… It’s almost always the same crowd. And what is the point then? Just what impact can we hope to make if all these discussions we’re having and the questions we’re asking are only amongst each other? If it’s only the same people ever giving a damn? That aside, often it feels like there isn’t even a point to speaking up and questioning things. Maybe the powers that be do listen, but only ever to claim they’ve listened, there’s never truly any action. And it’s disheartening, to say the least.

Of course this may not be the case for everyone, the average Namibian youth may just not be interested, but I don’t think we’ve been given the greatest motivation to be.

Written by Mimi Mwiya

He Walks With His Own Feet

A home should offer a space of inherent security and love. Yet the evil choices of some of our very own family have turned home into a place of human rights abuses for the very people that should find security and love. 

Why do I regard domestic violence as such an unacceptable transgression? It is because the perpetrator – a supposed loved one - violates another human being, inflicting pain on the flesh or emotions of people who should have priority protection. While I cannot speak for others, I have been taught that I have no rights over the liberties of another being, not even my little brother. 

I remember my sister arguing with me on his behalf for him to tag along on strolls with us older kids. She would say “he is walking with his own feet.”

And of course he did. What a silly argument. Despite my sister’s strange logic she impressed upon me the truth of the absoluteness of a person’s freedom and inherent liberties. In spite of my reluctance and frustration to have him join us on simple walks, I recognised that he could “walk with his own feet” wherever he chose to. I would not even have had to protect him against bullies or dogs, so I had no excuse why he couldn’t join us.

Violence begins with something as simple as standing in the way of a younger brother to live out his freedom of expression or movement because then I act as if I own him and can limit his rights.

As men we should consider how we lord it over children and women to limit their rights when there are no legitimate reasons to do so. 

Reader's submission, by 'Perfecto The Model'

Child Online Protection

I was 19 when I first created a Facebook account. I barely understood what it was, and had all of 5 friends. I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t pay too much attention to what I was sharing, in fact, a couple of weeks in, I remember my brother calling me and furiously asking why I was telling millions of Facebook users that I was single. I told him I wasn’t exactly “telling” them, it had just been on my profile… which unfortunately was accessible to millions of users.

Since then, Facebook’s privacy settings have improved greatly, or I just understand them better. Either way, I have better control about what I choose to share about myself, and with whom. On the other hand, I had my first Facebook account at a time that not only was Facebook very strict about their “no under 18s without adult supervision” rule, but people actually gave their real ages. These days it is clear people don’t always give their real age.

There has never been a more chilling reminder of this than when we attended Namibia’s first National Conference on Child Online Protection held at the Hilton Hotel (18-19 May 2016) and one of the speakers showed us a video of a young man, Coby Persin, who has a fake Facebook profile that he uses to see how much personal information girls will share with strangers, and how quickly they will share this information. The video shows girls mostly ranging from 12-14 giving out their home addresses, or agreeing to meet with Coby within a couple of days of chatting.

The internet has made our lives easier in many ways: We have access to information and communication with our loved ones, literally at our fingertips. It has however, also opened us up to a number of evils like cyber bullying, increased child pornography and online sexual grooming. Today’s youth think nothing of sharing “sexy” images of themselves with the general public. Even when shared privately (with a boyfriend or close friend), they can still be used as blackmail, extortion, or acts of violence when things go sour in the relationship.

It is hard enough to keep our children safe offline, imagine how much harder it is online. For every new measure taken to combat cyber crimes, cyber criminals will probably find ten new ways to evade justice. One would think Namibia is such a small country we are not affected, but this is a global problem, because, like one of the speakers pointed out, child pornography acts could be initiated in India, reproduced for mass “consumption” in Belgium, then distributed in Namibia. So no one cannot afford to turn a blind eye. This is everyone’s problem, and we each have a responsibility to ourselves, and to each other, to encourage and promote safety online, especially for our children, whose photos often times are found online without their knowledge. Their parents (and/or whoever else posts these pictures) mean no harm, but there’s always an invisible audience and irreversible damage can be done.

Namibia is one of 17 countries in the world that is part of #WePROTECT – Children Online, a worldwide cooperation that aims to stop the crime of online child sexual abuse and exploitation. We protect is an initiative of the UK government and you can find out more about it at www.weprotect.org. 

Written by Mimi Mwiya

16 Days of Actvism: Gender Stories

As part of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign against Gender Based Violence Sister Namibia commissioned renowned director Sandy Rudd to create a show that addressed the issue in Namibia. Sandy along with three superb actors Ndino Ndilula, Gloria Shilongoh and Helouis Goraseb, created a riveting piece based on true life accounts. The show took us to various regions in the country. We thought we would share this clip of the show, performed at the charcoal factory on the outskirts of Okahandja in December 2013.

Orange is the new black

Since the 1970s those who stood against a gender based violence free have worn black every Thursday as a silent protest. And for those who think that black is not their colour orange has now been thrown into the mix.

Launched in 2008, the United Nation’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign aims to raise public awareness and mobilise world leaders to pull their resources together in order to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

The campaign calls on all governments, civil society, woman’s organisations, men, the private sector, the media and other UN agencies to band together to bring to an end what has now been described as a global pandemic. In addition, the UNiTE campaign is also seeking ways to actively engage with the youth, celebrities, artists, sports personalities and many more as part of their advocacy initiative.

In July 2012 it was proclaimed to show their support people are encouraged to wear orange on the 25th of each month to raise awareness and social consciousness on the suffering of those vulnerable in our society.

The hopeful outcomes of the campaign include: 

"Adoption and enforcement of national laws to address and punish all forms of violence against women and girls, in line with international human rights standards.

Adoption and implementation of multi-sectoral national action plans that emphasize prevention and that are adequately resourced.

Establishment of data collection and analysis systems on the prevalence of various forms of violence against women and girls.

Establishment of national and/or local campaigns and the engagement of a diverse range of civil society actors in preventing violence and in supporting women and girls who have been abused.

Systematic efforts to address sexual violence in conflict situations and to protect women and girls from rape as a tactic of war and full implementation of related laws and policies", (http://endviolence.un.org/orangeday.shtml).

Other important dates to remember are 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), January 25 (Orange Day).

Remember that you can wear orange or black on these days to show your support and for more information visit endviolence.org

December 2013 Edition

The Sister Namibia December 2013 magazine is out. It features entertainment and information. You will read 8 Christmas snippets, which tell of the highs and lows of 8 people. For some Christmas is a time of fun in the sun, while it is cooking from morning to evening and great loss for others. It shares the good news of the possibility of delivering an HIV negative baby. HIV is such a scary reality for many that they don't seek information on their condition and therefore do not know that they can still live very good lives - even deliver babies who are 100% healthy. The edition also provides contact information on organisations that provide assistance in cases of gender-based violence. You will find four pages on the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare's referral network system, which will guide you in terms of who to get help from and what to do in cases of sexual violations.

In addition to the aforementioned articles there is a poem and short story for either inspiration or entertainment. 

And lastly we feature the lives of three phenomenal people. Jakobine Rhom, Simone and Jonathan. Read their stories and be inspired to be brave, to care for others, and to be willing to choose the kind and quality of your own life.