Human Rights of Women
Source: All Africa
Although Namibia has passed many gender-related laws, these laws have yet to benefit women in far-flung corners of this vast country where outdated and oppressive cultural traditions still dictate how women should live their lives.
This was the view expressed by the Executive Director of Women's Action for Development (WAD), Veronica De Klerk, during a press briefing on the progress of the project, "My Rights as a Woman and Namibian Citizen. Gender and Human Rights Awareness Raising for Namibian Citizens", last week.
De Klerk added that significant weaknesses have been identified in Namibian homes, such as the lack of realization, by women in particular, that the independence of Namibia has also brought along emancipating rights for them as women and as Namibian citizens.
"Women and their daughters still find themselves in the slave camp of husbands, boyfriends and male gangs who are at liberty to oppress, violate, beat up, rape and kill them.
"Therefore, complete freedom has not yet dawned for women in Namibia," said the WAD executive director, an advocate of gender equality.
WAD's continuous interaction with women has concluded that a large percentage of them, particularly in the rural areas, are totally oblivious of their rights as free Namibian citizens, said De Klerk.
Furthermore, civilization has not yet reached some men in Namibia, especially considering how often women die gruesome deaths at the hands of their own sons, grandsons as well as at the hands of ditched boyfriends and husbands.
The project is directed at the dissemination of knowledge about the rights of women.
Trainers were thoroughly educated on the contents of all gender-related laws in order to transfer the knowledge to people with the least education or no schooling at all.
"Forty-two workshops have been conducted between August 2011 and May 2012, reaching 1300 community members in all 107 constituencies. The aim is to conduct 400 workshops and to reach 9 000 people by the end of the project in April 2014," De Klerk elaborated.
Training included the education of women about their rights and to establish a sense of self-worth; the establishment of a climate of gender sensitivity among Namibians as part of their daily lives; the enforcement of protection of women's rights, as well as human rights in general and the encouragement of women not to continue their tolerance of violence and other forms of abuse against them.
In addition, trainers helped explain aspects of the constitution, gender-related laws such as the Child Maintenance Law, the Married Person's Equality Law, the Combating of Rape Act and the Combating of Domestic Violence Act to citizens across the country.
The project is sponsored by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. The training was provided by the Human Rights and Documentation Centre in the Faculty of Law of the University of Namibia.