2nd National Conference on Orphans and Other ... - FHI 360

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OTHER LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS RELEVANT TO CHILDREN I want to conclude by mentioning several other legal developments of relevance to children. The Maintenance Bill is now before Parliament. This is a new law that would cover child maintenance paid by parents or anyone else legally liable to maintain another person. This could extend to a number of family members, but in practice our Maintenance Act is used primarily for children. We have had an Act in place for many years, but it is being overhauled. The bill before Parliament is very exciting. For example, it has a number of administrative changes that will make the Act practically much more workable for mothers and their children, i.e. the people who will use it most. Also, it is completely gender-neutral; a father can claim maintenance from an absent mother if the father has custody of the child. But again, in practice in Namibia it is used almost 100% by mothers caring for children and seeking maintenance from absent fathers, or by grandmothers or extended family members caring for children. We have a Domestic Violence Bill, which is expected to be introduced in Parliament during the current session. This legislation looks at all acts of domestic violence, but with a specific eye on abused children. There are some provisions meant to help children in particular. For example, in the case of a child, civil and criminal proceedings regarding domestic violence can be brought by someone else acting on behalf of the child, e.g. a parent, teacher, social worker, or anyone having an interest in the wellbeing of the child. There is also a provision that says if you allow a child to witness violence and you are the perpetrator of that violence, then you have also committed domestic violence against the child, simply by exposing the child to violence. The bill recognises that even if you have not lifted a finger against the child, a child in a violent environment is suffering from the violent atmosphere. There is also a Vulnerable Witnesses Bill, which would look at the position of children and other vulnerable witnesses when they testify in court. It is often an extremely traumatic experience for children to testify; they are terrified by the formality and strangeness of it. This Act would provide for things like allowing the child to testify by way of closed-circuit television or a one-way screen, so that a child who has suffered sexual abuse would not have to tell the story with the perpetrator staring her/him in the face. The Act would also require that questions be put through the presiding judge or another intermediary so that the lawyer defending the accused could not badger the child or intentionally try to confuse the child so she/he will sound less credible. This bill seems to be stalled somewhere in the Ministry of Justice, but it is an extremely urgent matter because we have so much sexual abuse against children. Anything we can do to make life easier for children who have been through such a trauma would certainly be an important development. Finally, we have a draft Divorce Act now with a Law Reform and Development Commission (LRDC) sub-committee which is about to finalise recommendations for the consideration of the full LRDC. Again, special attention is paid to children in this bill. The sub-committee’s idea is that there should be a Family Advocate who looks at the child’s best interest – not in every divorce case, but in cases where there seem to be problematic circumstances, e.g. where one party has alleged abuse against the other, or where there is a proposal to split up siblings, or in other such unusual circumstances that make it difficult for a court to decide without extra input on what would be in the child’s best interest. I believe we have some very interesting and exciting developments in support of vulnerable children arising in a lot of different legal contexts, and I hope this overview has given this forum a sense of where children stand under our new and forthcoming laws. Thank you. Ms Katjiuongua thanked Ms Hubbard for a thorough update, adding that the issues raised are very pertinent and time would have to be set aside during the course of the conference for some participants to deliberate on them. She opened the floor for a few pertinent questions on burning issues raised in the update. 14 <strong>2nd</strong> <strong>National</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children – Windhoek, Namibia, 25-27 June 2002: Full Report
Questions and comments on Ms Hubbard’s presentation Question (Liana Mbako, 17-year-old from Tsumeb): Some orphans living with a guardian may not be suffering any physical abuse but they may be suffering emotional abuse. What can be done about this? Answer: The Domestic Violence Bill covers all kinds of abuse – physical, emotional, psychological, economic etc., so this problem would be covered by this legislation. But it only covers serious cases: sending a child who has not done his chores to his room is a case of discipline, not abuse. Comment: The law on maintenance certainly has to be revisited. There are many loopholes in the current law which lay the law open to abuse. Few mothers misuse maintenance money, but the majority of guardians do tend to misuse it, and something must be done about this. We may need to thoroughly investigate the arrangements made for receiving payments to ensure that the money really is reaching the children. Response: The Maintenance Bill now before Parliament has a provision that would make it criminally punishable to abuse maintenance money. Any person, whether parent, guardian or anyone else, who takes money that is meant for a child and does not apply that money to the child’s benefit would come under investigation for a criminal offence. So this problem has been recognised. Question: With regard to guardianship, what happens if a child’s natural or indicated guardian is from a different country, e.g. Angola or South Africa? We have had quite a few cases of this in Namibia and it can be problematic. Answer: The task force has not considered this problem, but I’m glad you have raised it and we will think it through. Question: Could you please remind us of what the provisions regarding corporal punishment will seek to do. Answer: The basic idea is that punishing children with violence teaches them that violence is the way to deal with problems in life. The task force’s concern is that Namibia has a problem of being a very violent society at the moment – I think we all share this concern – and we think that if we start teaching children from the very beginning that there are other ways to deal with problems, or to punish or discipline people, this may help them not to grow up looking to violence as the answer to everything. Only a few other countries have outlawed corporal punishment. Sweden, for example, outlawed it several years ago and has found that this had a big impact on changing public attitudes on whether corporal punishment is a positive or negative thing. Since the law was passed the majority of Swedes have come round to agreeing with it. It is a question of law being influential in encouraging people to think of non-violent approaches to family life in general. Question: This country is 86% Christian, and the Bible says, “Spare not the rod!”. How will you satisfy most of the churches if you outlaw corporal punishment? Would it not be better to teach parents how to use corporal punishment positively? Answer: This question demonstrates why the issue is so hotly debated. Question: Can children born of extra-marital affairs be considerd stepchildren? Answer: A stepchild is a child whose mother or father has married someone who already has a child. In other words, the child of your spouse is your stepchild and you are the child’s stepparent; it doesn’t relate at all to whether the child was born in or out of wedlock. Comment (Ms Petronella Masabane, task force member): The task force should consider the point just raised. We have not paid enough attention in the draft legislation to the status of children born of extra-marital affairs whose mother or father marries someone else. Comment (another task force member): Some of you may recall that the task force published an article in a local newspaper calling for input on the isuue of stepchildren, and we are still appealing for this from you. In the first place we need clarity on whether or not we are making an issue out of a non-issue. <strong>2nd</strong> <strong>National</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children – Windhoek, Namibia, 25-27 June 2002: Full Report 15
Page 1 and 2: 2nd Nation
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS FOREWORD ACRONYMS AND ABBR
Page 5 and 6: FOREWORD Namibia has come a long wa
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTORY SESSION Session chairp
Page 9 and 10: Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) Mult
Page 11 and 12: Promote and facilitate the exchange
Page 13 and 14: As mentioned in the previous presen
Page 15 and 16: I am here to represent the MWACW ta
Page 17 and 18: the mother will take custody, for t
Page 19: permission for it? In other words,
Page 23 and 24: a basis and guidelines for operatio
Page 25 and 26: parents when a child is arrested; a
Page 27 and 28: I will now read out our group’s s
Page 29 and 30: Lack of food and parental supervisi
Page 31 and 32: Recommendations: 1. Information on
Page 33 and 34: Social services: Lack of knowledge
Page 35 and 36: Impacts on OVC: 1. Psychosocial nee
Page 37 and 38: OFFICIAL OPENING SESSION Session ch
Page 39 and 40: anecdotal reports from communities
Page 41 and 42: Trauma associated with losing a par
Page 43 and 44: Namibia’s resource distribution i
Page 45 and 46: Ms Kovambo Nujoma Keynote address,
Page 47 and 48: EXPERT PRESENTATIONS PRESENT TIONS
Page 49 and 50: 3. Psychosocial Normal stresses an
Page 51 and 52: RACOC Regional Director PEER SUPPOR
Page 53 and 54: equests for increments in the Schoo
Page 55 and 56: tance of proper co-ordination can n
Page 57 and 58: then not deliver. The other conside
Page 59 and 60: OVC VC LOGO AND DEFINITION Session
Page 61 and 62: WORKING GROUP SESSIONS Session chai
Page 63 and 64: Before calling on the first group r
Page 65 and 66: Learned/enforced roles Domestic vi
Page 67 and 68: Comment: Everything in the strategy
Page 69 and 70: GROUP 2 SUB-GROUP 2: FAMILY-CENTRED
Page 71 and 72:
egardless. We know it will take a l
Page 73 and 74:
Questions and comments on Group 3 r
Page 75 and 76:
SUMMARY OF GROUP 4 DISCUSSION (verb
Page 77 and 78:
the why? If it is for the purpose o
Page 79 and 80:
COMMENTARY AND ADDITIONAL POINTS IN
Page 81 and 82:
therefore reached consensus that a
Page 83 and 84:
Session chairperson Ulitala Hivelua
Page 85 and 86:
Official reports and policy documen
Page 87 and 88:
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AFFAIRS AND CHILD
Page 89 and 90:
CATHOLIC AIDS ACTION (CAA) Dr Lucy
Page 91 and 92:
Dr Marita Grobler, Head of Departme
Page 93 and 94:
OUTGOING AND INCOMING OVC VC NATION
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