Global Issues

Namibia

• Country of origin, transit, and destination for women, children, and possibly men subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.

• Victims lured by traffickers with promises of legitimate work.

• Victims may be beaten or raped by traffickers or third parties.

• Traffickers exploit Namibian children, as well as children from Angola, Zambia, and possibly Zimbabwe.

• Namibian parents unwittingly sell their children to traffickers.

• Adults subject children of distant relatives to forced labor or sex trafficking.

• Unconfirmed reports indicate that truck drivers recruit and transport Namibian women and children to South Africa for forced prostitution.

• 30.6% of women in the Namibian city of Windhoek report intimate partner physical violence in their lifetime.

• 16.5% of women report sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

• 42.5 of women report intimate partner and/or non-partner physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

• 6% reported forced first sex.

• 6.4% reported abuse during pregnancy.

•  11,882 cases of gender-based violence were reported in 2009, 1,036 of which involved rape.

 

Advocacy:

Executive director Esme Kisting NGO The King’s Daughters Organization, works to give women exploited in commercial sex another chance at life.

• Government-run Zero Tolerance Against Gender-Based Violence and Trafficking in Persons media campaign

• Namibian Police Force’s Woman and Child Protection Unit runs counseling and protection centres.

 

Sources: UN Women Violence against Women Prevalence Data:  Surveys  by  Country 2011; U.S. Department of State 2010 Human Rights Report, U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011