Namibia

Provides a listing of articles on restorative justice developments in Namibia. Articles appear in the order in which they were added to the site with the most recent appearing first.

Capito, Benjamin and Goredema, Charles and Fundira, Bothwell and Goba, Ray and Munyoro, Joseph and Banda, Jai. Confronting the Proceeds of Crime in Southern Africa: An Introspection

The six authors all address money-laundering in Southern Africa, with each author concentrating on a different country. Banda describes legislation in Malawi designed to fight money-laundering. Munyoro posits that there is still much work to do in Zambia and then considers what areas specifically need improvement. Fundira examines three scenarios that have particular application to Zimbabwe. Goredema reviews what South Africa has done to stop money-laundering and financing terrorism. Goba analyzes the state of money-laundering in Namibia. Capito explores what measures have been implemented in Mozambique.

Greenbaum, Bryant and Amoah, Jewel. Has Everything Been Done? The Nature of Assistance to Victims of Past Political Atrocities in Southern Africa.

In this research report, Jewel Amoah and Bryant Greenbaum review the availability and character of victim support services for survivors of political violence in the context of political transition and reconciliation in the following countries: Namibia; Mozambique; Zimbabwe; Malawi; and South Africa. They begin their paper by looking at relevant theoretical and international considerations with respect to international obligations and victim support services. They then profile each of the five countries in the following areas: historical background; the nature of political violence and the current political situation; views of the public, victims, and ex-combatants; government policy; and the role of civil society.

Hamutenya, Marthinus and Schulz, Stefan. Juvenile Justice in Namibia: Law Reform Towards Reconciliation and Restorative Justice

Namibia is in the process of creating a juvenile justice system that will be more responsive to the needs of children in conflict with the law and more in line with international standards. To this end, the Child Justice Bill was drafted in 2003, reflecting the ideas of ubuntu, an African understanding that an individual’s humanity is wrapped up in the dignity and humanity of others. Currently, the Bill is being modified by the Ministry of Justice and is scheduled to be presented to in Parliament this year. Marthinus Hamutenya of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Child Justice in Namibia analyzes the bill.

Hamutenya, Marthinus and Schulz, Stefan. Juvenile Justice in Namibia: Law Reform Towards Reconciliation and Restorative Justice?

Namibia is a newly independent nation, which in the wake of colonial oppression and foreign rule has yet to develop a comprehensive juvenile justice system. The current criminal justice system is informed by stereotyped common sense concepts of 'criminality' and 'the criminal'. Simplistic views undergirded by utilitarian arguments have put Namibia at odds with international instruments, such as the United Nations Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules) and the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC), which have embraced a holistic perspective on juvenile crime and deviance. In the spirit of 'Ubuntu', a frame of mind prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, which relates to a specific communal approach to the notion of people, Namibia has set forth to establish a restorative juvenile justice system. This endeavor has led to the drafting of the Child Justice Bill, which is under scrutiny in this article. The authors highlight the arguments behind the most important parts of the draft Bill, and assess the merits of the proposed law against the backdrop of international legal instruments and law reform projects of other countries. Authors' abstract.

Namibian memorial reignites call for German reparations

from the article on AFP: A national memorial Wednesday for 20 Namibian skulls seized by Imperial Germany a century ago provoked emotional calls for reparations for colonial-era abuses. German forces took the skulls from the tens of thousands left dead during an anti-colonial uprising by the once-mighty Herero and Nama people from 1904-1908. ....Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba decried the colonial-era abuses, but did not mention reparations when he addressed the 1,000 mourners.

Sachs, Albie. Public Interest Law: Improving Access to Justice

William Mitchell College of Law welcomed Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa for his third visit in April 2000, on the occasion of the re-issuance of his book, The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter. . . . Our country has its own journey to equality. . . . It's a wonderful rose garden with masses and masses of roses. . . . It was quite sophisticated and there was no one in Mozambique capable of fitting it properly. . . . Question #4: The south African anti-apartheid writers . . . what are they writing about now? . . . He wrote a book called, Disgrace. . . . But at the moment African intellectuals overwhelmingly write in English, not just because they are writing for other Africans who don't speak their language, but because they are writing for the world. . . . Capital punishment wasn't used as a means of law enforcement in traditional African society. . . . In most of our neighboring African states, capital punishment had either been abolished by the constitution, particularly those who had been through war such as Namibia and Mozambique, or it hadn't been applied in practice for a number of years.

Schulz, Stefan And Hamutenya, Marthinus. (2004). Juvenile Justice in Namibia: Law Reform Towards Reconciliation and Restorative Justice?

In the spirit of 'Ubuntu', a frame of mind prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, which relates to a specific communal approach to the notion of people, Namibia has set forth to establish a restorative juvenile justice system.

Southern African Reconciliation Project. Memorialisation and Reconciliation in Transitional Southern African Societies.

The aim of this report is to assess the role of memorialisation in the process of transition from colonial rule to independence (Namibia, Zimbabwe), from apartheid to non-racist democracy (South Africa), from colonial rule and post-colonial dictatorship (Malawi), or from colonial rule and post-colonial civil war to peaceful, multiparty political contest for majority support (Mozambique). We focus on questions like: Did we or did we not put the past behind us? Is there national reconciliation in our countries? And, if so: How did and does memorialisation contribute to it? We also aim to understand the effects of government policies upon local and national reconciliation activities regarding memorialisation and how civil society organisations engage in this field. (excerpt)

van der Merwe, Hugo. Reparations in Southern Africa

This one is among the first comparative studies of reparation in the light of transitional justice in Southern Africa largely unexplored, save of course for South Africa. At the core of the South African transformation is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) considered by some to be "the most far-reaching and the most effective of its genre". Similarly, South Africa's Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee of the TRC is the source of scholarly and policy debates in transitional justice circles worldwide. Yet, despite its popularity, South Africa's transitional process merits critical examination especially needed with the reparation issue which generated controversy and acrimony. This study seeks to add to the growing literature on reparations to victims of human rights abuses in the context of a political transition, by examining the experiences of South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Mozambique in developing official, non-judicial reparation programmes for victims/survivors of human rights abuses. For each country, the study explores: the nature of the political transition; the nature of the human rights violations or political atrocities that took place; the identifiable needs arising as consequences from human rights violations; programmes (if any) aimed at providing "reparation" and their targeted beneficiaries; factors accounting for the development (or non-development) of these programmes; and the consequences of the reparation programmes. Any debate on overcoming an unjust past ultimately has to deal with the issue of reparation, which should not be confused with reconstruction or reconciliation. (excerpt)