NSHR Offline

A. FOUNDING STATEMENT

RECOGNIZING that the international community through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols and numerous other international human rights and humanitarian instruments, has affirmed a strong commitment to the protection of human rights and the furtherance of humanitarian principles

WELCOMING that, in that regard, the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia includes a chapter on fundamental human rights and freedoms

NOTING WITH CONCERN that millions of Africans do not enjoy basic human rights and freedoms

CONVINCED that it is imperative to promote and protect the principles of multiparty democracy, respect for human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and justice for all

NOW THEREFORE, we the concerned Namibians have resolved to found a human rights organization to be known as National Society for Human Rights (NSHR)

B. DEFINITION, VISION AND MISSION
NSHR is a national private, non-profit making and non-partisan human rights monitoring and advocacy organization. Founded on December 1 1989 by concerned citizens, the Organization envisages a world free of human rights violations. The Organization’s mission is to, altogether, stop human rights violations in Namibia and the rest of the world.

1. Legal Status
NSHR is lawfully registered (no. 21/90/366) in terms of Section 21(a) of the Companies Act (Act no 61 of 1973) as an association incorporated not for gain. The Organization maintains observer status in the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (AfriCOM) of the African Union and is in special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

2. Mission Statement
NSHR’s Mission Statement is to secure due recognition and observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially those enshrined in the Independence Namibian Constitution and enumerated in numerous international human rights and humanitarian treaties and declarations adopted by the United Nations, its specialized agencies and similar regional and international bodies.

3. Overall Objectives:
The Organization’s overall objectives are:

To promote democracy, respect for the rule of law, justice for all and the independence of the judiciary

To promote tolerance for all human rights-friendly cultural, political, social and traditional practices of all

To promote, accessibility, responsiveness, accountability and transparency in public administration

To promote representative and decentralized political power based on active and informed public participation 4. Core Activities

NSHR conducts on a daily basis certain activities in order to accomplish its mission statement and overall objectives. A whole range of these activities is considered as core activities.

What follows below gives a brief overview of some of the Organization’s core activities:

4.1. Human Rights Monitoring

The process of desk and field human rights monitoring is characterized by the collection, storage and analysis of information on the actions of primarily State and semi-State actors. Desk monitoring means a process of regular information gathering characterized by systematic observation of media (such as newspaper, radio, television and Internet) reports and by gathering information through persons visiting NSHR’s monitoring and advocacy offices. Whereas acquiring such information outside office is known as field monitoring.

4.2. Reporting

Reporting features the presentation of the information obtained through desk and field monitoring with the view to inter alia create awareness and informing both local and international stakeholders on extraordinary human rights situations and non-compliance. NSHR employs among other things a "naming and shaming" strategy aimed, not only at reducing or, altogether, stopping human rights abuses, but also educating and creating public awareness about the essence of a deep-rooted human rights culture in the country. NSHR’s reporting entails the following intervention strategies:

4.2.1. Press Releases

Issued press releases are first distributed to all Regional Monitoring and Advocacy Office (RMOs) and then to the Government of Namibia (GoN), the United Nations and the diplomatic community as well as national, regional and international human rights organizations, media groups and other stakeholders. Modern and effective means of mass communication, such as facsimile, e-mail and the Internet are harnessed to ensure that such information receives timely and wide spread dissemination.

4.2.2. Thematic & Special Reports & Databases

These activities feature compilation and presentation of thematic and special reports, including audio-visual reports, on controversial human rights situations as well as on non-adherence.

4.2.3. Namibia Human Right Report (NH2R)

NH2R is NSHR's main monitoring publication released annually on the general human rights situation in the country. In certain situations, the launch of the NH2R is accompanied by a short video presentation, highlighting the major events of the year. The report is also used as background information to evaluate GoN's State periodic human rights reports during the sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

4.2.4. Preparation & Submission of Shadow Reports

Reporting also entails compilation and submission of shadow reports to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and human rights treaty bodies under the ECOSOC system to be compared with official State reports on the human rights situation in the country.

4.3. Civic Education Programs

Civic education programs constitute the principal strategy through which NSHR’s mission statement and objectives are carried out. This promotion and consolidation of democracy activity also consists of physical distribution of civic education materials through formal and informal awareness creation forums such as workshops and through electronic dissemination programs such as the NSHR’s radio phone-in program.

Sensitization of citizens about both their human rights and responsibilities is
carried out through a multi-serial project titled Civil Rights Educations Program (CREP). CREP strategy also constitutes the principal program through which NSHR promotes its mission statement and overall objectives: i.e. human rights, respect for the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, tolerance and active public participation in, and transparency and accountability of, governance, with the view of equipping citizens with requisite attitudes, knowledge and critical thinking skills.

NSHR compiles and produces various civic education series as part of its Civil Rights Education Program (CREP). Such publications include:

4.3.1. My Rights & Those of Others

This illustrated civic education series focuses on making the general public aware of their basic human rights and freedoms as well as associated responsibilities. The project features production, distribution and dissemination of a human rights publication titled My Rights and the Rights of Others. The series was first developed in 1991 with 1 000 copies being distributed countrywide.

The first part of the series explains what human rights and freedoms are, why and how they are conditio sine qua non for sustainable human development and where one can find them. The first part also lists numerous examples of important human rights. Also, the reader learns more on why and how State actions are restricted in favor of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Thus, the main objective of this illustrated series is to help ordinary people, not only to know their own rights and those of others, but also to know that their rights can be limited under certain circumstances in order to protect the rights and reputations of other people, public safety, public health, public morality and the independence of the judiciary.

4.3.2. Socio-Economics for Ordinary People (SOP)

This civic education series attempts to enlighten members of the general public on the interdependence, interrelatedness and indivisibility of political processes, on the one hand, and economic trends, on the other.
First produced in 1994, this civic education series explains socio-economic terminologies such as taxation, government spending, foreign and or other debts, inflation, investment, unemployment and population growth, etc.
The main objective of the series is to enable Namibians to understand why, how and when certain socio-economic situations and political processes occur around them.

4.3.3. Choose Your Own Representatives

During 1999 NSHR identified the lack of inner-party democracy within the country’s several political parties as one of the main obstacles to democratic consolidation. In a country where political parties are ethnically based and where public officials are appointed in a top-down fashion, lack of inner-party democracy in the final analysis constitutes an obstacle to human centered development in the country.

This illustrated civic education series aims at promoting sustainable human development by first promoting democracy within the country’s political parties by ensuring that party members choose their own representatives in a bottom-up fashion. Hence, with the help of cartoons, the publication demonstrates how and why lack of inner-party democracy is a hindrance to a representative, transparent and accountable government as well as improved living standards for ordinary people.

The purpose is also to sensitize and educate ordinary citizens on the role of a State and the role of civil society vis-à-vis the State.
In addition, the publication focuses on enhancing political education and general public knowledge as well as confidence in the Namibian Constitution.

4.3.4. My Right To Participate

This civic education series was first written in 2002 and deals with another main obstacle to democratic consolidation and human centered development in the country: the lack of active and effective public participation in the affairs of government.

The publication aims at informing and encouraging Namibians to exercise their participatory rights and to be tolerant of each other’s opinion, beliefs and practices. The reader will be informed about participatory rights, such as freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of association and assembly and how and when citizens should use such rights to change the composition or policies of their government.
While the short-term objective of this series is to increase political and other tolerance, the long-term objective of this civic education series is to enhance human centered development in Namibia.

4.3.5. My Rights & Responsibilities

This civic education series aims at instilling a culture of care, solidarity and accountability on the part of members of the general public.

4.4. Training & Capacity Building

Closely-related to civic education programs, this activity seeks to train human rights defenders and activists from other civil society organizations or political parties to enable them to: (1) develop requisite participatory dispositions, (2) acquire knowledge and understanding of their roles, rights and responsibilities in society and (3) to acquire critical thinking skills to measure up to the replicating contemporary challenges.

4.5. Advocacy, Lobbying & Networking

At the center of these core activities is advocacy for equitable citizen access to socio-economic resources and other human development needs. These activities include vigorous campaigning against corruption and mismanagement in government and in non-state actors, with the view to strengthen citizens’ oversight of local politicians and their influence on local governance frameworks including service delivery. Advocacy initiatives are also aimed at increasing citizens’ informed participation in local, regional and national budget planning as well as in the monitoring of public expenditure with the view to ensure requisite prioritization of resources.

In the final analysis, the purpose of the advocacy and lobbying activities is, not only to try to reduce or, altogether, stop human rights abuses, but also to educate the general public about why and how it is necessary to bring about a deep-rooted human rights culture. Such culture is conditio sine qua non for human centered development in the country.

4.6. Research, Storage & Publication

These activities center on the development and publication of NSHR’s civic education series and other awareness creation materials used in civic education, advocacy and training programs. Such materials are also informed by the information acquired through desk and field monitoring as well as other methods of information gathering. NSHR also use these activities to compile its various databases in order to statistically monitor and evaluate its own performance as well as the human rights situation in the country in general. The Organization’s annual Combined Narrative & Financial Report is also compiled under this activity.

4.7. Paralegal Services & Litigation

This activity features according NSHR beneficiaries essential paralegal services relating to labor disputes, general grievance cases, social and domestic conflicts and child maintenance, as well as refugee cases. Complicated legal cases are often referred to competent law firms for litigation. Special emphasis is had on test cases of constitutional and public interest nature.

Moreover, in terms of Articles 18 and 25(2) of the Namibian Constitution, administrative bodies and administrative officials shall act fairly and reasonably and comply with the requirements imposed upon such bodies and officials by common law and any relevant legislation and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions shall have the right to seek redress before a competent Court or Tribunal.

4.8. Humanitarian Assistance

This program features the provision of humanitarian assistance for indigent and needy people, such as refugees and other persons in distress and also who require emergency assistance.

4.9. Institutional Infrastructure Development

This activity aims at the development of certain NSHR fixed property with the view to rent it to interested parties as accommodation or office space. This will enable NSHR to generate its own income to independently finance some of its core activities. This would especially be the case in difficult financial situations where donor partners are either unavailable or unwilling to fund certain NSHR activities. The situation would also go a long way in enhancing the Organization’s institutional independence and sustainability

5. Orotjitombo Community School Project

Before Namibian Independence in 1990, the right to education for especially black Namibian children was seriously neglected under the racially motivated policies of white minority government controlled by apartheid South Africa. Hence, the pre-Independence educational system for non-white children was characterized by unequal access and inefficiency as well as low pass and high dropout rates.

The apartheid authorities spent 10 times more on a white child than on a non-white child. Schools for white Namibian children were far superior to those of their black counterparts in terms of equipment and other facilities. After independence, the black majority Government correctly argued that the apartheid authorities neglected and marginalized education for non-white children in terms of extremely inequitable financial resource allocation.

However, while prima facie progress appears to have been made after independence in terms of racial integration and equalization of access to education for all Namibian children, a closer look at the educational scene in the country yields a very gloomy and disturbing picture especially for children of poor families and marginalized communities.

Nonetheless, in a series of periodic reports the UN Development Program showed that Namibia, with a per capita income of some N$12 000, is not among the poorest countries in the world. The UN categorized Namibia as “one of the most unequal societies in the world”! According to the UN, the poorest 90 percent consume less than the remaining 10 percent of the population. The country’s ratio in terms of per capita income disparity is rated at 50 to 1.

Thus, the few elite schools that were reserved for white children before Namibian independence became accessible only to the children of the rich, regardless of skin color: i.e. white children were now joined by children of government ministers, top civil servants and black business people.

The marginalization of the schools previously reserved for non-white children under apartheid rule remained virtually intact if not worse than before Independence. These schools and especially those in the rural areas of the country are heavily afflicted by lack of qualified teachers, severe shortage of textbooks and classrooms, teaching material and laboratories as well as the absence of chairs and tables.

5.1. Education for Marginalized Indigenous Minority Communities

Worse still, access to education is virtually non-existent for children of the ever marginalized indigenous minority groups, such as the semi-nomadic Himba and Zemba people of Kaokoland as well as the nomadic San communities in the Kalahari Desert, former Bushmanland and Etosha Game Reserve areas. Hence, for these minorities there is virtually no material difference between the status quo ante and the present situation of education in the country.

5.2. Himba and Zemba Indigenous Minorities in Kaokoland

Through its regular contacts with the extremely marginalized Himba and Zemba people in Kaokoland, NSHR was requested by traditional and community leaders in Kaokoland and has accepted to build a modern and permanent (i.e. sedentary) community school complex as well as to provide potable water for their children at the village of Orotjitombo. The village is located 30 km west of Opuwo, capital of Kaokoland in the northwestern corner of the country.

The Himba and Zemba people depend on their livestock for living. Hence, access to water and pastures for their cattle and small livestock (goats and sheep) are a decisive factor in their lives. Their permanent homesteads are in their core residential areas. However, when the pastures in the core residential areas are grazed down, they are left to replenish while the livestock is moved into the extended grazing areas.

The minimum factor everywhere is therefore water supply. As their livestock normally drink water twice a day, the Himba and Zemba generally do not travel more than a 10 km distance from their nearest water point.

Thus, in order to arrest their semi-nomadic status it is extremely important to make water readily available near their core residential areas. Therefore, NSHR made provision for the drilling of a solar powered borehole within less than 1 km distance from the school complex.

C. OPERATIONAL STRUCTURES

NSHR maintains a Head Office (HO) in Windhoek, the capital, and five Regional Monitoring & Advocacy Offices (RMOs) countrywide. Such RMOs are strategically located in the densely populated northeastern, northern and northwestern parts of the country where the levels of intolerance and other human rights abuses are highest.

D. OPERATIONAL PHILOSOPHY & PROCEDURES

NSHR's main objective is to vigorously monitor and advocate compliance by all concerned with national and international human rights, humanitarian and customary law instruments as well as to create public awareness about how and why human rights and fundamental freedoms are conditio sine qua non in daily lives of humans.

As a watchdog organization, NSHR primarily monitors commissions and omissions of State actors and sounds alarm before and after there have been human rights violations. When GoN, or for that matter any other government, acts firmly against violators, NSHR is often one of the first to publicly congratulate them.

NSHR's raison d’etre is to speak out boldly when human rights are violated, bringing such violations to the attention of both national and international communities. The Organization occasionally employs a "name-and-shame" approach to expose abuses and to instigate internal and external pressure on States that do not act decisively against violators. Using such approach, and through its civic education programs, NSHR hopes to instil and consolidate a culture of democracy, as well as to cultivate a critical public awareness. An informed and motivated civil society facilitates the emergence of a State free of abuses, oppression and other injustices.

1. Institutional & Operational Independence

In carrying out its aims and objectives, NSHR does not necessarily avoid so-called controversial or politically sensitive human rights issues. Through practical experience NSHR has found that human rights violations are politically motivated. Hence, currying favor with politicians and or even donors has never been NSHR's concern as its institutional and operational independence takes precedence.

2. Relevance of NSHR Human Rights Defenders (HRDs)

Virtually all NSHR HRDs have themselves either been victims of human rights abuses or are direct relatives of victims of such abuses. In addition, many NSHR HRDs have directly or indirectly participated in the armed liberation struggle against the apartheid South African (SA) regime prior to Namibian independence in 1990.

Hence, NSHR not only is most suitable but also an organization most inclined to articulate genuinely, credibly, accurately and effectively the aspirations of disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, this state of affairs places NSHR in a most favorable position to approach the country's human rights discourse in an independent, candid and, most importantly, fearless manner.

3. Seven Basic Factors

There are seven basic factors taken into consideration during monitoring and investigations of allegations, documentation of incidents and issuance of reports on violations:

3.1. Forwarding of Petitions & Handling of Communications

Regional Monitoring & Advocacy Offices (RMOs) conduct preliminary or thorough investigations into alleged abuses of human rights and forward their findings to Administrative Council (AC) at Head Office (HO) for further investigation or action. AC decides whether a specific allegation or communication is admissible and, if so, what course of action to be taken against the alleged violator(s).

3.2. Fact-finding Missions

Depending on the gravity of a specific situation, a fact-finding mission composed of the Organization’s senior officials may be dispatched to the affected area in order to conduct an in-depth investigation into the allegations. Depending also on the urgency of the matter, a press release may be issued denouncing the violation and urging relevant authorities to take measures against the violator(s).

Otherwise the mission compiles a detailed report on the situation containing recommendations for the solution. Denial of responsibility by perpetrators may also be publicly rebutted. Issuance of press releases also creates the necessary sensitizing effect on the part of the general public about violations.

3.3. Confidentiality

Where necessary, strict confidentiality regarding sources of information is maintained. However, such sources may be revealed, but only before a competent court of law or a lawfully constituted commission of inquiry.

3.4. Direct Contacts

In order to maintain fairness during investigations and accuracy in NSHR reporting, direct contact with the alleged violator(s) may be sought, where necessary, in order to give them a chance to comment on allegations made against them.

3.5. Impartiality

All HRDs are obliged to act impartially and without bias. Human rights abuses by GoN and others are therefore treated in a non-partisan manner. Although all HRDs have the right to belong to or support any peaceful political parties of their choice, they are, nevertheless, not allowed to engage in any partisan politics.

3.6. Rules of Investigations

In order to enhance the objectivity and credibility of the Organization all activists have the duty to:

establish, as accurately as possible, the full identities of the alleged victim

establish, as accurately as possible, the full identities, including the official capacity, if any, of the alleged violator(s)

establish any other noteworthy details, such as the make, color and registration numbers, if any, of the vehicle(s) in which the alleged violators are traveling, and;

determine the place or location, date and time of where and when an alleged abuse had taken place 3.7. Expediency

All HRDs have the duty to ensure that their findings or reports are urgently telephoned, e-mailed and or faxed to HO.

E. ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT OF NAMIBIA (GON)

NSHR’s human rights monitoring and advocacy efforts are intended to complement and strengthen those of GoN. Nonetheless, as a matter of principle and in order to preserve its institutional independence, the Organization does not seek or accept any material or financial assistance from GoN.

Proactive and vigorous human rights monitoring and advocacy activities and open and candid criticism of GoN performance has often brought NSHR on a collision course with the former.

Since Namibian Independence in 1990 certain high-ranking leaders from the ruling SWAPO party were and continue to be hostile towards NSHR and other civil society organizations. The Organization’s staff members have often been systematically subjected to name-calling, character assassination and ridicule, often branded ‘un-African’, ‘unpatriotic elements,’ ‘anti-Government’, ‘traitors’ and or even ‘spies in service of Western governments’.

Inspite of the above, NSHR works very well with individual GoN Ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Basic Education; Ministry of Prisons and Correctional Services; Office of the Ombudsman; Office of the Inspector-General of the Namibian Police; Office of the Prosecutor-General; the Anti-Corruption Commission; the Judiciary; Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Gender Equality & Child Welfare and others.