[Namibia] Joblessness, poverty challenge progress, report

from Reuters Alert Net

WINDHOEK, 16 October (IRIN) - Rising levels of unemployment and poverty are hindering Namibia's development, a human rights watchdog said in its annual review, published this month.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said in its 240-page report covering August 2005 to July 2006 that respect for human rights had deteriorated.

"Internal migration, dramatic increases in municipal and other tariffs, leading to indebtedness and evictions, mushrooming of shebeens [informal taverns], labour-related factors like casualisation of labour, retrenchments and street vending, add to growing marginalisation and impoverishment", said Phil ya Nangoloh, the society's executive director.

More than half Namibia's nearly two million people live on US$2 or less a day. Officially, unemployment is 33 percent, but unofficial estimates put the rate as high as 40 percent, creating high levels of food insecurity and income poverty at household level. UNAIDS estimates that about 20 percent of Namibia's sexually active adult population are infected with HIV, which has also affected the workforce and the delivery of social services.

According to the national UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report, Namibia has made great progress in providing health, education and other critical services, but still faces the 'triple threat' of HIV/AIDS, food insecurity and lack of government capacity.

Incidents of human rights violations cited in the NSHR report have been drawn mainly from the media, although the society said it had conducted some independent investigations. Ya Nangoloh said about 123 people had lodged complaints of torture or cited other cruel and inhuman treatment to the NSHR.

With a backlog of 93,552 cases in Namibia's lower courts, the right to a fair public trial had also become a concern, the NSHR said. According to official statistics, the police had registered 85,000 new cases in 2005.

Prime Minister Nahas Angula, present at the report's release last week, criticised parts of the review as "personal opinion, which is not supported by facts ... While government appreciates oversight by non-state actors, government expects a fair assessment of the state of human rights in our country".

The NSHR recommended decentralisation of government services in all 13 regions of the country, "to create jobs and other opportunities and services in rural areas", arresting internal migration, and that "water prices should be subsidised for all vulnerable groups in society".