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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports. Scroll to: ---------- Report by the Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples Visit undertaken from 20-28 September 2012 Issues raised: Discrimination: All of the groups with whom I met uniformly expressed to me their strong desire for increased educational opportunities, but identified numerous barriers in this connection. Despite the guarantee in the Constitution that primary schooling be provided free of charge, and the commendable policy of the Ministry of Education to provide early schooling in indigenous languages, I have heard numerous accounts that these directives are not being effectively implemented on the ground. I also heard across the country that San children have been reluctant to attend school because they face discriminatory treatment by teachers and bullying by peers. I am concerned about reports that I heard in Opuwo that Ovahimba children are forced to cut their hair and remove their traditional dress in order to be allowed access to the public schools. Read the full press release here. Report by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty Visit undertaken from 1-8 October 2012 No report available The Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation Visit undertaken from 4-11 July 2011 Issues raised: Health: The Constitution of Namibia makes these treaties directly applicable which means that these rights can be claimed in court. However, during my visit I observed a lack of knowledge about the rights to water and sanitation, as well as economic and social rights more broadly, which has an impact on peoples’ ability to claim them. Wider awareness raising and education on economic and social rights, not only for the general public, but also for professional groups, is needed in Namibia. Diarrhea is a leading cause of death for children under the age of five in Namibia, accounting for around 23 per cent of all deaths. Pneumonia accounts for 25 per cent of under-five deaths, and malnutrition accounts for another 9 percent. Taken together, this means that well over half of all child deaths in Namibia are related to lack of access to sanitation and safe water, as well as poor hygiene practices. Add to this that 29 per cent of children under 5 are stunted, that 24 per cent of health facilities do not have running water, and that only 14 per cent of rural households have access to improved sanitation. This paints a very worrying picture of health in Namibia, and without serious attention to water and sanitation, this situation cannot improve. This is reinforced even more in a country where an estimated 178,000 people live with HIV and therefore with compromised immune systems -- without clean water and sanitation they are more likely to become ill and develop opportunistic infections. Education: In some places, water points are still extremely far away from households. This has an impact on children’s access to education, as well as women’s ability to engage in other activities. It also puts in doubt the number of people drinking safe water, as many appear to opt for a river or creek, or a potentially polluted traditional well, rather than a safe water point further away. I witnessed this reality in Epupa Constituency where people are drinking from a dirty traditional well, sharing it with their livestock, rather than walking the long distance to the water point. The distance between the village and the water source was mentioned by the members of the village, in order to explain why they did not wash their hands after defecation and before eating. Read the full press release here. ---------
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity