The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security has announced it will comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling to recognise same-sex marriages validly concluded outside the country.
This was announced in a statement issued by home affairs executive director Etienne Maritz on Wednesday.
According to Maritz, the ministry is engaged in consultations with relevant key stakeholders regarding other legal implications that may arise from the Supreme Court’s judgement, and the ministry will address such implications once the consultations are completed.
The court ordered on 16 May that Namibia’s government must recognise the marriages of two same-sex couples who were married outside Namibia, in countries where same-sex marriages are legal.
The court also directed that the government must recognise the non-Namibian partner in each of the two marriages, as the spouse of the Namibian partner, for the purposes of the Immigration Control Act.
The two couples – each consisting of one Namibian citizen and one non-Namibian – sued the government after the home affairs ministry refused to recognise the validity of their marriages.
- Read more in the next edition of The Namibian.
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