International Human Rights Day event at Katima Mulilo to mark Old Location massacre

This year’s International Human Rights Day will be celebrated at Katima Mulilo on Wednesday, alongside the fifth National Men’s Conference and National Women’s Day.

Minister of gender equality and child welfare Emma Kantema on Saturday announced that the public holiday, which also commemorates the 10 December Old Location massacre, will also highlight National Women’s Day under the theme ‘United to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls’.

The ministry on 25 November launched the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign under the same theme.

The National Men’s Conference, scheduled for 8 and 9 December, will run under the theme ‘Empowering Men as Agents of Change: Ending Gender-Based Violence and Building Safer Communities’ ahead of International Human Rights Day.

Kantema said the conference will cover mental health, health screening, financial literacy and other issues affecting men. “I urge all men and boys to come and be empowered and capacitated to be agents of change,” she said.

The ministry said the commemoration will bring together stakeholders to advance gender equality, empower men in combating violence, and reaffirm Namibia’s commitment to human rights, while honouring the historic Old Location uprising.

The forced removal of residents from Windhoek’s Main Location to Katutura during the apartheid era triggered a mass protest that culminated in the 10 December 1959 massacre, an event now central to Namibia’s Human Rights Day reflections.

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