Political Perspective

THINGS have improved in Namibia on the human rights front, according to, among others, Amnesty International, but that doesn’t mean that we should be complacent.

There are still a number of areas where rights are trampled, and these remain some of the most serious violations of all and they include spiralling incidents of violence against women and children. GOVERNMENTS tend to get defensive when Amnesty releases its annual human rights report, particularly if the prognosis of the countries in question is not good.This shouldn’t be the case.Because while the human rights organisation is quick to point out draconian governments, or those guilty of trampling the rights of people underfoot, its reports deal with human rights in the very general sense.And governments are usually the main, but not the only, culprits.There is less chance, in working democracies, of high incidences of human rights violations, which tend to proliferate in countries where undemocratic regimes are in place but that doesn’t mean that freer societies are not plagued by human rights violations.So too in our own.There are undemocratic-minded people, even in democracies.Those who simply take the rights of others without care or compunction include the perpetrators of violence against women and children.They also include those who engage in hate speech, and we have a few of these in our midst, as the Amnesty report pointed out.But we don’t need reminding.Generally, however, Namibia has improved, even over the past couple of years, and we should consolidate this as much as possible.The dramatic increase in violence against women and children should take precedence as far as any human rights campaigns are concerned because in undemocratic societies, the actions of governments tend to overshadow issues such as rape and domestic violence, which tend to come to the fore more often when a country is at peace and the government is not the enemy of the people.We also need to move towards a more democratic mindset.It is one thing to have a democratic constitution and regular elections, and quite another to live in a country where citizens respect the rights of others.This is not yet the case in Namibia, at least not in a national sense.I do believe that even those who steal and-or mismanage the resources of a country such as ours, where a large proportion of the people go without, are guilty of violating the rights of others.Through their crimes, they deny primarily the poor, who need more than simply free speech, to eke out a living.Equally, those who show a complete lack of tolerance for dissension and debate, which are the mainstays of a working democracy; who persist in vilifying opponents and inciting others against them, are casting a blot on our human rights record.And Amnesty points out that this includes people like our former President who did not always set a good example as far as democratic practices were concerned.Discrimination is another issue of human rights, and fortunately we do have in place anti-discrimination legislation, but unfortunately people seem to understand it only in the context of the former apartheid system, rather than in the wider sense, regardless of race, colour, gender, religion, etc.And there are still many incidents of discrimination in this regard.There is another worrying tendency that there are those, mainly political figures, who are irritated by the scrutiny of a free and independent press.Generally speaking, it is those who have the most to hide who are the most critical of the media, and seldom, if ever, are they able to provide proof of what they claim is an ‘irresponsible’ press.But overall, the Amnesty report on Namibia is encouraging, and shows that our democratic commitment is improving with time.Namibians should feel inspired and unafraid to take up the fight against continuing human rights violations in much the same way as they did to free the country from the grip of apartheid in the past.GOVERNMENTS tend to get defensive when Amnesty releases its annual human rights report, particularly if the prognosis of the countries in question is not good.This shouldn’t be the case.Because while the human rights organisation is quick to point out draconian governments, or those guilty of trampling the rights of people underfoot, its reports deal with human rights in the very general sense.And governments are usually the main, but not the only, culprits.There is less chance, in working democracies, of high incidences of human rights violations, which tend to proliferate in countries where undemocratic regimes are in place but that doesn’t mean that freer societies are not plagued by human rights violations.So too in our own.There are undemocratic-minded people, even in democracies.Those who simply take the rights of others without care or compunction include the perpetrators of violence against women and children.They also include those who engage in hate speech, and we have a few of these in our midst, as the Amnesty report pointed out.But we don’t need reminding.Generally, however, Namibia has improved, even over the past couple of years, and we should consolidate this as much as possible.The dramatic increase in violence against women and children should take precedence as far as any human rights campaigns are concerned because in undemocratic societies, the actions of governments tend to overshadow issues such as rape and domestic violence, which tend to come to the fore more often when a country is at peace and the government is not the enemy of the people.We also need to move towards a more democratic mindset.It is one thing to have a democratic constitution and regular elections, and quite another to live in a country where citizens respect the rights of others.This is not yet the case in Namibia, at least not in a national sense.I do believe that even those who steal and-or mismanage the resources of a country such as ours, where a large proportion of the people go without, are guilty of violating the rights of others.Through their crimes, they deny primarily the poor, who need more than simply free speech, to eke out a living.Equally, those who show a complete lack of tolerance for dissension and debate, which are the mainstays of a working democracy; who persist in vilifying opponents and inciting others against them, are casting a blot on our human rights record.And Amnesty points out that this includes people like our former President who did not always set a good example as far as democratic practices were concerned.Discrimination is another issue of human rights, and fortunately we do have in place anti-discrimination legislation, but unfortunately people seem to understand it only in the context of the former apartheid system, rather than in the wider sense, regardless of race, colour, gender, religion, etc.And there are still many incidents of discrimination in this regard.There is another worrying tendency that there are those, mainly political figures, who are irritated by the scrutiny of a free and independent press.Generally speaking, it is those who have the most to hide who are the most critical of the media, and seldom, if ever, are they able to provide proof of what they claim is an ‘irresponsible’ press.But overall, the Amnesty report on Namibia is encouraging, and shows that our democratic commitment is improving with time.Namibians should feel inspired and unafraid to take up the fight against continuing human rights violations in much the same way as they did to free the country from the grip of apartheid in the past.