AS WRITTEN

STATEMENT TO THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
BY HON. MRS NETUM BO NANDI-NDAITWAH
DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Namibia

COPENHAGEN, 8 MARCH 1995


Madam Chairperson

 As we commemorate the International Women' s Day, let me hail all those 
women who have and continue to spare no efforts to the cause of the 
advancement of women. Let this remain a day when all of us individually and 
collectively, must reflect upon our contribution, to bring about equality 
between women and men. Furthermore and perhaps more significantly, the 8th 
of March should be a platform for re-examining future strategies, for, 
until women participate as full and equal citizens of this world, the 8th 
of March would not have been fully realised. While all have not been won, 
everything have not been lost. Today the International Women's Day is 
commemorated in the remotest villages in many parts of the world. In sum, 
this day has amongst others contributed to awareness-raising. I need not 
search far. The mere fact that today's meeting has been scheduled on gender 
issues says it all.

 Madam Chairperson

 Throughout the preparatory process for the World Summit for Social 
Development it has been reaffirmed that social development cannot take 
place amidst social exclusion, and that full participation of women and 
equality and equity between women and men must be at the centre of economic 
and social development.

 It is in this context that we welcome the draft declaration and the 
Programme of Action to be adopted at this Summit. The provisions on women 
in these two documents among others bring out the individual and 
collectively responsibility and the need for solidarity in our quest for 
the advancement of women. 

 The three core issues of this Summit are relevant, universal, timely and 
action oriented. Eradication of poverty, productive employment and social 
integration are among the very principles upon which the Namibian 
Constitution is based. They are also the threats the international 
community has to tackle vigorously in order to improve the world social 
situation.

 Madam Chairperson

 Namibia' s colonial past left a strong impact on the Namibian people, and 
especially on women. It was a pattern that entrenched poverty and human 
deprivation. The majority of our people were left socially, economically 
and educationally disadvantaged.

 In Namibia, the extreme poverty in which the majority of people, 
especially women, find themselves, is primarily due to the wide income 
disparity stemming from apartheid policies. A decline in household crop 
production and food availability, together with a reduction in cash income 
are further augmenting the poverty of many households.

 While many factors contribute to the disadvantaged status of women, the 
most direct constraint to entry to the labour market and to positions of 
influence in society remains, the limited access to education for women. 
This state of affairs was aggravated by the general inadequacy of education 
that independent Namibia inherited.

 It was a highly fragmented educational system, where allocation of 
resources were segregated on the basis of race and ethnicity. With the 
ineptitude of basic formal education, it therefore follows that Namibia has 
a high rate of illiteracy. Therefore the Namibian Government sees 
investment in human resources both as a means of redistributing income and 
as a vital component in the strategy to stimulate job creation and economic 
growth. Hence, 28% of the National Budget is spend on education. It is true 
that education contributes considerably to lower fertility rates, and has 
therefore been prioritised, receiving a larger share of public resources. 
The Namibian Government has further set itself the goal of reducing the 
adult illiteracy rate to half of its 1990 level of 60% by the year 2000.

 The health structure that Namibia inherited concentrated entirely on 
curative health. Ethnic-based health services, were poorly funded and 
inaccessible to the majority of the population who live in the rural areas. 
Thus, restructuring the health system to focus on community based and 
primary health care, was a priority for Namibia at independence. 18% of the 
national Budget is allocated to health.

 Madam Chairperson

 A number of women in Namibia are victims of domestic violence and rape to 
which a number of factors contribute. During the liberation struggle, rape 
and sexual assault were used to exert power and control over the local 
population by the South African forces. Today, the problem is largely the 
result of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and other related social 
questions.

 Furthermore, attitudes towards domestic violence tend to exacerbate the 
abuse, and current legislation is not conducive to the prosecution of 
sexual offenses and domestic violence cases. In rural areas especially, 
women have little or no access to police or medical assistance.

As a result, an educational campaign and counselling programmes, as well as 
public awareness of the extent of violence against women and children has 
grown since Independence.

 Recently, the Namibian police, in consultation with the Ministry of Health 
and Social Services, has established Women and Child Abuse Centres. Based 
at the two busiest hospitals, Windhoek and Oshakati that provide 
counselling and health services to victims of violence. The Centres, in 
turn, use information from the cases they receive to analyse causes of 
violence and to identify procedures to improve treatment, reporting and 
enforcement of the law.

Madam Chairperson

 I refer here today to the exclusion of women from decision making 
positions since I believe that if we are to address the many other problems 
of our societies, then the issues of women's direct participation in the 
economy, and the issue of the advancement of women is fundamental. As I 
have stated, the Namibian Constitution commits Government to improving the 
status of women and removing all forms of discrimination. It is clear from 
what I have mentioned, that independence has not necessarily meant equal 
treatment of women and men in Namibia. Nor has it meant the absence of 
change.

 En 1992, the Namibian Government acceded to the Convention on the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women without 
reservations. The Namibian Constitution further provides for affirmative 
action for disadvantaged groups such as women.

 The progress towards affirmative action in Namibia can be seen in the 
formation of Government representation. After independence, our first 
National Assembly had 6 women parliamentarians.

 The second National Assembly which will be inaugurated on the 21 March 
199S, will contain 11 women. Hopefully this pattern will be reflected in 
the rest of the society as will as continuing to develop constantly.

 The Namibian Government has put in place a machinery which reaches all 
thirteen regions of the country, and will include women at grassroots level 
in decision-making as far as possible.

 To ensure the full integration of women in the development process, 
enabling laws are needed. In this regards, the Government of Namibia has 
introduced a programme of legal reform by establishing a Law Reform 
Commission, to ensure that those laws which continue to discriminate 
against women, including customary law will be brought in line with the 
Constitution.

 In addition, the Government of the Republic of Namibia will implement the 
following measures to increase women' s productivity in the economy;

  - Incentives to encourage companies to implement affirmative action.	
  - Incentives to encourage employers to provide child care facilities. 
  - Affirmative action in education to ensure women enjoy equal access to
    educational opportunities at al levels.
  - Measures to eliminate violence against women. 
  - Ensuring that women have equal access to public financed business
    loans.

 Gender sensitisation programmes which include both men and women at all 
levels, and in all fields, will also be held.

 Madam Chairperson

 We are meeting at a time when women are preparing for the Fourth World 
Conference for Women. Therefore we view commitment 5 in the draft 
Declaration as the relevant provision to women in the programme for Action 
as the link between the World Summit for Social Development and the 
forthcoming Fourth World Conference on Women.

 It therefore follows that commitment to implement the Programme of Action 
of this Summit will be a step forward in accelerating the implementation of 
the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies. The platform for Action to be 
adopted in Bejeing this September is an elaboration of commitment 5. 
Therefore if this Summit is about Commitments as we are to decide, the 
Fourth World Conference must not be anything less.

 Just as we have successfully used the International Women's Day to 
exercise international solidarity and awareness, we must revert to the same 
platform for the implementation of among others those provisions on women 
contained in both the draft Declaration and Programme of Action to be 
adopted at this Summit.

 Thank you