By The Namibian (Brigitte Weidlich)

THE law guiding the powers and activities of the Ombudsman in Namibia should be amended to monitor and assess the observance of human rights in Namibia, the latest annual report of the Ombudsman says.

The amendment should also include information campaigns so that citizens understand and promote human rights and for the Ombudsman to “assess all places of detention and regularly examine the treatment of people deprived of their liberty at such places,” said Ombudsman John Walters.

The report was tabled in Parliament last week.
The envisaged amendment also should also empower the Office of the Ombudsman to require organs of State and private enterprises to provide the Ombudsman with information on measures they have taken to realise the rights in the Constitution and international instruments ratified by Namibia.

These rights are housing, food, health care, access to water, the right to education, work, social security, non-discrimination, women, children and people with disabilities.

The Office of the Ombudsman received 1 608 complaints during 2009 – 43 more than on 2008.

“If we want to be truly effective, we must have an impact on the administrative process [of institutions], not simply in identifying the unfairness, but having the unfairness remedied and removed,” Walters stated in his annual report.

Again the Namibian Police topped the list of complaints against Government institutions, with 330 complaints made compared to 263 in 2008. About 264 complaints were laid against the Justice Ministry, 41 fewer than the previous year.

A total of 179 complaints were received against the Prison Service, compared to 144 complaints in 2008.

The Office of the Ombudsman is now housed in a new  building near Agostinho Neto Square in Windhoek.

http://www.namibian.com.na/news-articles/national/full-story/archive/2010/october/article/ombudsman-wants-human-rights-strengthened/

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