Namibia
Namibia adopted their first National Action Plan for the 2019-2024 period.
Objectives/aims of the 2019-2024 NAP:
Namibia’s NAP has as its overall goal: ‘A safe and peaceful Namibia where all women, men, girls and boys have equal rights and live without fear or want and in dignity.’
The Plan has 7 objectives:
1) To implement the agreed international, continental, regional and national legal and policy frameworks on women, peace and security;
2) To mainstream gender into Namibia’s Peace and Security structures and processes;
3) To ensure that women are accorded equal representation and participate fully in key decision-making positions in peace building processes;
4) To prevent violence against women and protect women in conflict and non-conflict situations;
5) To facilitate access to justice and an end to impunity for women in conflict and non-conflict situations;
6) To facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of progress on implementing the women, peace and security agenda;
7) To promote a peaceful and inclusive society.
As well as these objectives, the plan sets out four priority areas corresponding to the four pillars of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. These are:
1) Participation
- Of women in political and security decision making
- Of women in peace and security structures
- Of civil society in peace and security structures
2) Prevention
- Of conflict and all forms of violence against women and girls
- Of impunity for SGBV
- Of SGVB through policy programming and implementation
3) Protection
- Of women and children in conflict situations
- Of women and children against SGBV
4) Relief and Recovery
- Women’s participation in relief and recovery efforts
- Gender sensitive relief and recovery efforts
Commentary:
Namibia was colonized by Germany (1904-1915) and South Africa (1919-1990), gaining independence in 1990. Post the democratisation of South Africa, traditional threats to Namibia’s security declined substantially. After independence it has had to primarily deal with the spill-over of the Angolancivil war, and in 1998 it deployed troops in support of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), alongside Angola and Zimbabwe.
Namibia’s NAP is comprehensive, outlining clearly and in detail the contextual background and challenges facing Namibia and Namibia’s women.
Each strategic objective has corresponding activities, expected outcomes, indicators, timeframes and key actors.
Civil Society engagement in the development of the NAP:
One of the NAP’s priorities is to ensure the participation of civil society in peace and security. For this reason, from the beginning civil society has been involved, by making it a stakeholder in the processes for the development and implementation of the NAP.
UN Peacekeeping Statistics:
As of November 2023, Namibia is contributing 10 Peacekeeping Personnel, 8 of which are women.
5 of 6 Experts on Mission are female.
3 of 4 Staff Officers are female.
Women in Peacekeeping:
As above, Namibia is contributing more female peacekeepers than male peacekeepers.
Namibia is amongst the countries with the highest levels of women representation in the security sector in the SADC region. As detailed in the NAP, in the year 2017, Namibia achieved female representation at 23% in Defence, 38% in Police Force and 44% in Correctional Services. However, at the management level these numbers drop to 14% in the Namibian Defence Force and 21% in the Namibian Police Force.
Resources and Sources:
Namibia National Action Plan 2019-2024: Namibia-2019-2024.pdf (wpsfocalpointsnetwork.org)
Contribution of Uniformed Personnel to UN by Country and Personnel Type (as of 30/11/2023): 05-Missions Detailed By Country
Uniformed Personnel Contributing Countries by Ranking (as of 30/11/2023): 02-Contributions by Country (Ranking)
