Legal Assistance Centre-Namibia

Thirty volumes of Namibian case law
The second volume of 2012, published in January 2013, marks the 30th volume of the Namibian Law Reports.
Balancing the economic and environmental impacts
February 2013: Mining activities are placing increasing strain on the natural environment, creating a situation calling for better regulation of environmental impacts, writes Willem Odendaal.

Public consultations start on the revision of the Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act
14 February: The LAC is assisting the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration with its consultations on the Births Marriages and Deaths Registration Act. The first request for public input was published in The Namibian today.

Release of new circulars on domestic violence for service providers
12 February: GR&AP releases new circulars for service providers on protecting children affected by child abuse and the linkage between domestic violence and HIV.

Access to Justice Series
In early February 2013 a new series of papers on recommendations for access to justice is published by the LAC.
1 Access to Justice as a Human Right
2 Locus Standi
3 Costs and contingency fees
4 Amicus Curiae participation

Legal Assistance Centre launches new initiative to prevent babydumping
24 January 2013: The LAC launches a new initiative to prevent babydumping using social media and public participation as the key to success....

In support of the 16 Days of Activism against GBV
23 November 2012: The 16 Days of Activism run from 25 November (International Day Against Violence Against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day) in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasise that such violence is a violation of human rights. Namibia suffers from an unacceptably high
incidence of GBV.....

Increasing Agricultural Land Tax Causing More Harm Than Good?
2 November 2012: GOVERNMENT recently announced plans to increase commercial agricultural land tax as it looks for N$400 million in the next five years to buy more farms for its land reform programme. Article by Willem Odendaal.

Namibian women were sterilized without consent, judge rules (on CNN)
30 July 2012: Judge Hoff ruled on Monday that three HIV-positive women in Namibia were sterilized without their informed consent.
Read the full Judgment in Pdf.
News in the UK Guardian
BBC: Namibia judge backs sterilised women

In remembrance of YET ANOTHER victim of domestic violence
As Namibia marks the tragic death of another young women due to domestic violence, the Legal Assistance Centre would like to bring people's attention to the following finding from our forthcoming report Seeking Safety: 1 in every 2 victims out of domestic violence receives a death threat from the abuser. This statistic is based on information from a large sample of people who applied for protection orders in Namibia.

Launch of animations
The Legal Assistance Centre is pleased to announce the release of two animated videos, one on how to get
a protection order, the other on what to do if someone stops paying maintenance.

Launch of new report: Stepfamilies in Namibia
The Legal Assistance Centre is pleased to announce the release of a new report entitled “Stepfamilies in Namibia: A Study of the Situation of Stepparents and Stepchildren and Recommendations for Law Reform”.

CELEBRATING MOTHER'S DAY by recognising the need to protect some of our most vulnerable mothers: PREGNANT WOMEN
13 May 2011: As we celebrate Mothers Day on Sunday, we would like to bring people's attention to the following finding from our forthcoming report Seeking Safety: 2 victims out of every 100 victims of domestic violence is a pregnant woman. This statistic is based on information from a large sample of people who applied for protection order in Namibia.