CAT/C/NAM/CO/2 (e) Repeal the provisions in the Immigration Control Act, No. 7 of 1993, that exclude a person convicted of sodomy from entering Namibia. Sexual and gender-based violence, including domestic violence and violence against children 28. While noting the State party’s efforts to raise awareness about violence against women and children, the Committee shares the concerns of the Human Rights Committee about the high number of women who are murdered by their intimate partners (see CCPR/C/NAM/CO/2, para. 23), and about child victims of sexual violence, including rape. The Committee is also concerned at the State party’s lack of response about the allegations of rape of San women. The Committee is further concerned at the low rate of prosecution of perpetrators of rape, the lack of a mechanism for immediate protection orders and reports that cases of rape are being decided by customary courts, which do not impose criminal liability and may not provide full compensation to victims. 29. The State party should strengthen its efforts to raise awareness about violence against women and children. It should ensure that children are educated about violence against women and children by training teachers, using new educational technology and developing training courses, curricula and textbook content. The State party should ensure that prompt, impartial and effective investigations are conducted into allegations of violence, including rape, against children and all women, including San women, and that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished. The State party should provide specialized training to raise awareness about sexual violence among the police and law enforcement forces. It should take effective measures to put in place special programmes and separate sanctions when children are the victims of violence and, in accordance with the principle of the best interest of the child, take into consideration their possible stigmatization, their special need for confidence-building measures and their lack of access to justice. The State party should strongly discourage the settlement of sexual violence cases outside the formal justice system and ensure that all courts, including customary courts, function in accordance with respect for the rule of law and international human rights standards. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons 30. The Committee is concerned at reports that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons are subject to ill-treatment in detention, and that transgender women have been placed together with male detainees, exposing them to a high risk of sexual assault. The Committee is also concerned at reports of the failure to investigate, prosecute and punish violence, harassment and ill-treatment, rape and murder of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. The Committee is further concerned by reports of abuse of gay men by law enforcement personnel and by the stigmatization they suffer, especially taking into consideration the current criminalization of sexual acts between consenting adult men. 31. The State party should take all necessary measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons from threats and any form of violence, particularly in places of detention, including by separating transgender women from male detainees. The State party should ensure that violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons is promptly, impartially and thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished. The State party should consider decriminalizing sexual acts between consenting adult men. 7

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