Petition to Save The Namibian Youth

Background:

I believe nobody is born a bad person; people tend to develop bad traits based on their upbringings and environments. Thus it is our responsibility as a community to identify the sources of these bad qualities and work to eradicate them. Here are a few incidences in the Namibian newspapers that make me question where we are heading to as a nation:

The Namibian 2013-10-08 Teen stabs and kills neighbour… Joseph 'Foreveryoung' Nashitoke's mother Patrina Owases said all she wants is for the suspect's family to help her with the burial costs of her son who was stabbed during an argument…

The Namibian 2013-01-15 A 17-year-old boy was arrested at Rehoboth on January 9 after he allegedly beat Pombili Twelimangulula Shakelange (23) to death… According to the police, the suspect then stole the deceased's firearm, two cellphones and a pair of shoes.

The Namibian 2011-07-21 A DORADO Park family is struggling to come to grips with the suicide of 17-year-old Curtis Bok at his family home… Bok, a Grade 10 pupil at the Windhoek High School, was being treated for depression, but was considered a gregarious and intelligent child.

Namibia’s teenage crimes and suicide rates have been increasing ever since independence, these are due to various reasons such as economic and social factors, cultural factors, urbanisation, family (neglect), migration, the media, peer pressure etc. The common one’s being poverty, abusive homes and victimisation by peers. Thus we have to have a proper Juvenile Justice system in place to counter these teenage crimes and suicides. This intervention must be done while they are still young and capable to change their lives, therefore my purpose for this petition.

Its main targets are the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education in Namibia.

What is needed and why:

As mentioned above what we need is a proper Juvenile Justice structure that will be followed in the event of a Teenage crime, and also a system that provides help to teenagers who are thinking of committing suicide. These can be done by:

1. Implementing effective Prison Diversion Programs in Namibia

According to an extraction from:  School of Communication Department of Legal Studies Criminal Justice Programme PROJECTS (Juvenile Justice in Namibia) 2010 led by Dr. iur. Stefan Schulz, it states that

‘In Namibia, though it is still a relatively young country, law reform efforts on juvenile/child justice have a long history… However, whereas considerable efforts have been made to overhaul the system, the legal situation remained unchanged until today’

This shows that a system is already in place, it just needs to be repaired. One of things that can be done is to build Rehabilitation centres where young criminals will be exposed to the professional help they need. This ‘restorative justice’ will include offenders acknowledging and taking responsibility for their actions. They will also have counselling, life skills training, family group conferences, victim-offender mediations and do community service under the supervision of probation officers. This will help in identifying the motives that lead them to crime, and hopefully also find various ways to prevent them in the Future. This system is far better than sending young criminals to prison, because in Prison they learn from each other and become better criminals (The revolving door syndrome). Thus they are likely to commit crime again.

2. Building more Youth centres

It would be great if teenagers had a place where they could go to talk to someone whenever they felt depressed or are in need of a good listener. Talking is a very important form of communication and often parents never really talk to their children, they just assume if the children are fed and clothed then they are happy. Therefore some teenagers go to the extreme to get their parents attention, thus we need Youth Centres where these teens could go during hard times in their lives.

The centres could also be equipped with sporting equipment and have talent enhancing programs to offer teens a fun environment. This will keep them off the streets and help improve their self-esteems. Therefore giving them hope in the darkest of times .

These suggestions are good in the sense that they are logical and have worked for South Arica, e.g. the SAYStoP Programme for Young sexual offenders. They will also help the economy in the long run (less crime=less expenses). Teenagers will then have an opportunity to change their lives and at the same time improve the country as a whole. This is because our Youth is our future!

Call to action:

In this petition we are therefore calling for the restoration of Prison diversion programs in the Juvenile Justice system by building rehab centres in Namibia’s Major towns. We also want the building and improvement of more Youth centres in Namibia.

Let us develop the feeling of caring for others as this is the only way to move forward. Please sign this petition and let us set an example for other countries to follow.

Thank you

Saarti L.N. Shaalukeni    Contact the author of the petition