CAT/C/NAM/CO/2

Namibia (CAT 01-02-2017)

The Committee against Torture considered the second periodic report of Namibia (CAT/C/NAM/2) at its 1478th and 1481st meetings (see CAT/C/SR.1478 and 1481), held on 18 and 21 November 2016, and adopted the present concluding observations at its 1496th meeting, held on 1 December 2016.

Concluding observations

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.