Rubbers coming for inmates

JANA-MARI SMITH Namibia’s health minister, Dr Bernhard Haufiku, says he is confident that discussions with prison authorities could soon lead to the provision of condoms to prisoners.Haufiku has long fought for condoms to be distributed to inmates, not only as a human rights issue but in order to contain the HIV epidemic.“We are in discussions with the ministry of safety and security as well as the ministry of justice regarding condoms for inmates. I believe we will resolve the matter very soon,” he said yesterday.Haufiku emphasised that providing key populations, including young incarcerated men, with condoms could help Namibia achieve its goal of epidemic control.“HIV affects everyone, everywhere. Prevention services must therefore be made available to everyone, everywhere,” he said.But the commissioner-general of the Namibian Correctional Service, Raphael Tuhafeni Hamunyela, stuck to the argument that distributing condoms in prisons would be illegal.“In Namibia, anal sex between two males (sodomy) is a criminal offence under common law, therefore handing out condoms would be tantamount to promoting an illegal act,” Hamunyela responded yesterday.“The issue of whether HIV is spread within correctional facilities is still based on assumptions that are not supported by reliable evidence or data. Hence, it would be helpful if a research study was to be conducted by a renowned and reliable organisation to prove these assertions and thereafter the government has to decriminalise sodomy,” Hamunyela added.He said any change in the prison service’s position on the distribution of condoms hinged on three things: decriminalising sodomy, evidence that HIV transmission is taking place in prisons, and the implementation of a law that would allow for condom distribution. A basic human rightOver the past decade several health and legal experts have called for condoms to be distributed in Namibian prisons, linking the issue to fundamental basic human rights as well as public health.Toni Hancox, director of the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), this week emphasised that sex was a reality in prisons.“The moral objections must also be balanced against the greater public health issue, given that those incarcerated will for the most part return to society,” she said.She said the Correctional Services Act, in conjunction with the Standard Minimum Rules of Treatment of Prisoners - an international convention to which Namibia is a signatory, could be argued to mean that inmates have a right to health protection, including from being infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases as far as reasonably possible.Further, treating inmates with dignity in line with international standards includes encouraging their reintegration into society and ensuring they are released “as dignified persons”.“It should be remembered that inmates go back to their homes and communities and it is in the public health interest to ensure that any sexual activity while incarcerated is done in a protected manner,” Hancox said.“The right to access condoms can also be seen as having a direct bearing on the right of prisoners to sexual health, which is the right to access health and health facilities as an inmate.”She said the LAC would argue that allowing an inmate to choose healthy sexual alternatives while in custody does nothing more than allowing inmates to exercise their dignity as human beings.Repeal, amend, abolishThe director of the Office of the Ombudsman, Eileen Rakow, told Namibian Sun recently that new HIV infections in Namibia were the highest among sex workers, drug users and men having same-sex sexual relations.“From a human rights point of view it is clear that all humans are entitled to the same treatment. Therefore, if I agree that the best way for persons to prevent being infected from HIV when they have male-female sex is to use a condom, then I will be discriminating when I say that male-male sex or female-female sex should not have the same protection,” she said.She said under international human rights laws, refusing someone access to condoms based on sexual preference was viewed as discrimination.In a report on human rights published in 2013, Ombudsman John Walters wrote that HIV in prisons was a “public health and human rights issue”.He said the refusal to provide condoms to prisoners was a significant impediment to controlling HIV transmission in prisons.The ombudsman’s report on racism and other forms of discrimination published in 2017 demanded that the prosecutor-general impose a moratorium on the prosecution of sodomy to allow for the distribution of condoms in prisons.The same publication said the provision of condoms in prisons could boost efforts to contain the spread of HIV/Aids. It recommended that the sodomy law be repealed.

Rubbers coming for inmates

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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Rubbers coming for inmates

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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