Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Deputy Commissioner General of the Namibian Correctional Services (NCS), Sam Shaalulange has expressed disappointment at the lack of representation of Correctional Officers at peacekeeping missions of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).
According to him, Namibia currently only has one Correctional Service Officer deployed at the UN Mission in South Sudan. He says Police Officers, while deployed at peacekeeping missions are taking over duties intended for Correctional Officers, resulting into a lack of representation of the service at peacekeeping missions.
“The Police, Defence and Correctional services all have their own roles but you get instances where, when the police are on missions, they take over the correctional services’ roles and responsibilities which is not a good indication,” Shaalulange said in an interview with the Windhoek Observer.
“It is very bad and disappointing that the Correctional Service representation is so low and this is a trend with all the missions. The missions must have a balanced state ratio,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the opening ceremony of the SADC workshop for Heads of corrections, prisons, and penitentiary services yesterday, the Executive Director of Safety and Security, Etienne Maritz said the representation of Correctional Officers needs to be brought to an acceptable level.
Maritz was speaking on behalf of the Minister of Home Affairs, Safety and Security, Albert Kawana, at the workshop with the theme “Preventing Radicalization to Violent Extremism and Violence in Prisons and its Role in Securing Peace and Security”.
“Statistics can confirm that Correctional Officers are the least represented when it comes to such missions when compared to the Defence and Police forces. Indeed, it cannot be equal, but we need to bring the number to an acceptable level,” he said.
He said the participation of Correctional Officers in peacekeeping missions for the SADC, AU, and UN is one of the key areas he would want to encourage them to embrace and improve.
Despite the fact that most of the SADC Region experiences peace and security, Maritz on behalf of Kawana urged the heads of the various institutions to discuss and create viable solutions to help all member states maintain their peace and stability.
“Peace and Security have prevailed in the most part of the SADC Region, therefore many Member States might not have considered the subject of violent extremism, let alone put in place security measures to prevent this threat. However, no country is immune to violent extremism and Correctional/Prisons/Services, as 4 Government agencies, have an obligation to secure confidence that they have the ability to prevent and respond to threats,” he said.
