LEGAL CENTRE OF NAMIBIA WINS UNICEF'S HIGHEST HONOUR

Press Release
ICEF/1842

LEGAL CENTRE OF NAMIBIA WINS UNICEF'S HIGHEST HONOUR

NEW YORK, 2 June (UNICEF) -- The Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia, a non-profit, public-interest law firm, has won the 1997 Maurice Pate Award for its outstanding contributions to the cause of human rights, and especially for its role in drafting child-rights legislation in that south-west African nation, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today.

The annual Pate Award, UNICEF's highest honour, is named for the Agency's first Executive Director, a Nebraska-born businessman with a long humanitarian record who led UNICEF from 1947 until his death in 1965. The prize recognizes extraordinary and exemplary leadership in the cause of the survival, protection and development of children on a regional, national or global scale.

"From the drafting of national legislation to protect children, its community-based legal education programmes, its efforts to help adolescents stay out of trouble and assist families in need, the Centre has demonstrated a dedication to children's rights that is an inspiration not only to a region, but an entire continent", said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's Executive Director.

Founded in 1988, two years before Namibia gained its independence from South Africa, the Centre's earliest work focused primarily on assisting victims of human-rights abuses by security forces during the period leading up to 1990. After Namibia's first Government took office, it turned its attention to bolstering the human rights provisions of the country's new Constitution.

The Legal Centre closely monitors the Government's human rights policy and behaviour, conducts national surveys on legal advocacy issues and promotes environmental education. It played a pivotal role in drafting the "Children Care and Protection Act", a comprehensive legal proposal that has been presented to Namibia's legislature.

Its efforts on behalf of adolescents includes the Juvenile Justice Project, a programme that works with government ministries and other non- governmental organizations to find alternatives to prison for young offenders. It also works to deter adolescents from crime.

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Another initiative, the Centre's Legal Education Project, teaches Namibian communities about law and human rights, through training programmes for volunteers that have so far reached hundreds of community groups. The Project also organizes activities in Namibia marking such UNICEF-backed events as the Day of the African Child and Human Rights Day.

The Centre was singled out from among 13 nominations for the 1997 Pate Award. Nominations were solicited from Governments represented on UNICEF's 36-member Executive Board, as well as from UNICEF Representatives, Regional Directors and National Committees.

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