The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security, Lucia Witbooi, has tabled a motion in the National Assembly for Namibia to ratify the SADC Protocol on the Inter-State Transfer of Sentenced Offenders.

The protocol, approved by the SADC Summit and signed by Namibia in August 2019, aims to allow sentenced offenders to serve their sentences in their home countries, ensuring rehabilitation and reintegration closer to their families.

Despite its importance, Mauritius remains the only SADC country to have ratified the protocol.

"The Ministerial Committee of the Organ urged member states that have not yet signed and ratified the Protocol on the Interstate Transfer of Sentenced Offenders, including Namibia, to do so and report progress at the next meeting of the CPSC in 2025."

As of February 2025, Namibia houses 465 foreign inmates, with 450 originating from SADC and 15 from beyond the region.

Conversely, 69 Namibians are serving sentences in various countries across the region.

Addressing this, Deputy Minister Lucia Witbooi emphasised that allowing inmates to serve their sentences near their families is vital for their rehabilitation.

"The ratification of this Protocol presents an opportunity to address these pressing issues. By ratifying this protocol, we can facilitate the transfer of sentenced offenders back to their home countries, allowing them to serve their sentences closer to their families. By allowing foreign inmates to return to their home countries, we can ease the overcrowding in some of our correctional facilities and also save the government funds."

The initiative is supported by international human rights frameworks, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Namibia has ratified.

The covenant states that a penitentiary system's essential aim is the reformation and social rehabilitation of offenders, a goal that this protocol directly supports.