{"id":41655,"date":"2023-03-23T13:12:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T13:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment"},"modified":"2023-03-23T13:59:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T13:59:42","slug":"high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","title":{"rendered":"High commissioner lashed over court comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a controversial comment he made on Twitter regarding the granting of citizenship to a four-year-old child of a same-sex couple.<\/p>\n

Rumours that he had been summoned by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation were, however, denied by both Moore and the minister.<\/p>\n

In a tweet on Monday, Moore said, \u201cHard to believe how much time, money and effort are being spent on actively preventing the granting of Namibian citizenship to a four-year-old child. What possible risk is there from showing compassion for one child?\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s comments have sparked outrage among Namibians, who accuse him of attempting to meddle in the affairs of another country.<\/p>\n

Various replies to his tweet were less than polite, with many warning him not to meddle in Namibia\u2019s internal affairs or interfere in the country\u2019s institutions.<\/p>\n

News anchor Jonas Mbambo said, \u201cPlease know your place and have respect for our institutions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Memory Harases said, \u201cYou ought to stay in your lane. The founders of colonialism, slavery and racism, who refuse to accommodate refugees in a problem they created ought to stay in their damn lane while my country upholds their sacred laws\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Moore deleted the tweet yesterday and in a reply to New Era\u2019s request for comment, apologised.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy post on Twitter was intended only to ask whether a young child could be granted citizenship, and not in any way to criticise the court ruling or interfere in Namibian internal affairs. I regret having given a different impression, and I have now deleted the post from my account.<\/p>\n

The executive director of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (MICT) Audrin Mathe, who spoke in his capacity, said it is not acceptable for an ambassador to exhibit such conduct on a foreign country\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not saying I am against the right of the LGBTQI+ community, but my point is that he (Moore) is inciting people from Namibia are against the ruling of the Supreme Court. So, rather than encouraging people to oppose it, we should uphold the principle of the rule of law \u2013 even if it goes against our personal beliefs. It is not enough to praise the rule of law only when it benefits us. For instance, in the United Kingdom, polygamy is not allowed, so it would be inappropriate for him to impose certain moral standards on Namibia. Similarly, it is also inappropriate for us to question why polygamy is illegal in the UK,\u201d he elaborated.<\/p>\n

Mathe added, \u201cAlthough we may also disagree with various policies and actions of the British government, we do not publicly question them while in the UK or when they are here. We are aware that they have established procedures \u2013 and once laws are passed, we show respect for them\u201d.<\/p>\n

The issue has brought to the forefront the sensitive topic of LGBTQI+ rights in Namibia, where homosexuality is widely frowned upon by many in society.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Supreme Court overturned the 2021 high court ruling that four-year-old Yona Delgado-Lu\u0308hl was entitled to Namibian citizenship by descent.<\/p>\n

The Namibian authorities had declined to grant the boy citizenship and demanded a DNA test to prove that one of the child\u2019s parents is Namibian.<\/p>\n

In late 2021, a local court overturned the ministry of home affairs\u2019 decision, granting the boy Namibian citizenship, based on the birth certificate.<\/p>\n

But the government appealed the decision, arguing the birth had not been registered with the Namibian authorities within a year as required by law.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday the court had indeed \u201cgone astray\u201d in granting citizenship to the son of the homosexual couple.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the birth was not registered in accordance with the Citizenship Act, the High Court was not competent to grant relief,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister was right not to grant the minor child citizenship by descent,\u201d it concluded.<\/p>\n

Approached for a comment, minister of international relations Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said she is not aware of him being summoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am only hearing it now from you. I can\u2019t confirm because I was out of the office for the independence celebration and the executive director too. Other executives, such as my deputy and deputy executive director, are also on a work mission abroad. So, who summoned him?\u201d she questioned.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a controversial comment he made on Twitter regarding the granting of citizenship to a four-year-old child of a same-sex couple. Rumours that he had been summoned by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation were, however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":41654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-41655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh commissioner lashed over court comment - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High commissioner lashed over court comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"High commissioner lashed over court comment\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\",\"name\":\"High commissioner lashed over court comment - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"High commissioner lashed over court comment\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"High commissioner lashed over court comment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"High commissioner lashed over court comment - Namibia","description":"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"High commissioner lashed over court comment","og_description":"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"High commissioner lashed over court comment","datePublished":"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment"},"wordCount":744,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment","name":"High commissioner lashed over court comment - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-23T13:12:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-23T13:59:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Namibians have severely criticised the undiplomatic stance by British High Commissioner to Namibia Charles Moore in a co ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679560957.81.jpg","width":720,"height":483,"caption":"High commissioner lashed over court comment"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/high-commissioner-lashed-over-court-comment#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"High commissioner lashed over court comment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}