Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS) is a non-governmental organization

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

 (NGO) in Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

, Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. It is named after Siegfried Groth book Namibia – Breaking the Wall of Silence, and was formed at the occasion of the book's release in 1996.

BWS advocates for the rights of those detained by SWAPO during the Namibian War of Independence

Namibian War of Independence

See also South African Border War.The Namibian War of Independence, also known as the South African Border War, which lasted from 1966 to 1988, was a guerrilla war, which the nationalist South-West Africa People's Organization and others, fought against the apartheid government in South...

. Kalla Gertze

Kalla Gertze

Reinhard Gertze was a Namibian university lecturer and parliamentarian as a member of the Congress of Democrats party. He was in the National Assembly from 2005 until his death in 2008. He had previously been a lecturer at the University of Namibia.-Personal:Gertze was born in 1960 in...

 was the first president of this organisation. Pauline Dempers

Pauline Dempers

Pauline Frannzisca Dempers is a Namibian human rights activist and politician. In 1996, Dempers became national coordinator for Breaking the Wall of Silence , a group which advocates for the rights of those detained by SWAPO during the Namibian War of Independence...

became the organisation's coordinator in 1999 and, as of 2008, was still in that position.

External links

• Interview with Pauline Dempers, BWS national coordinator Advocacy Net, 28 July 2009