International

For me, visiting Ditshwanelo was the highlight of the orientation week.  It is the Centre for Human Rights in Botswana, with the head office in Gaberone and satellite offices in Francistown and Kasane.  We had a very interesting and knowledgeable woman give us a presentation on the key human rights issues facing Botswana currently and I decided to post them here so others can learn more about the country.

Four issues were highlighted:

1.       Zimbabwean Stance on NGO’s:  the Zimbabwean government does not recognize, support, or allow NGOs to operate within the country.  Due to this many of the population do not have access to the type of help or care they need.  The result is an increased number of Zimbabweans coming to Botswana to seek help from the government or NGOs here. 

2.       Death Penalty:  Botswana still has the death penalty in effect, but this is a major point of contention.  It is mainly kept in effect due to pressure from South Africa, but many Batswana would not entertain the idea of removing it.  Despite this, it is an important issue at Ditshwanelo as they are strongly against the death penalty and are lobbying to have it removed.

3.        Child’s Rights: there is a cultural clash occurring where children’s rights are concerned.  Setswana culture emphasizes that children should be seen, not heard and are the parents property therefore they are free to treat them as they like.  Beating a child is common and children are expected to obey all rules and orders.  Current beliefs on the rights of the child disagree with this type of handling and thus Botswana is in limbo when it comes to the ‘proper’ way to raise a child. 

4.       Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/Bi-sexual etc Rights: In Botswana, it is not illegal to be gay, but the having sex with someone of the same gender is a criminal offence.  Many gays are discriminated against and as a result Ditshwanelo started a club so that gays can meet each other and discuss problems or just be themselves and feel comfortable.  Despite this, the presenter admitted they are still dealing with issues of the staff discriminating against the men and women who come to the club. 

The presenter also gave us a specific example of a case they were involved in currently.  This involved a group of teenagers that were asked to perform a skit as part of a cultural play.  The teenagers decided to depict what occurs at an initiation ceremony for their people.  This raised anger among their elders as the initiation ceremonies are meant to be kept secret.  The teenagers were taken to the local kgotla (customary law court) and were sentenced to lashing due to their ‘rebellious actions’.  Ditshwanelo is strongly against the verdict and is looking for intervention from the government as the lashings were seen as a violation of the teen’s human rights.

This leads to the next problem for human rights in Botswana.  There are two types of law here: Roman/Dutch Law and Customary Law.  The Roman/Dutch Law is pretty much the same as any other country, with regular courts and judges etc.  The Customary Law is very different and is carried out by Chiefs at local kgotlas.  There are distinctions as to what each court can deal with, but where they overlap some problems occur as to who should take the case.  Culturally, Batswana solve cases through kgotlas, but the reliance on corporal punishment has pushed more and more cases to the Roman/Dutch courts. 

I don’t pretend to know all the problems, but I felt that Ditshwanelo was very interesting and Botswana faced many challenging and different problems than would be found in any other country. 

This entry is filed under Botswana. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.