UN Human Rights Committee to examine Botswana

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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE BOTSWANA

The UN Human Rights Committee will meet this week to examine Botswana’s human rights record. Survival has submitted a report to the committee detailing the Botswana government’s failure to uphold the rights of the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, or to comply with the 2006 High Court ruling on the issue.

The committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday or Thursday this week with Botswana government representatives, to discuss Botswana’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee will then prepare a report, which will be made available to the public.

Survival’s report calls on the Botswana government to:

• Allow all Bushmen who wish to return to the reserve to do so without the need for a permit.
• Allow the Bushmen to use water boreholes already existing in the reserve and also to sink their own where this becomes necessary.
• Allow the Bushmen to hunt and gather within the game reserve, in accordance with the court judgment.
• Provide transport for the Bushman families and their possessions and livestock to be returned to the reserve, or at least provide financial assistance for them to arrange this for themselves.

To read Survival’s report, visit https://www.survival-international.org/files/news/ICCPR_report_Survival_2008.pdf