Commonwealth Human Rights weekly update (02/07 - 08/07/2011)

Horn, East and Central Africa

Monday 04/07: Aid agencies launch multi-million pound appeals to address food crisis

Aid agencies launched huge appeals this week in order to tackle the impending humanitarian emergency in east Africa, where severe drought and high food prices have left 10 million people needing help.

The drought in some pastoralist regions of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda comes as a result of the second failed rainy season in the last year. The drought has destroyed livestock, which at a time where cereal prices are soaring has caused hunger levels to increase sharply.

Almost a thousand Somalis refugees per day continue to cross across the Kenyan border to Dadaab, already the largest refugee settlement in the world, as covered in a previous post.  The greatest proportion of people in need are located in Kenya’s northern regions, where cereal prices have risen sharply in recent times. This is partly due to an increase in the global price, however a shortage of the maize has also been attributed to poor planning by the government, who claimed to have a surplus earlier in the year, before declaring a national disaster in May. There have also been allegations that politically connected Kenyans have sold maize meant for domestic consumption to neighbouring countries.

Sub-saharan Africa

Thursday 07/07/2011: Sub-saharan Africa on route to achieve MDG2

Sub-saharan Africa has been recognised as having up the best record for improvement in primary school enrolment, according the UN's annual report card of regional progress towards the eight MDGs.

The report highlighted that the world is far from achieving universal primary education. However Burundi, Madagascar, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Togo and Tanzania are among the countries that have achieved, or are nearing the goal of universal primary education. The abolition of school fees has contributed to progress in many of these countries, the UN said.

To achieve universal primary education, children must complete a full cycle of primary schooling. Currently, 87 out of 100 children in poor countries complete primary education.

Swaziland

Monday 04/07: Aid agencies launch multi-million pound appeals to address food crisis

The Commonwealth Secretariat is continuing to help Swaziland in advance of the country’s first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) human rights evaluation through a series of workshops for civil society organisations.

The UPR is a four yearly review of the human rights records of all 192 member states of the Commonwealth.  Swaziland is due to present its report to the Human Rights Council this month, and answer questions on it in October.

Karen McKenzie, Human rights adviser with HRU stated ‘engagement was contructive around a number of the burning human rights issues confronting government currently – some of these issues have been pending for a while.’ CHRI has covered Swaziland’s human rights record in previous posts and official statements.

African Commonwealth Human Rights Weekly Update (21/05 - 27/05/2011)

Botswana

Tuesday 24/05: Commonwealth Anti Corruption Conference:  Botswana played a host to a four day Commonwealth meeting on ways to combat corruption. In the opening speech Botswana’s President Seretse Khama Ian Khama stated that corruption is draining precious resources that could otherwise be used in public services like health and education.

Healthcare and education are known as “positive human rights”. Negative rights govern what the state cannot do to an individual (e.g arrest without charge), whilst positive rights require the state to assist citizens in achieving their rights (e.g providing a school so people can fulfill their right to education).

The rights of citizens to medical care and schooling is contained in Articles 12 and 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Malawi

Monday 23/05: Malawi prepares for life without British Aid: Following the diplomatic row triggered last month by the government’s expulsion of the British ambassador, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, the UK Department for International Development stated that aid to Malawi would be frozen while relations between the two countries are reviewed.

The aid freeze looks set to have a worrying impact on an economy that receives 40% of its annual budget from the donor community (20% of this aid comes from the UK).  Currently two-thirds of Malawi’s population live on less than $2 a day.

Mauritius

Monday 23/05: Chagossians Await the outcome of London conference: More than 150 exiled Chagos islanders gathered in London to campaign for their return to the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The islanders were forcibly evicted 40 years ago to make way for a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia. The base has come under criticism from the legal charity Reprieve which report that the base is being used for the detention of terrorism suspects.

Over the past decade, the islanders have embarked on a legal struggle for the right to return home. Three years ago, the House of Lords overturned the original high court decision that the islanders could return. The matter is now before the European Court of Human Rights.

The discussion has been complicated further following the British government's decision to declare the islands a marine protected area with a total fishing ban. A balance needs to be struck between the rights of the islanders and efforts at conservation.

Nigeria

Thursday 25/05: Commonwealth Observer report on Nigerian elections: Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma announced the release of the Commonwealth report on the April 2011 elections in Nigeria.

Mr Sharma commended the Nigerian authorities for conducting credible presidential and parliamentary elections. However, significant concerns were raised about the loss of lives before and during the electoral process.

Swaziland

Friday 27/05: Bushfire Boycott Gathers Pace: The Swaziland Solidarity Network announce that Caiphus Semenya, will not only boycott the forthcoming “Bushfire Festival” but will not be playing in Swaziland until the “country becomes democratic”. For more info on click on the link here.

“Deep House DJ”, “Black Coffee” and “Professor” have all also pulled out of performing.

LGBT Situation in Botswana

Following on from last Thursday’s appraisal of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights in Africa, here is the current situation in Botswana. We will try to give you the status of each of the nineteen Commonwealth countries in Africa over the coming weeks.



Law that Criminalises Homosexuality	Practical Consequences of the law	Constitutional Clause on Equality or Right to Privacy
The Penal Code of 1964[1] Section 164  criminalises ‘Unnatural offences’ Section 165 ‘Attempts to commit unnatural offences’ Section 166 criminalises ‘Indecent practices between persons’.  An unnatural offence is ‘carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature’, or with an animal; and includes any person allowing another to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature.  It thus criminalises both male and female homosexual acts, with possible imprisonment of up to 7 years.  It is also an offence to commit an act of ‘gross indecency’ with any person whether in public or in private. Section 141 defines rape as unlawful carnal knowledge of another person, or causing the penetration of a sexual organ or instrument into another person for the purposes of sexual gratification, or causes the penetration of another’s sexual organ into his or her person without their consent, or with consent obtained by force, or with impersonation of a person’s spouse.	Kanane v. State 1995 BLR 94 (High Court)[2] The State may enact legislation that overrides the freedoms of association and conscience, and the right of privacy in order to defend public morality. Laws prohibiting homosexual conduct under the labels of “unnatural carnal knowledge” and “gross indecency” thus do not violate constitutional rights. These are the main local human rights organisations which seek to advocate greater recognition of LGBT rights in Botswana: Bonela – Botswana Network on Ethics, Laws and HIV/AIDS http://www.bonela.org/ Ditshwanelo – Centre for Human Rights http://www.ditshwanelo.org.bw/index.html LeGaBiBo – Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana http://www.legabibo.org.bw/	The Constitution of Botswana, 1966.  Section 3 protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual such that every person, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, (but subject to respect for others and for the public interest) in matters including life, liberty, security of the person, the protection of law and the privacy of the home.  This right can be limited for public interest reasons. Section 9 further guarantees the protection of the privacy of the home, subject to public safety, order, morality and health. This right can also be limited for public interest reasons.

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[1] http://www.laws.gov.bw/Docs/Principal/Volume2/Chapter8/Chpt8-01%20Penal%20Code.pdf

[2] http://www.ditshwanelo.org.bw/images/Kanane%20High%20Court%20Decision%20Summary.pdf