22 Nov 2018

Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President says Botswana is committed to establishing a credible National Human Rights Institution (NHRI).

Officially closing the human rights symposium in Gaborone on November 21 , Mr Elias Magosi, said the journey started in 2014 when government approved expansion of the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman to include human rights.

He said since then, there had been activities including bench-marking visits to countries with hybrid institutions.

Mr Magosi thanked speakers at the symposium for sharing their experiences and knowledge about national human rights institutions, their establishment, operations and challenges.

“I also wish to thank the participants for their active engagement and valuable input, which I believe will assist us to transform the Office of the Ombudsman as well as enhance our commitment to ascertain human rights in the country,” he said.

Mr Magosi said objectives of this symposium had been achieved and they included, among other things, to build awareness within government and civil society of the mandate, structure and functions of a Paris-Principle complaint NHRI and the benefits of compliance with such overarching principles.

“To share international and regional experiences and best practices to inform the amendment of the Ombudsman Act and possibly also change attitudes regarding human rights issues in Botswana, from both government and civil society organisations,” continued Mr Magosi.

Mr Magosi further said the other objective that had been achieved was provision of clarity on the conditions for an independent, strong, credible and well-resourced Ombudsman.

Government, he said, had recognised that the envisaged NHRI would be supported by legislation, appropriate structures and resources to enable it to realise its mandate.

He reiterated that government had expressed the wish to establish a hybrid institution which would perform the functions akin to institutions existing in other countries.

“The recommendations that you have made will be submitted to government for consideration and decision making. Our exposure to your knowledge and experiences and indeed our willingness and receptiveness to your advice would no doubt assist us in creating an institution tailor made to suit our context, bearing in mind the need to meet international best practices,” he said.

Mr Magosi said the final product or institution must also enjoy the confidence of the nation to ascertain its relevance and continued support.

Highlighting some of the recommendations, general counsel at Office of the President, Mr Dittah Molodi, said the model and structure of NHRI would entail re-imaging the Ombudsman office to be a Paris-Principle complaint national human rights institution and would require substantive revision of the Ombudsman Act.

“Principle is that office shall be an independent institution established under law in compliance with the Paris-Principle,” he said.

He said some of the powers to be included in the law would be for NHRI to receive complaints, conduct investigations of complaints, own motion complaints, powers to conduct inquiries on serious and systemic human rights issues, visit all places of detention, law and policy advice/review (integrating human rights into national planning), human rights reporting to regional and international treaty bodies and powers to follow-up implementation of recommendations amongst others. ENDS