11 Apr 2022

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Friday held a consultative meeting to deliberate on issues of concern that will inform their submissions to the ongoing constitutional review process. In her welcome remarks, African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) CEO Dr Khumo Seipone explained the purpose of the meeting was to assess recommendations of the Botswana 2017 Legal and Regulatory report on HIV, AIDS, and TB for onward submission to the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Review of the Constitution. Dr Seipone said they wanted to build consensus on key issues emanating from recent developments that may not have been raised in 2017.
“From the discussions, we should be in a position to advocate for key recommendations from the report that promote among other laws, removal of barriers to accessing health services in all forms; prohibiting discrimination based on HIV and health, and so on,” she said.
In addition, she said they wished to amend the restrictive provisions of Section 15, including sub-section 4, which she said restricted, among others, the right to gender equality.
Dr Seipone added that the Global Commission on HIV and the Law (GCHL) had revealed that the legal environment played a critical role in reducing vulnerability to HIV infection and improving the lives of people living with HIV, hence the decision to embark on the exercise.
She indicated that it was unjust of the country to still be having vulnerable populations including women, children, people with disabilities, gay men, sex workers, and prisoners at higher risk of contracting AIDS, TB, and HIV. BONELA, CEO Ms Cindy Kelemi reiterated that CSOs often faced legal challenges and bottlenecks that hindered successful implementation of HIV/AIDS programs, adding that needed to change.
Notably, she said, the constitution in its supremacy had to create an enabling environment for CSOs to implement their programmes successfully within communities.
“You will understand that before the decriminalisation of same-sex it was very difficult for service providers in the health sector to engage fully with and facilitate concerned populations, such as gays and other LGBTIQ persons,” she said. This, she said, was because the law had always been contrary to them. The time had come for the law to be in sync with service provision, he said.
That, she said, called for review of those sections identified by the 2017 report as needing attention. She added that chief among laws that needed to be reviewed was the right to health, which she said ought to be constitutionally entrenched. Other CSOs that attended the meeting were Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programe (BOCAIP) and Botswana Council of Non-governmental Organisations (BOCONGO). ENDS