Review of anti-gay laws welcome but...
Mmegi Editor | Friday August 19, 2016 12:06
As many would know criminalisation of LGBTI groups and prisons situations in Botswana have always been a hot potato that need to be tackled head on. Despite this, the government has always avoided the issue at any given opportunity despite an ambitious zero-tolerance for HIV/AIDS dream.
Recently Botswana abstained from voting on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution to appoint an independent expert to investigate worldwide violence and discrimination against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. The government reasoned that the country’s constitution did not condone violence against any person. Botswana just like most African states outlaws these groups’ rights despite calls from the international community to recognise them. A recent study by Afro Barometer found that the region is however warming up to homosexuality with Botswana estimated at around 40%. The donors and international community argue that it is not only the right thing to consider the issue from a human rights perspective, but also to consider other benefits like creating an enabling environment for treatment and prevention of further infections. Numerous studies, observations and presentations at the National Aids Council have always come to the conclusion that despite satisfactory progress on combating HIV/AIDS, there is still more to do particularly on these key population groups.
We therefore applaud the government and partners on this move to review existing legal barriers with a view to amending them and dealing with other barriers if we are to achieve our ambitious zero-tolerance dream.
Recently the global fund granted Botswana $32 million to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
The grant was given looking at the fact that while Botswana is an upper-middle-income country, the disease remains a big concern. Botswana despite this remarkable effort still has an HIV prevalence of about 18%, a high percentage if you ask experts in this field.This review will among others, answer long-standing calls for research-based interventions to combat the disease. Moreover it will also create an enabling environment for these groups to access health services and free them from undue harassment from law-enforcers and health workers.
The assessment, termed ‘legal environment impact survey’, aims to assess and reduce legal barriers to accessing health care services, including changing provider attitudes towards the target MARPs, making services more user-friendly, creating strong referral networks, and engaging both clients and providers in defining and monitoring service quality.
Today’s thought
“It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.”
- Aung San Suu Kyi