Death penalty tops agenda as UN grills Botswana
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
The Geneva, Switzerland meeting is the third cycle of reviews under the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Peer Review. Batshu and other officials left last Friday and will present a country report before answering questions from countries and various NGOs.
According to written questions already submitted ahead of tomorrow’s presentation, Batshu will again be forced to defend the country’s retention of the death penalty. Several European countries have already tabled queries demanding to know what progress Botswana has made in instituting a national debate on the death penalty.
The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...