Our Stakeholder report to Botswana’s Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Alice Storey, makes specific recommendations to the government on the issue of female sex workers and HIV.
Researchers
Consultancy background
In October 2022, the UPR Project at BCU submitted a Stakeholder Report to Botswana’s fourth UPR cycle, led by Dr Alice Storey. This submission focuses on female sex workers and HIV. We make recommendations to the Government of Botswana on this issue, implementation of which would also see the country moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 which aims for gender equality.
Download the stakeholder report
On 13 February 2023, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Botswana, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
“BCU expressed its disappointment at the fact that of the 207 recommendations that had been made at the previous review, 114 recommendations had been noted by Botswana, and encourage Botswana to reconsider its approach to the recommendations that will be made in the upcoming review. BCU emphasised the importance of implementing supported recommendations.” (Para 2)
“Noting that Botswana had neither signed nor ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, BCU stated that this Convention was particularly relevant for the regulation of the right to health, including in the context of HIV.” (Para 4)
“BCU referred to four relevant supported recommendations from previous review and stated that whilst, on its face, it would likely assist in protecting people from HIV, these recommendations were too broad to ensure any meaningful implementation.” (Para 43)
“Referring to relevant supported recommendations from the previous review, JS2 stated that the HIV/AIDS response had been hampered by an unusable supply of health commodities, particularly condoms and HIV test kits, and considered the recommendations to have not been fully implemented. BCU considered these recommendations to have been implemented in part.” (Para 44)
“BCU stated that Botswana had achieved the “95-95-95” targets, but that there remained a gap in awareness of HIV status, especially among young adults, particularly among young women. It stated that education was required to tackle stigmatization related to HIV and sex work, which would ensure the wide use of self-testing.” (Para 45)
“BCU stated that Botswana should abide by the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, which were published by OHCHR and UNAIDS to ensure that Member States were implementing international human rights standards on HIV.” (Para 47)
The outcome of the review was published on 23 June 2023 in the Report of the Working Group. The following relevant recommendations were made to Botswana:
Continue efforts to improve the health-care infrastructure, especially for combating HIV/AIDS. Recommending state: Pakistan (137.187); Senegal (137.196)
Ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Optional Protocol. Recommending state: Côte d’Ivoire (13716); Mexico (137.34)
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU’s Stakeholder Report for Botswana’s UPR.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.