• The rights of Detainees
• The rights of Workers
• Youth and Gender Equality
• Disability Rights

The member NGOs that are working on this programme are:
Lesotho Youth Federation working on Youth and Gender Equality
Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers’ Union working on workers’ rights
Blue Cross Thaba-Bosiu Centre and Centre for Empowerment and Social Analysis working on disability rights
Development for Peace Education and Community Legal Resource and Advise Centre working on rights of the detained persons

These organisation are collecting data through interviews within prisons, factories, community councils, the police service, service providers in the public and private sector and through on the spot inspections of these facilities. Results from this work will be published once a month through the media and LCNs website to create a constant watch on human rights in Lesotho.

Prisons and Police Cells in Lesotho
When a person is detained, he is deprived of his fundamental rights and freedoms; however, he still has dignity as a person and as such has a right to be respected and must enjoy all other rights that underpin human dignity. It follows therefore that he must be kept in the conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity. The question that arises is whether the conditions in Lesotho prisons conform to human dignity? The answer is very apparent; the report by the Ombudsman on conditions of prisons is shocking. The report indicates that the prison cells are inhabitable and the cells are full to capacity. Lesotho has a long way to go insofar as human rights are concerned particularly with the rights of detained persons. It further has a long way to go since the Law that governs prisons has long been outdated and does not comply with Regional or United Nations Instruments regarding promotion and protection of human rights. The conditions in the police cells are also abhorrent. Some police stations do not even have police cells, but at the same time the police have to do their job and as such keep suspects in those cells; one therefore wonders! Where do police keep suspects?

Labour Rights in Lesotho
Besides the detained persons, we have yet another group of persons whose rights are less considered; of note in Lesotho are the textile workers. The Labour Code Order of Lesotho is very clear on the hours of work, but what happens is totally the opposite. Everyday at 6:00 am taxis rush to pick up desperate textile workers who are waiting impatiently to go to work. Knock off time is when everybody else has long been at home. One may think that they are working overtime, while another person may say it is their normal working hours. Where is the Government of Lesotho and the Labour Department to protect the rights of the Basotho nation?

Of more serious nature is their salary. Every week Public Eye Newspaper releases the cost of living indicators and one wonders how workers in the textile industries manage to live.

Yes, it is true that Lesotho is a developing country and as such has to try by all means to attract foreign investors, and it is through providing less than minimum wages that the Government will attract foreign investors, but the disturbing issue is that these investors are alleged to pay workers less than what is provided by the Minimum Wages Order, 2005. This was according to Advocate Relebohile Ntene during her presentation on Human Rights Monitoring (Workers’ Rights) Workshop which was held at Palace Hotel on the 17th – 20th October, 2005.

Disability Rights
There is also another group which is marginalised and that is people with disability who are normally referred to as the disabled. These people are said to be disabled but the term is a misnomer because they are not disabled, it is the community that they are living within that disabled them. It is therefore the responsibility of the Government and civil society to have facilities, such as infrastructure that would enable these people to access everything they want without being dependent on us who claim to be able.

The Rights of Young People and Women
Lastly, there is another disturbing issue – the involvement of youth in governance and the participation of women in politics and governance. The Constitution of Lesotho, which is the fundamental and the supreme law of the land, clearly provides a right for every citizen to take part in government. The questions that always arise are the following:

To what extent is the participation of youth in voters’ registration and actual voting?
To what extent is the participation of youth in governance (parliament and executive)?
To what extend is the participation or influence in policy formulation?
To what extend is the participation of women in politics and governance?

Indeed, there is a problem to all the above questions. People cannot participate when the processes of legislation making and policy making are made behind closed doors. For other countries, a Bill cannot be passes nor a policy adopted without having held public forums where people air their views. It is on this premise that one can validly argue that there is no citizen involvement in matters that really need to be dealt as such and this by itself is a violation of peoples’ fundamental rights which are enshrined in the constitution.

However, the Government of Lesotho through the Ministry of Local Government has showed its concern and sought to embark on the affirmative action as far as women’s involvement in government is concerned by earmarking some constituencies for women.

Lesotho as part of the International community ratified most of the international instruments which seek to protect and promote human rights. The biggest challenge that faces Lesotho is domestication of these international instruments. This challenge was articulated by the then Honourable Acting Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs: Honourable A.L Lehohla in his speech during the opening of the Human Rights Monitoring Workshop which was held at the Palace Hotel on the 17th – 20th October, 2005.

Despite the problem of domesticating these international instruments, the Government of Lesotho is largely engaging itself in matters of human rights through its strategies and policies. Lesotho has moved to the direction of adopting these strategies and policies in line with the Paris Principles on the Status and Functioning of National Institutions for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. These strategies and bodies include among others the following:

• Police Complaints Authority
• Ombudsman
• Justice Sector Development Programme
• Vision 2020
• Poverty Reduction Strategy

The Government of Lesotho has also shown its commitment to human rights particularly with prisoners and has as passed a bill in relation to the protection of prisoners (Prisons Bill). This Bill serves to accommodate the principles enshrined in the Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other Regional and International Instruments.

If human rights can be promoted and protected in Lesotho, the economy of the country will rise. Imagine what will happen to the economy of the country if the Government of Lesotho can amend the Minimum Wages Order and provide a sound salary for textile workers!