Botswana’s highest court has rejected the government’s attempt to ban LGBT rights lobby groups.
African LGBT rights campaigners in Botswana have seen a rare victory as the Court of Appeals rejected the government’s attempt to ban an LGBT rights lobby group.
On Wednesday, Judge Ian Kirby, the president of Botswana’s Court of Appeals, upheld a 2014 judgment from the lower court that LGBT citizens of Botswana should be able to register and campaign for changes to anti-LGBT legislation.
Botswana is one of many countries where homosexuality remains a taboo subject. The President, Ian Kharma, is notorious for pursuing anti-LGBT agendas.
In Judge Kirby’s decision, he stated, “It is clear that the government’s decision [to seek the ban] interferes in the most fundamental way with the respondents’ right to form an association to protect and promote their interest.”
Cindy Kelemi, who works for a local health advocacy group known as BONELA (Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS) said, “There is a lot that still has to be done to ensure the promotion and protection of the human rights of the LGBT persons.”