Ditshwanelo

Ditshwanelo was founded in 1993 to serve as a focal point for human rights issues in Botswana. It seeks to inform and educate, to conduct research as well as to provide training and counseling. Its work focuses on access to justice, children’s rights, labor rights, HIV/AIDS, indigenous peoples, land rights and the death penalty.

Ditshwanelo has also taken an interest in refugee affairs and has acted as a mediator between the Botswana Council for Refugees, the governmental agency charged with refugees, and the UNHCR. Ditshwanelo has expressed concern about the delays in processing of applications for status, the infiltration of refugee camps by security agents and the erosion of the principle of non-refoulement.

It has also been following the situation in the Angola/Namibia border area, and in particular the situation of Caprivian refugees. It was also worked on the case of 13 Caprivians who were brought into extradition proceedings in 1999. Ditshwanelo arranged legal representation and the High Court eventually ruled that the extradition could not go forward in 2002.

Contact:  

Ditshwanelo—The Botswana Centre for Human Rights
P/Bag 00416
Gaborone
BOTSWANA
Phone: +267 390-6998
Fax: +267 390-7778
E-mail: admin.ditshwanelo@info.bw
Web : www.ditshwanelo.org.bw