In October 2022, Lesotho elected new leaders who are faced with addressing a history marked by repeated human rights violations and a culture within the country’s security forces where impunity has become pervasive. During his inauguration in October as Lesotho’s new Prime Minister, Sam Matekane...

Authorities across Southern Africa must immediately take action to protect girls’ rights to health, information, education, equality and to live freely from gender-based violence and discrimination, Amnesty International said today as the world continues to mark 16 Days of Activism against...

Health and essential workers have played an extraordinary role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across countries, they have put their health and wellbeing at risk, often in very difficult circumstances and with very little support, to ensure that people are able to access the...

Amnesty International in collaboration with Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA), Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN), Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) are writing this letter to bring to your attention the worrying restrictive COVID-19 regulations presenting...

Amnesty International, the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN) and the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) call on the Lesotho authorities to ensure that police officers reasonably suspected of criminal responsibility are held accountable in fair trials, without recourse to the...

King Letsie III suspended Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara on 12 September 2018 with immediate effect following a recommendation by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. The suspension of Majara by King Letsie III is considered to be politically motivated by civil society organisations in the country.

Amnesty International and the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) are concerned for the safety and whereabouts of Makarabo Mojakhomo, former head of the Maesaiah Thabane Trust Fund (MTTF), who disappeared on 31 May 2018 two days after Lesotho Mounted Police Services (LMPS) arrested her on Tuesday...

National elections in Lesotho took place on 3 June 2017. The Independent Electoral Commission released the results, indicating a coalition government led by Thomas Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) party. This comes after former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili lost a vote of no...

The Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) and Amnesty International (AI) call for the immediate release on bail and guarantees of humane treatment and a fair trial for 23 soldiers who have been facing a court-martial in Lesotho since May 2015 on charges of mutiny or failure to suppress a...

In this document Amnesty International makes recommendations to the governments of different states about ratification of international human rights standards, domestic legislation and human rights violations.

See below.

Please see erratum at https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr01/012/2013/en/ . Thirty-one countries in sub-Saharan Africa have laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct. Underpinning these laws are deeply entrenched discriminatory social attitudes. This report examines the effects of...