U.S. critical of Botswana’s mistreatment of Bushmen
Bushman mother and child. Photographer: Alexandra Bagge for Survival.
The organization Survival is reporting the U.S. State Department’s latest human rights report is critical of the Botswana government for its ‘continued narrow interpretation’ of the 2006 High Court ruling that granted the Bushmen the right to return to their ancestral lands.
The report states the ruling recognized the Bushmen’s constitutional right to live on their lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, yet the majority are ‘being prohibited from returning to or hunting’ in the reserve. It found that many Bushmen have not returned to their land because ‘lack of water made [the reserve] an extremely inhospitable environment.’
Since the ruling, the government has banned the Bushmen from accessing their water borehole they used before their illegal eviction and which they require to survive on their lands. At the same time, reports Survival, their government has drilled new boreholes for wildlife and allowed Wilderness Safaris to open a tourist lodge with swimming pool in the reserve.
The report comes just weeks after UN top official on indigenous rights, Professor James Anaya, condemned the government for its treatment of the Bushmen.
Following his visit to the country last year, Anaya found those Bushmen who have returned to the reserve, ‘face harsh and dangerous conditions due to a lack of access to water.’ Anaya called on the government to reactivate the borehole ‘as a matter of urgent priority’.
The Bushmen have launched legal proceedings against the government in order to access the borehole. The hearing for the case is June 9.
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