English - African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

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education and to manage any place of education which it wholly maintains; and no suchcommunity shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for persons of thatcommunity in the course of any education provided at any place of education which itwholly maintains or in the course of any education which it otherwise provides.Section 13 (4) of the Constitution states that no person shall be compelled to take anyoath which is contrary to his religion or belief or to take any oath in a manner which iscontrary to his religion or belief.Subsection 5 states that nothing contained in or under the authority of any law shall beheld to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the lawin question is:(a)(b)in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or publichealth; orfor the purpose of protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons, includingthe right to observe and practice any religion without the unsolicited interventionof members of any other religion.In Lesotho there is no official/State religion. However, the main religion is Christian' t\which is constituted by the following denominations: Roman Catholic Church; Lec,othoEvangelical Church; Anglican Church of Lesotho; Independent Pentecostal/RevivalistChurches, The Methodist Church; and Churches of Zion.Many Basotho still believe in the <strong>African</strong> traditional beliefs. There is also the Islamicfaith, and the Baha'i faith, which has been in Lesotho since 1954. Statistics on thesereligions are not readily available. The law does not restrict the right to freedom ofassociation. The Registrar General at the Law Office received and processed 95applications for registration of societies in 1992, 90 in 1993, 95 in 1994, 95 in 1995, nostatistics were available for 1996. In 1997 28 societies were registered. There are nostatistics for 1998, and 1999. Those for 2000 are in process. In practice, everyapplication which satisfied the requirements of the societies Act, 1996 is registered.Where the information supplied by the applicant is inadequate or where the law is notcomplied with, the Registrar General advises the applicant accordingly and gives him/hertime to rectify the papers. Once every thing is in order, the society in question isregistered. See also under article 22 below.ARTICLE 9The Constitution provides for this right in section 14 (1), to the effect that every personshall be entitled to, and (except with his own consent) shall not be hindered in hisenjoyment of freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without53
interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom tocommunicate ideas and information without interference (whether the communication beto the public generally or to any other person or class of person) and freedom frominterference with his correspondence.The restrictions on the right of freedom of expression are contained in section 14 (2) ofthe Constitution, which states that nothing contained in or done under the authority of anylaw shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extentthat the law in question makes provision:(a)(b)(c)in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or publichealth; orfor the purpose of protect mg the reputations, rights and freedoms of other personsor the private life of persons concerned in legal proceedings, preventing thedisclosure of information received in confidence, maintaining the authority andindependence of the courts, or regulating the technical administration or thetechnical operation of telephony, telegraphy, posts, wireless broadcasting ortelevision; orfor the purpose of imposing restrictions upon public officer.It should be pointed out that indecent, obscene or objectionable literature may not beimported in Lesotho - see sections 22 (3) and 124 of the Custom Proclamation No. 67 of1956.The right of freedom of expression may not be invoked by a defendant on a charge ofsedition, as was held in the case of Rex v. Chief Evaristus Retgelisitsoe SekhonyanaCRI/T/36/94, where the accused was charged with the offence of contravening section4 (1) (b) as read with section 3 (1) (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), of the Sedition Proclamation No.44 of 1938. The court held that the accused had a seditious intention and accordinglyfound him guilty, and sentenced him to pay a fine of R 200 or to serve two years'imprisonment.The Printing and Publishing Act No. 10 of 1967, as amended, is the principal lawgoverning publication of documents and information. It does not deal with theregistration and regulation of journalists. The current unwritten ministerial policyprovides for provisional and yearly accreditation of journalists. No fee is paid forprovisional accreditation, while MI5 is paid for yearly accreditation. The Ministry ofinformation and Broadcasting held a Media Policy Workshop on 6 and 7 March 1997.The objectives were to encourage the growth of free, independent and pluralistic mediain Lesotho, which implies that the media should be independent from governmentcontrol, and an end to media monopolies of any kind, including that of the Government59
Page 2 and 3:
ERRATAThe following spelling errors
Page 4 and 5:
Title PageTABLE OF CONTENTSTable of
Page 6:
Article 8(Freedom of conscience, re
Page 9 and 10:
The Government, i.e the Monarchy, E
Page 11 and 12: Lesotho's newly found democracy did
Page 13 and 14: With all these powerful enemies ( o
Page 15 and 16: Total of estimated population censu
Page 17 and 18: 1.9 BASIC DOCUMENTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Page 19 and 20: Now that three years have passed ev
Page 21 and 22: In particular it was pointed out in
Page 23 and 24: participate hi the elections;• el
Page 25 and 26: The Government and Independent Poli
Page 27 and 28: The Department of Social Welfare is
Page 29 and 30: Several children are found abandone
Page 31 and 32: A revision has been made to this re
Page 33 and 34: 1.15 STEPS TAKEN TO PROTECT FAMILY
Page 35 and 36: The Motheris Union is an Anglican S
Page 37 and 38: The Council of State is made up of
Page 39 and 40: _--..■■••••Arramr•r",
Page 41 and 42: In accordance with section 4 of the
Page 43 and 44: circumstances of the case-(a)(b)(c)
Page 45 and 46: also increased among children from
Page 47 and 48: of a holistic approach to child hea
Page 49 and 50: of Lesotho Liberation Army, victims
Page 51 and 52: imprisonment;(2) Any Chief or Publi
Page 53 and 54: (1)(2)if a parent or guardian of a
Page 55 and 56: (3) Any person who is arrested or d
Page 57 and 58: ( statistics on such cases have not
Page 59 and 60: and free from interference and subj
Page 61: admissible in evidence against such
Page 65 and 66: Section 7 further empowers the Regi
Page 67 and 68: ARTICLE 12The constitution provides
Page 69 and 70: (i)to perform such other functions
Page 71 and 72: (vi) in consequence of any law with
Page 73 and 74: According to Section 30 of the Cons
Page 75 and 76: 1997 - 2001 UNICEF/GOL programme of
Page 77 and 78: In addition to governmental efforts
Page 79 and 80: This issue is of concern to many NG
Page 81 and 82: oadening of the democratic process
Page 83 and 84: Lesotho is a member of the United N
Page 85 and 86: in section 33, which provides:With
Page 87 and 88: Consequently, the government of Les
Page 89 and 90: adopted an action plan of all the r
Page 91 and 92: The Courts shall, in the performanc
Page 93: I esoiho Cabinet Decisions:Cabinet
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English - African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

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