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criminal. Local journalist associations
documented nearly 40 cases of direct
pressure, verbal threats and physical attacks
against journalists by the end of the year.
CRIMES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
In November, the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
issued the first-instance verdict in the case of
former Bosnian Serb leader, General Ratko
Mladić. The ICTY found him guilty of
genocide, war crimes, and crimes against
humanity committed during the 1992-1995
conflict and sentenced him to life
imprisonment.
Also in November, the ICTY confirmed
earlier sentences against six former Bosnian
Croat political and military leaders. This was
the final verdict passed by the tribunal prior
to permanently shutting down in December,
after 23 years of operation.
The domestic prosecution of war crimes
remained slow, with a backlog of several
hundred cases pending before various courts
at the end of the year. Despite recent
progress, the prosecutions continued to
suffer from lack of capacity and resources,
ineffective case-management and persistent
political obstruction. A revision of the 2008
National War Crimes Strategy to address key
institutional deficiencies and to establish new
deadlines for the completion of cases was
under way at the end of the year.
Some progress was made in harmonizing
entity laws regulating the rights of civilian
victims of war, including victims of wartime
sexual violence. However, public aid for
victims of wartime sexual violence remained
fragmented and dependent on residency;
victims residing in Republika Srpska (RS)
were excluded from the system of social
benefits for civilian victims of war. The Draft
Law on Protection of Victims of Wartime
Torture in RS, intended to recognize victims’
rights, was adopted by the government in
December, but it included provisions which
could potentially discriminate against non-
Serb victims. There was no progress in the
adoption of the Law on Protection of Victims
of Torture at the state level by the end of the
year. The Law would guarantee a specific set
of rights and entitlement for victims of war on
the whole territory of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Criminal courts continued the recent
practice of granting financial compensation to
victims of wartime rape, bringing the number
of final judgments awarding financial
reparation for war crimes in criminal
proceedings to four. However, the
compensations had not been paid by the end
of the year. The convicted perpetrators
lacked funds and there was no alternative
mechanism to compensate survivors of
criminal acts in cases where convicted
perpetrators were not able to pay damages.
Most victims continued to be required to
pursue compensation claims in separate civil
proceedings, where they had to reveal their
identity and incur additional costs. The 2016
Constitutional Court ruling that the statute of
limitations applied to reparation claims
directed against the perpetrators and not the
state – even in war crimes cases – resulted in
widespread dismissal of claims in 2017,
further limiting victims’ ability to claim
compensation and leaving them liable for
high court fees.
Although over 75% of missing persons from
the war had been exhumed and identified,
there were still 8,000 people missing in
connection with the conflict. The process of
exhumations continued to encounter
significant challenges, including reduced
funding and limited expertise. The Law on
Missing Persons remained unimplemented,
with the Fund for Families of the Missing still
awaiting dedicated resources.
BOTSWANA
Republic of Botswana
Head of state and government: Seretse Khama Ian
Khama
The right to freedom of expression
continued to be restricted. Asylum-seekers
whose asylum claims were rejected
continued to face detention. A landmark
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ruling in the Lobatse High Court upheld the
rights of transgender people. Two men were
sentenced to death.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Journalists continued to be intimidated and
harassed by the authorities. On 8 March,
three journalists from the INK Centre for
Investigative Journalism were briefly detained
and threatened by plain-clothes security
agents in the village of Mosu. The journalists
had tried to access the area where the new
home of President Khama was allegedly
being constructed amid allegations of
corruption. The security agents told them that
the building site was a “restricted area” and
that they would be shot on sight if they tried
to return.
On 19 April, the Court of Appeal upheld an
earlier decision by the High Court and turned
down the application of a teacher who had
challenged his dismissal from employment
on the grounds that it violated his
constitutional right to freedom of expression.
The teacher was dismissed after he
published an opinion piece in a newspaper in
May 2011 on the country’s political situation,
following a national strike by public sector
employees. In February 2012, a disciplinary
hearing had found the teacher guilty of
contravening section 34(a) of the Public
Service Act.
Outsa Mokone, editor of the Sunday
Standard, continued to face a criminal
sedition charge following his arrest in 2014
after publishing articles alleging President
Khama’s involvement in a road accident. In
December 2016, he was released on bail and
asked to appear at the magistrate’s court
every two months and to seek permission
before leaving the country. His legal case
challenging the constitutionality of the
sedition law was still pending at the end of
the year.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS
Botswana’s restrictive encampment policy
continued, denying refugees freedom of
movement, work and local integration.
Asylum-seekers faced lengthy refugee status
determination procedures and asylum-
seekers – with both pending and denied
applications – continued to be detained in
the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants.
The duration of detention averaged between
six months and five years, far beyond the
detention period stipulated in the Refugee
Act.
On 13 April, the High Court ordered the
release of two Somali asylum-seekers from
the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants.
They had been detained in the Centre since
being denied refugee status in October 2015,
having arrived separately in Botswana in
June 2014. On 15 April, following their
release, they were taken into custody at the
Tlokweng police station after attempting to
enter the Dukwe Refugee Camp, Botswana’s
only refugee camp. On 25 April, President
Khama declared them to be prohibited
immigrants; they were subsequently detained
at the first offenders prison in Gaborone, the
capital, and have allegedly since been
deported.
On 23 November, the Court of Appeal set
aside the High Court ruling that the detention
of 165 asylum-seekers and their relatives was
illegal. As a result, the asylum-seekers sought
refuge in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South
Africa. Members of the group had arrived in
Botswana between January 2014 and
October 2016 and, after their asylum
applications were denied, they had remained
in detention in the Francistown Centre for
Illegal Immigrants. The Attorney General
made an appeal on 4 August.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
In a landmark decision on 29 September, the
Lobatse High Court ruled that the
government’s refusal to change the gender
marker in the identity document of a
transgender man was unreasonable and in
violation of his rights, including the right to
dignity, freedom of expression and freedom
from discrimination, and ordered the
government to change the gender marker.
On 12 December, the Gaborone High Court
ruled in favour of Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, a