Background

Human rights and the environment are interlinked and interdependent. The full enjoyment of human rights depends on healthy environment. Environmental degradation undermines our ability to enjoy our human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, cultural life, and to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

States have an obligation to protect the environment (including by regulating businesses and other private actors) in order to protect the human rights of individuals and communities. These obligations include the duties of the State to provide information about environmental matters, to facilitate public participation in environmental decision-making, and to provide effective remedies for environmental harm. States should establish and maintain substantive environmental standards and effectively enforce these standards aimed at respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights. States must protect environmental defenders from harassment and violence. States must in particular protect those who are most vulnerable to environmental harm.

On 8 October 2021, the Human Rights Council recognized the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in resolution 48/13. On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly also recognized the human rights to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in resolution 76/300. Botswana was a co-sponsor of this resolution. 

In this context, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful for any responses you may provide to the questions below. You need not answer all of them and focus on the ones that are relevant to you.

The Special Rapporteur would be grateful for submissions before 20 September 2023 in preparations of the visit. Submissions received after 20 September 2023 could be considered at a later stage. Please send your response at hrc-sr-environment@un.org

Please feel free to share this message and the questions with anyone who might be interested in contributing.

Your responses will be kept confidential. Neither you nor your organization will be identified, and your response will not be attributed to you or your organization, even if the Special Rapporteur raises issues that you brought to his attention.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us (hrc-sr-environment@un.org).

Questions

1. Botswana has ratified some international and regional human rights treaties and environmental agreements,
   1. How well are these agreements implemented on the ground?
      • Are there any good examples? Why are these good examples?
      • Are there any challenges? What are the causes? How can these be overcome?
   2. Are there any other international/regional agreements that need to be ratified by Botswana in order to protect and promote a wide range of human rights (e.g., rights to information, participation, access to remedies, an adequate standard of living, food, health, land, housing, water, sanitation, a healthy and sustainable environment, cultural life, etc.) from environmental harm (e.g., environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, deforestation, harm to biodiversity and ecosystems, etc.)? If so, how would this ratification help to protect and promote human rights?
2. What are the major domestic laws and regulations that are intended to protect and promote human rights from environmental harm? How well are they implemented and enforced?
   1. Are there any good examples? Why are these good examples?
   2. Are there any challenges? What are the causes? How can these be overcome?
   3. Is article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the right to a general satisfactory environment having positive effects? If so, please give examples. If not, please explain why not.
3. What are the most urgent environment-related human rights issues that would require the attention of the Special Rapporteur? These issues can be related to the guarantee of procedural rights (e.g., rights to information, participation and access to remedy), the protection/realization of substantive rights (e.g. clean air, safe and sufficient water, healthy and sustainably produced food, clean energy and a safe climate, healthy biodiversity and ecosystems, and non-toxic environments where people can live, work, study and play) and/or linked to the rights of certain groups/individuals who are exceptionally vulnerable to environmental harm (e.g., Indigenous peoples, women, children, rural communities, people living in poverty, minorities, etc.).
   1. What is the cause? What needs to be done?
   2. How can the Special Rapporteur contribute to making the situation better?
4. How well are environmental human rights defenders (those who work to protect the environment and/or the human rights that depend on it) protected in Botswana?
   1. Are there any good practices in promoting the activities of environmental human rights defenders? Please elaborate if you have specific cases.
   2. Are there any challenges? If so, what are the causes? What can be done to improve the situation? Please elaborate if you have specific cases.
5. How would you evaluate the practices of businesses whose activities have environmental implications (e.g., energy, mining, forestry, tourism etc.) in Botswana, including multinational, domestic and state-owned businesses? Are these businesses complying with the requirements of environmental laws? How well do the businesses respect and protect human rights? What role does the Government play in addressing human rights violations caused by environmental damage created by business enterprises?
6. Please provide contact details of any key persons and/or civil society organizations (e.g. academics, government officials, research institutes, environmental organizations, victims’ organizations, etc.) who you think it would be useful for the Special Rapporteur to be in touch with, either in Botswana or elsewhere.
7. Please indicate if you have any suggestions for places to visit outside Gaborone and key persons to contact to meet during the field visit. (Please send your input for this question as soon as possible and by 20 September 2023 the latest)
8. Are there any specific questions that you would like the Special Rapporteur to raise with a particular government body/ministry?
9. Following the visit, the Special Rapporteur will submit an official report of the visit to the Human Rights Council which will include his recommendations to the Government of Botswana and possibly to other relevant stakeholders (e.g., UN agencies, CSOs, businesses, etc.). Are there any specific recommendations that you wish the Special Rapporteur to consider? If so, please indicate and explain why.
10. Please let us know if there are any other issues that you want to bring to the attention of the Special Rapporteur.