On Wednesday 21 February and Thursday 22 February 2018, the Women's Rights Unit of the Centre for Human Rights took part in a 2-day validation workshop for the Lesotho State Party Report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, on the African Charter on Human and Peoples (African Charter) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Law, Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights in Lesotho in collaboration with Centre for Human Rights.

The meeting is the final of a series of meetings over a period of a year, beginning with capacity building on state party reporting to drafting of the report and now finally the validation of the report. The Centre for Human Rights provided technical support, including the placement of a technical assistant to the Ministry of Ministry of Law, Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights. The main objective of the ‘validation’ meeting was to afford stakeholders in Lesotho the opportunity to critically review the draft report and recommend changes that would strengthen the final output. It is anticipated that once all the comments and recommendations from the meeting have been considered a final edited version would be forwarded to the cabinet for approvals before it is finally submitted to the African Commission for possible consideration at its next session in April 2018.

To provide a brief background, Lesotho ratified the African Charter (1999) and its supplement instrument – the Maputo Protocol (2004). By virtue of its ratification of these instruments, the Kingdom of Lesotho has an obligation under Article 62 of the African Charter and Article 26(1) of the Maputo Protocol to submit a report every two years to the African Commission. This report should be made up of two parts; Part A on the African Charter and Part B on the Maputo Protocol. Ideally, it is a report of the people and should provide a comprehensive account of the human rights situation in the country (Part A) and specifically the rights of women (Part B). It is in pursuant of this reporting obligation therefore, that this report was compiled. It combines the second to eighth periodic reports on the African Charter covering the period between 2001 and 2017 and the initial report on the Maputo Protocol covering the period between 2004 and 2017.