president’s resignation. Several others were would have an adverse effect on Indigenous arrested when they demanded his release. peoples living in the area. DISCRIMINATION DEATH PENALTY GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Botswana was among a minority of Southern In April, the Botswana GBV Prevention and African countries to impose the death Support Centre (a local NGO) reported an penalty. increase in violence against women and girls during the Covid-19 pandemic. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS BRAZIL The right to asylum continued to be severely limited. Botswana hosted fewer refugees and Federative Republic of Brazil asylum seekers than most countries in Africa Head of state and government: Jair Messias Bolsonaro (674 refugees and 58 asylum seekers as of September). In April, UNHCR, the UN Brazil continued to experience an extended refugee agency, raised concerns after the period of instability and crisis. The federal authorities deported 57 Zimbabwean government lacked the commitment to refugees who had lived in Botswana since coordinate effective responses in the 2008. The refugees failed to register for management of the Covid-19 pandemic, voluntary repatriation, which led to their impacting people’s human rights. Those forced removal in March. from groups who have historically LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS experienced discrimination were In November, the Court of Appeal upheld a disproportionately affected by the health High Court judgment that declared a law emergency, which exacerbated the criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual economic and social crisis, making their relations unconstitutional. living conditions more precarious. President ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL Jair Bolsonaro continued to promote RIGHTS initiatives contrary to the needs of most of the population and harmful to the RIGHT TO HEALTH environment and climate justice. His There was a third wave of Covid-19 infections statements, which often vilified human during July and August. At its peak, rights defenders and activists, also Botswana had a higher percentage rate of undermined the Constitution and the infection than any other country in Africa, independence of the judiciary. with 668 positive cases per 100,000 people BACKGROUND (in a population of 2.3 million). ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION In April, the Senate established the In August, UNESCO’s World Heritage Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to Committee registered its concern about oil investigate the actions and omissions of the exploration licences being granted in Brazilian government in the management of environmentally sensitive areas in the the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigation of Okavango River basin to Canadian-based the mismanagement of the health crisis by mining company ReconAfrica. The Jair Bolsonaro's administration included Committee urged the government to ensure instances of corruption, the collapse of the that any further steps to develop the oil public and private health systems, negligence project be “subject to rigorous and critical regarding vaccines and the damage caused prior review, including a thorough by the lack of effective public policies to environmental impact assessment that address the social crisis, which deepened in corresponds to international standards”. 2021. There were concerns that such projects Amnesty International Report 2021/22 99