Background
Labour Force Survey statistics from 2024 revealed that around 30% of people were unemployed, rising to almost 50% among people aged between 15 and 24.
In September, during its fourth UPR, the government accepted most recommendations, but only noted recommendations to abolish the death penalty and decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.
Economic and social rights
In January, USAID funding cuts to HIV and tuberculosis health programmes put the already fragile health service under immense strain. Around 1,500 health workers employed through donor-supported programmes lost their jobs; several NGO and church-run facilities reduced or suspended HIV testing as well as counselling and outreach work. It was increasingly difficult for people living with HIV and tuberculosis, particularly in rural areas, to access services, including essential antiretroviral therapy and programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Authorities and their partners announced mitigation strategies, including plans to secure alternative funding for the re-employment of health workers
In September, 18 communities (comprising around 1,600 people), affected by Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, filed a formal complaint to the African Development Bank’s Independent Recourse Mechanism, the project funder. The complaint alleged damage to homes, blocked access to fields, water pollution, inadequate compensation, and a lack of meaningful consultation. The communities requested the project’s suspension pending a resolution of their concerns. The project diverted water from the Polihali Dam in the Mokhotlong district to Gauteng province in South Africa at an estimated cost of USD 3 billion. It was scheduled for completion by 2029, a decade later than planned.
Freedom of expression
In June, social media activist Tšolo Thakeli was arbitrarily arrested after posting a video criticizing the government’s economic record. He was released the next day and almost immediately re-arrested and charged with sedition under colonial-era legislation criminalizing free speech. The use of sedition charges to punish online criticism of the government’s socio-economic policy had a chilling effect on activists, journalists and other social media users.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
From June the police denied permits for a series of protests in the capital, Maseru, connected to job losses in the textile sector. Organizers said that the police imposed onerous conditions as prerequisites for demonstrations and had also threatened to take action against protests that went ahead outside agreed routes or time periods.
Trades unions and community workers complained that police restricted the authorization of protests and public meetings connected to strike action in September by Polihali Dam workers demanding better wages and working conditions.
Right to truth, justice and reparation
The Commission of Inquiry into events surrounding a prison break-out at Maseru Central Prison in December 2023 delivered its report to Prime Minister Ntsokoane Matekane on 16 June. The Commission concluded that Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS) officers subjected hundreds of detainees to physical assaults and other ill-treatment, leaving one man dead and another with permanent disabilities. It also identified serious leadership and management failures within the LCS and recommended disciplinary and criminal action against those responsible.
In August the report was tabled before parliament with some sections redacted, prompting criticism from lawyers, civil society members and detainees’ families about the authorities’ unwillingness to ensure truth, justice and accountability for victims of torture and other ill-treatment.
Death penalty
While Lesotho retained the death penalty, the last known execution was in 1995 and no death sentences were known to have been imposed during the year.
