Advancing refugee protection in Botswana through improved refugee status determination

Abstract

Botswana's Refugee (Recognition and Control) Act has been in force since 1967. It was promulgated before Botswana became a state party to the UN Refugee Convention and its Protocol and before its accession to the OAU Refugee Convention. Refugee status determination (RSD) procedures should reach human rights standards in procedural fairness as enunciated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued several documents concerned with procedural fairness in RSD. This article takes a critical look at RSD procedures in Botswana, measuring them against human rights standards and UNHCR recommendations for fair and effective RSD procedures. The article recommends that RSD procedures be improved in order to ensure procedural fairness and reduce the risk of refoulement in deserving cases.