The Children’s Act, 2009, in addition to the Constitution, provides additional
protection to the child’s right to life. It provides, inter alia, that a child shall not be
sentenced to death in terms of the following provisions:
Section 10 (1) provides that, “every child has an inherent right to life and
that in order to ensure the enjoyment of this right, no person shall take any
action or make any decision the effect of which will be to deprive the child
of survival and development to the child’s full potential”;
Section 89 (2) provides that, “A child convicted of murder shall not be
sentenced to death”; and
Section 89 (3) provides that, “A child charged with a capital offence other
than murder shall, subject to the provisions of the Penal Code, be sentenced
to imprisonment for such term as the court considers appropriate.
ARTICLE 5
RIGHT TO RESPECT OF HUMAN DIGNITY, PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY;
SLAVE TRADE; TORTURE CRUEL INHUMAN AND DEGRADING
TREATMENT
Botswana has legislative measures that protect the dignity of the person from
childhood and prohibits slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel inhuman and degrading
treatment:
1. RIGHT TO RESPECT OF HUMAN DIGNITY
(a) CHILDREN:
Section 11 of the Children’s Act protects the dignity of the child. It provides that
every child has a right to a name, from birth, which neither stigmatises nor
demeans the dignity of that child. This was the first time Government sought to
regulate child-naming, thereby promoting the dignity of the child especially in
instances where parents name children after their bad experiences.
Sections 12(4) and 12(5) of the Children’s Act upholds the dignity of the child by
making it mandatory for every child to know the identity of both parents thereby
placing them at the same level with children born in wedlock.
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