Chapter three: Democracy and good political governance 310. Mention was also made of the fact that male orphans in rural areas were treated differently from girl orphans, in that the latter would be afforded the opportunity to attend school, while the former would be confined to cattle herding, with little, if any, access to education or social contact, resulting in their alienation from society. Fears were expressed that these conditions were breeding criminality, ignorance and asocial behaviour in these young men. 311. Another issue of concern, and one that is also mentioned in the CSAR, was the rapid increase in the number of young female sex workers, most of them pushed into a life of prostitution as a result of abject poverty. These young women enjoy little, if any, legal protection or access to basic health services and other needs, have few rights and have little knowledge of the services and information available that might protect them. iii. Recommendations 312. The APR Panel recommends that Lesotho: • Streamline programmes aimed at the protection of children and young persons and coordinate the functioning of the various departments tasked with dealing with young people. (Government of Lesotho, nonstate actors – civil society, traditional leaders, the media – the National Assembly, political parties) • Provide the Department of Youth with adequate financial resources and human capacity. (Government of Lesotho, nonstate actors – civil society, traditional leaders, the media – the National Assembly, political parties) • Develop policies and practices to protect the rights of children, especially boy children, to education. (Government of Lesotho, nonstate actors – civil society, traditional leaders, the media – the National Assembly, political parties) • Enact the Child Protection and Welfare Bill. (Government of Lesotho, nonstate actors – civil society, traditional leaders, the media – the National Assembly, political parties) • Provide information on, and access to, health care for young sex workers. (Government of Lesotho, nonstate actors – civil society, traditional leaders, the media – the National Assembly, political parties) Objective 9: Promote and protect the rights of vulnerable groups, including the disabled, the poor, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees i. Summary of the CSAR 313. The CSAR introduces its assessment on this aspect by pointing out that there is no universal check list of who is the most vulnerable in a given society. Rather, the identification of such groups depends largely on human rights concerns within a given country and context. It further argues that the worsening socioeconomic situation in Lesotho, together with rising poverty and the HIV 91

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