‘Mantṧali Phakoana
The government has come up with new regulations aimed at promoting access to justice for persons with all forms of disabilities.
This is contained in the Disability and Equity (Procedure) Rules of 2023, which were published in government gazette No. 39 dated 26 May 2023.
The rules call for effective participation of persons with disabilities in judicial proceedings through procedural and age-appropriate accommodations.
According to the World Bank, an estimated 2.5 percent of Lesotho’s population live with various forms of disability.
The rules apply in pre-trial and post-trial processes and will guide judicial officers, legal practitioners, court officials and other participants on how to accommodate and support persons with disabilities. This ensures that persons with disability have full and effective participation in judiciary processes on an equal basis with others.
In a statement released last Friday, the Lesotho National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled (LNFOD), an umbrella body of organisations dealing with disability in Lesotho, paid tribute to Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane for making the rules.
The rules were drafted and adopted by the 11th parliament of Lesotho on 17 May 2023 following several engagements with the office of the Chief Justice.
Section 32 (1) of the enabling Act – the Persons with Disability Equity Act 2023 states that the Chief Justice shall make rules for the provision of accessible format methods and any other legal services and procedures which take into account the needs of every person with disability who attends court proceedings.
Speaking to theReporter this week, LNFOD Executive Director, Advocate Nkhasi Sefuthi, said the rules were yet another gain for persons with disability.
Sefuthi revealed that the organisation had encountered some challenges in supporting witnesses to claim their rights in court during the implementation of the Gender and Disability in Practice Project which was started four years ago.
The project seeks to end gender-based violence through prevention and response measures.
He explained that the challenges occurred especially in the case of persons with intellectual and mental disabilities who had communication limitations.
Intellectual disabilities include illnesses like autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulse control disorder, and depression and anxiety disorders.
Psychological disabilities, on the other hand, are a type of mental health impairment where daily functioning is limited because of a psychiatric problem. Most disabilities are labelled as mental illnesses.
Sefuthi noted that generally, persons with disabilities face various barriers depending on the nature of their disabilities and may require various accommodations or support.
“Where a person has a hearing and speech disability, they need a sign language interpreter; where they have a physical disability they require accessible environments with ramps and structures that are accommodative of wheelchairs. Where they have a mental disability, they are provided with intermediaries; and finally where they have visual impairment, guides, a white cane, braille or large print are necessary to enable effective participation.
“These are all accommodations to remove the barriers hindering equal participation in legal proceedings. Furthermore, there was a huge gap in provision of legal procedure on how these accommodations could be applied.
“In fact, the disability-related barriers were in some instances authorised by the law itself. An example can be seen in Sections 219 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1981 which barred persons with mental disabilities from testifying as witnesses in courts of law. Persons with disabilities could still not access justice due to lack of procedural accommodations in the law in the past,” he explained.
He further pointed out that before the adoption of the court rules, providing for accommodations was rare because it was not mandated by the law.
Through the support of the Open Society initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA), LNFOD seeks to strengthen access to justice for persons with disabilities by working with the Chief Justice’s office.
The World Health Organisation recognises disability as a global public health and a human rights issue as well as a precondition to development. This is because persons with disabilities experience greater unmet health and rehabilitation needs. They also have poorer health than others.
