The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) launched the report, “From Exclusion to Equality: Advancing Access for Persons with Disabilities in Lesotho” on the 23rd September 2025 at Lancers Inn Maseru, calling for access to justice for persons with disabilities in practice.

The report acknowledges that Lesotho has made significant progress towards the realization of the right to access justice as envisaged by the CRPD, beginning with a 2019 landmark Constitutional Court decision in the case of Koali Moshoeshoe and Others v DPP which declared Section 219 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1981 unconstitutional for discriminating on the basis of disability, to the enactment of Persons with Disability Equity Act in 2021, which provides for access to justice under Section 32. A significant milestone birthed by this Act was the adoption of the Disability (Equity) Procedure Rules of 2023 by Honourable Chief Justice Sakoane, to give effect to the access to justice provision in the Disability Law, thereby introducing the provision of accommodations for persons with disabilities who testify as witnesses before the Courts in the Lesotho Law. The Rules lay down the procedure to be followed by the judicial officers to guarantee effective participation of persons with disabilities and this includes assessing the disability of the witness in order to make provision of suitable accommodations, to remove the barriers and afford needed support.

Whereas the report points out these milestones, it goes further to point out the gaps which further restrict persons with disabilities from accessing justice due to lack of corresponding institutional reforms in our Courts to effectively respond to the legal reforms mentioned above, for inclusion to be a reality in practice. A major challenge is lack of funding for to generally provide for accommodations through recruiting intermediaries and sign language interpreters has been highlighted as one of the significant gaps hindering effective access to the courts. Unfortunately, other challenges such as training of the justice sector and general lack of alternative methods of communication like braille also centre on the budget although it could also be induced by attitudes.

Speaking as panellists, Her Ladyship Itumeleng Shale who is the Judge of the High Court of Lesotho, Advocate Sefuthi, the Director General of the newly established Persons with Disability Advisory Council and the Advocacy Task Team Member from the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations of the Disabled, Kopano Tsilonyane shared insightful remarks on the ICJ report speaking to the current challenges and those foreseeable in future. It was accordingly conceded that the executive and the judiciary have to be intentional about inclusion as duty bearers to relieve the organizations of persons with disabilities who continue to shoulder all the burden.

The full report is available at the following link:
🔗 From Exclusion to Equality: Advancing Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities in Lesotho

For the Executive Summary, please refer to:
🔗 Executive Summary – From Exclusion to Equality

Further information on the ICJ report can be accessed here:
🔗 ICJ Report: Further Measures Needed to Ensure Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities in Lesotho