Botswana listed among countries that violate workers’ rights

When the new government of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) was ushered in last year following their general election victory, they coined their government as ‘human rights-based’.

This was highlighted in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Boko in November, which also announced that a deceased man, Pitseng Gaborekwe, who had lain in the mortuary for more than two years, would finally be laid to rest in his ancestral land of Metsianong in Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve.

But the report on workers' rights, which was released this week by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), still paints a different story for workers under the new Botswana despite the government claiming a human rights approach.

According to ITUC Global Rights, released this week at the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, Botswana has been listed among countries that systematically violate workers' rights. The country has been included with rogue nations such as Israel, Chad, Uganda, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. This list means that these countries continue to violate workers' rights.

“Strikes and protests were met with violent suppression in Cameroon, Kenya, Mauritania, and South Africa. Employers sabotaged union activity in Botswana, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, and Senegal,' reads the report.

In Nigeria, a new entry to the 10 worst countries in the world for working people, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe, trade unionists faced repression for their activities, while authorities in Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau, and Zimbabwe banned protests and assembly.

Military juntas in West Africa, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Gabon, and Mali, prevented unions from operating freely. Conflicts in South Sudan and Sudan have left millions in desperate need of aid and severely threatened the livelihoods of workers.

Meanwhile, escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in and around Goma, has caused immense suffering among civilians and workers. Hospitals are overwhelmed, food supplies are critically low, and at least 700,000 people are estimated to have been internally displaced by the conflict, the report states. Countries are rated in clusters from 1-5+ depending on their compliance with collective labour rights. There are five ratings, with 1 being the best rating and 5+ the worst rating a country could get. The level of economic development, size, or location of the country is not taken into account, given that fundamental rights are universal and workers in all parts of the world must have access to them.

A high-rated cluster means that workers in the country have no right to their collective voice due to the government's failure to guarantee rights.

This year’s May Day celebration embraced the theme Workers' Rights are Human Rights to emphasise the ongoing discourse on human rights in the country. The theme stands in solidarity with countless workers who are denied trade union rights and continue to face precarious working conditions and workplace injustices, including union busting, short-term contracts, and low wages.

The ten worst countries identified by ITUC this year are: Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Tunisia, Turkey, and the worst regions in the world are the Middle East and North Africa.

This year’s Index reveals a stark and worsening global crisis for workers and unions. In 2025, average country ratings deteriorated in three out of five global regions, with Europe and the Americas recording their worst scores since the Index’s inception in 2014.

Alarmingly, only seven out of 151 countries surveyed received the top-tier rating. Workers had no or reduced access to justice in 72 percent of countries, a sharp increase from 65 percent in 2024, marking the highest level recorded in the Index.

Attacks on the rights to free speech and assembly were reported in 45 percent of countries – a record high for the Index and an increase from 43 percent in 2024. The right to strike was violated in 87 percent of countries, unchanged from the Index high of 131 countries in 2024. Theme speaker at the May Day commemorations, human rights lawyer Joao Salbany, called for political will to facilitate the enforcement of entrenched human rights.

“The recognition of our human rights and the push for the recognition of them is a struggle for social justice. The view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, social rights and opportunities can only be attained through concerted effort,” he said.

• Kemoreilwe Jimson is a Labour Policy Officer at the Botswana Federation of Public, Private and Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU).