Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley on 24 February (HL4991), what assessment they have made of whether the hunting ban imposed on the bushmen of the Kalahari in 2014 by the government of Botswana breaches Article 1(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by which states agree that "peoples" are not to be deprived of their means of subsistence.

Botswana is a democracy with an independent judiciary. We have not made any assessment as to whether the Government of Botswana’s ban on hunting or any decision on the supply of food to the San constitutes a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Botswana constitution guarantees the rights and freedoms of all Batswana irrespective of race, colour, religion, gender, political opinion or place of origin. The UK follows closely the situation of the San communities in Botswana. We will continue to encourage dialogue between the San communities and the Government of Botswana.