Lesotho

February 2017: Meeting with GVA mission. New to the human rights and humanitarian profile and it took a while to find the correct way for her to engage with the issue. She was concerned, for example, with how student activists in Lesotho will sometimes burn down their schools. My idea that all of SADC should be on board first fell flat. But when she mentioned her previous work on migration, I talked about the consequences of attacks on education on refugee flows, and that helped get her interested. She expressed a feeling that Lesotho should send someone from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense, education, and law to Buenos Aires, but she sent a very earnest follow-up email. Next step would be to maybe try and engage in New York instead, but not sure if Lesotho rises to enough of a priority for that.

June 2018: Gisela met with Ms. Nthabiseng Mōnōko, Minister Counsellor, and Thabo Thinyane, First Secretary, in the Mission of Lesotho. Minister Mōnōko played a key role in drafting the Education Act of 2010. Both of her parents were teachers and we had a long conversation about the importance of education. she highlighted the Declaration on the Rights of the African Child and felt endorsement of the Declaration would be in line with this. She understood very quickly the arguments for non-affected states to endorse, saying that there must be give and take in the international community and countries such as Lesotho have a moral responsibility to support affected states including through political commitments. She said there was minimal risk in endorsing and noted that there were no direct budgetary implications. she also made the link of lack of access to education with other risks, especially for girls, such as child, early and forced marriage, early pregnancy, and HIV. She was interested in seeing the full South African Development Community sign on. She pledged to make a positive recommendation to capital. Gisela followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister and received a friendly reply.

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. No response.

September 2018: Ahead of the UN WPS open debate, GCPEA a letter addressed to Foreign Minister sent to the Mission in New York. The letter encourages the government to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and advocate for continued access to quality, conflict-sensitive education for women and girls.

February 2020: AU Child’s rights committee secretariat moved to Lesotho.

October 2021: Lesotho co-sponsored UNSC resolution 2601 (2021), the first thematic resolution on the protection of education in armed conflict and to mention the SSD (preamble).

February 2022: Lunches in Geneva: GCPEA supported the Norwegian Permanent Mission in Geneva in organising two PR level lunches to discuss endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration with countries that have recently co-sponsored the UNSC resolution 2601. GCPEA prepared talking points and analysis of the countries’ positions (concerns and opportunities to endorsement). The second lunch took place on 10 February with the Ambassadors of Norway, Spain, Rwanda, Gabon and Lesotho. All three ambassadors (Lesotho, Gabon and Rwanda) were unfamiliar with the declaration before the meeting. As regards the position on the SSD, all agreed that it was a worthy cause. They expressed genuine interest in the declaration, and asked for more information (which Norway sent after the meeting). They indicated that they would forward the information to capital with a positive assessment. None foresaw any particular obstacles to endorsement. Rwanda’s ambassador stated that the Rwandan army in all likelihood was acting in accordance with the SSD already.

November 2022: Update on the champion states’ joint demarche with the 14 countries that co-sponsored UNSC resolution 2601 but have not yet endorsed the SSD: Joint démarche by the champions was done in capitals in Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Lithuania, and Lesotho, as well as through the Missions in New York with Comoros, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, and Tuvalu. Norway met with MoFA in Lesotho in March and October and mentioned the SSD. Norway will follow-up as there has been staff changes within the MoFA.