Swaziland, located in south-eastern Africa was built on tradition and culture, and currently there is no place for democracy. However groups fighting for freedom is gaining momentum, but their work is slow and dangerous.

But the country’s minister of justice and constitution affairs, Mgwagwa Gameze, said that is certainly not the reality in that country. He told the United Nations Human Right Council during the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) that political parties are not banned in the country.

Mgwagwa Gameze said freedom of association and freedom to belong to any political party were protected under the country’s laws and that there is an obligation for each political party in Swaziland to have and use its constituency during election in order to ensure direct representation in the country’s parliament.

During the UPR session, The Democratic Republic of Congo underlined Swaziland’s social allocation for the elderly as an important advancement in favour of social human rights to be seen on the African continent. The DRC also noted that a number of laws were pulled between the common law and the international human rights norms and asked about the actions Swaziland intends to take to resolve these conflicts of laws.

The United Kingdom also welcomed the steps taken by Swaziland towards democracy and hoped that the uncertainty over the status of political parties could be resolved to allow for free and fair elections.

The UK inquired as to how Swaziland plans to strengthen implementation of section 24 of its constitution, which provided for freedom of expression and peaceful acts of assembly and encouraged Swaziland to investigate allegations of torture in the country.

Moreover, on sexual orientation, Mgwagwa Gameze said that to date no one has been prosecuted for sexual offenses. He said: “as the world evolves, Swaziland would look on the possibility to adopt a policy on the issue.”

On the issue of torture and extrajudicial killings, Swaziland highlighted that in every instance when one person was tortured, that person was free to seek redress in the law courts. “All extrajudicial killings were investigated including cases of deaths in custody,” Gameze added.