Human rights in Lesotho Human rights in Lesotho Human rights in Lesotho, a nation of 2,067,000 people completely surrounded by South Africa, is a contentious issue. In its 2012 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House declared the country "Partly Free". According to the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which produces annual human rights reports on the country, the most pressing human rights issues are the use of torture, poor prison conditions, and the abuse of women and children. Lesotho became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966. The period until 1998 saw a series of annulled elections and military
Lesotho many regional economic organisations, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). It is also active in the United Nations (UN), the African Union(AU), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth, and many other international organisations. Prince Seeiso Simoné Seeiso is the present High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Lesotho to the Court of St. James's. The UN is represented by a resident mission as well, including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, FAO, WFP, UNFPA and UNAIDS. Lesotho also has maintained ties with the United Kingdom (Wales in particular), Germany, the United States and other Western states. Although