IOI | IOI Secretary General meets with a representative of the Botswana Ombudsman institution

On 27 September, IOI Secretary General Dr. Günther Kräuter used the opportunity of the IOI Workshop for NPMs in Vienna for a special meeting with Ms. Tebogo Titose Mapodisi, Acting Chief Legal Investigator and Head of Regional Office of the Botswana Ombudsman. Ms. Mapodisi participated in the NPM Training on the basis of an IOI scholarship. While introducing her to the NPM mandate and the challenging everyday work involved, the workshop also provided the participants with communication skills and interview techniques that Ms. Mapodisi will be able to use in her work at the Botwana Ombudsman institution.

After the workshop, Dr. Günther Kräuter was pleased to discuss the human rights situtaion in Botswana as well as the daily work of the Botswana Ombudsman institution with Ms. Mapodisi. As one of the three Austrian Ombudsman, Dr. Kräuter was also able to provide Ms. Mapodisi with information about the work of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), since the Austrian Ombudsman Board also fulfills the role of NHRI in Austria.

The IOI Secretary General and Ms Mapodisi also talked about the current situation and developments concerning the legal status of the Botswana Ombudsman. In the near future, an amendment of the legal basis is meant to broaden the competences of the Ombudsman by providing the institution with an explicit human rights mandate. The Botswana Ombudsman institution would thereby then also be tasked with the function of Human Rights Commission. Dr. Kräuter would welcome this development, since the work of Ombudsman institutions is also always human rights work.