A/HRC/40/64/Add.2 openly and expeditiously as possible, following national public consultations. Doing so would ensure that the objective set forth in Vision 2036 could be achieved and practices already deemed discriminatory by the High Court of Botswana, and which are potentially contrary to the prohibition of discrimination contained in treaties to which Botswana is a party, such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, would come to an end. 42. It was brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur that there were tensions surrounding the perceived predominance of the eight Tswana tribes in the current kgotla and chieftaincy system, in which the kgotla and the kgosi serve not only as the custodians of the culture of the people but also, importantly, address some 80 per cent of criminal and other matters in their communities. The formal, common law system covers only 20 per cent of the country’s criminal and civil legal matters. Records in the matters adjudicated by the kgotla and chieftaincy system are not kept, and most kgosi have no legal training regarding the civil or criminal matters being adjudicated. While the kgotla provides for direct public participation and consultation at the local level, it seems that the adjudication system based on the kgosi may also result, at least in some cases, in the dominant tribe imposing its customary law on minority tribes in its tribal territory in civil matters. 43. There are also gender issues that arise from the kgotla and chieftaincy system, since women in minority communities – and also in Tswana communities – do not seem to occupy many positions as kgosi. The principle of non-discrimination, which Botswana has accepted, including by ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, suggests that the future review of the whole kgotla and chieftaincy system must necessarily consider how best to ensure the rights of political participation of women, including minority women, in a non-discriminatory way. 44. Moreover, the requirement that individuals must be fluent in English to be elected as a specially elected member of the Ntlo ya Dikgosi or a member of the National Assembly was identified as a questionable criterion, since it has the potential to disproportionally exclude minorities and others who may instead be fluent in Setswana and their own language and may set up barriers to their political participation due to language preferences. D. Access to public health care and other public services 45. According to information provided by the ministry of health, approximately 85 per cent of the total population lives within 15 kilometres of a medical centre, ranging in size from a district hospital to a health post, and mobile units reach out to those communities living in remote areas. The ministry also tries to engage with local communities to resolve language issues with regard to both the provision of medical services and the implementation of awareness-raising programmes. All these efforts are to be commended. 46. To date, however, awareness-raising campaigns designed and implemented by the Government have only been in Tswana and English and not in minority languages, including sign language. 47. Additionally, it was reported during meetings in different regions of the country that minorities often felt left out of the system and even that they were denied access to proper public health care. The Special Rapporteur was told, for example, that in a recognized settlement in Central District the medical clinic was only scheduled to have medical workers on location once a month. Even then, the medical staff might not show up for “transportation” or other reasons. While this can be viewed as one of the challenges the ministry of health faces generally, some minority community members expressed the view that they were treated in a cavalier way at least partially because they were not Tswana. It was not possible to corroborate whether this occurred often in minority communities or whether it occurred more often than it did in recognized Tswana settlements. 48. Similar occurrences were signalled to the Special Rapporteur in relation to access to public services more generally outside of Gaborone and especially in remote settlements. He often heard minority community members express sentiments of exclusion and 10