People welcome guests at an event marking World Refugee Day at Dukwi Refugee Camp, some 560 km northeast of Gaborone, Botswana, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Shingirai Madondo/Xinhua)
GABORONE, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is committed to providing refugees with home that will give them and all relevant stakeholders an opportunity to find durable solutions to their plight, Minister of Justice Ronald Shamukuni has said.
"While you are in Botswana, we will do our best to create a home for you," Shamukuni said Tuesday at an event marking World Refugee Day at Dukwi Refugee Camp, some 560 km northeast of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.
This year's commemoration of World Refugee Day is being held under the theme: "Hope away from Home. A world where refugees are always included."
"We commit to providing refugees with a home that will give them hope and will ease their plight," Shamukuni said.
He said that whenever the reasons that compelled the refugees to leave their respective countries of origin no longer exist and the situation is conducive for them to return, they are encouraged to return.
Botswana is finalizing a Refugee Management Bill, which aims to strengthen the protection of asylum-seekers and refugees in the southern African country, Shamukuni said.
Patience Takaona, chairperson of the Dukwi Refugees Camp Committee, praised the Botswana government for providing a conducive environment to refugees in the country, for providing them with social services such as security, health, basic education and shelter.
According to Mogwe, the theme advocates for the acceptance of refugees in their host countries and envisages a world where they are embraced instead of persecuted. ■
People welcome guests at an event marking World Refugee Day at Dukwi Refugee Camp, some 560 km northeast of Gaborone, Botswana, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Shingirai Madondo/Xinhua)
