23rd Meeting, 80th Session, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)

Good morning. I call to order meeting number 29 of the 80th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is my great pleasure to welcome again this morning the distinguished delegation of Eswatini and the head of delegation, Her Excellency Ms. Dorkas Dlamini, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. I would also like to welcome all those observing the dialogue in person and on webcast. We would like then to invite the delegation to continue responding to any questions pending from cluster three from last evening for a maximum of about 15 minutes, after which you could proceed to respond to questions posed yesterday by Mr. Kanhai, by Ms. P.G. Chen on cluster three for up to 30 minutes. After that, follow-up questions to all the clusters will be posed, and then Mr. Santiago Furio will pose questions on cluster 4, and the delegation will have approximately 30 minutes to respond to those. So that is how we plan to work on our time. To facilitate this process and to enable us to cover the full range of issues at hand, I would like to invite my colleagues and the distinguished delegation to kindly speak in a concise manner giving due attention to the time allocations. With this, I have the pleasure to give the floor to the distinguished delegation of Eswatini. You have the floor, madam. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning, Committee members. Chairperson, thank you for giving us the floor as we resume our constructive dialogue under article 10 to 15 of the Covenant. During this session, the delegation will respond to the questions raised under articles 10 to 15 concerning the protection of the family, women, children and vulnerable groups; the right to an adequate standard of living, including housing, food and water; the right to health; the right to education; and participation in cultural life. We will also address outstanding questions from previous clusters where additional clarification was requested by the committee members. I will ask Dr. Okello of Health to take Article 12 and the health financing questions. Bongirwe of Education and Training, Ms. Bongirwe of Education and Training to take Article 13. Ms. Nomzamo of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office to take Article 10. social assistance, food security, and harmful customs; and Mrs. Nontlango Shongwe of Economic Planning and Development to take poverty data and the development plan targets to the water and sanitation program. With your permission, Chairperson will begin by responding to the outstanding question raised by members of the Committee before proceeding to the questions under article 10 to 15. We stand ready to provide further information and clarification as may be required. Thank you, Chairperson. Over to you, Nozi.

Head of delegation, may I respond on the question on sexual sexual harassment. Chairperson has undertaken yesterday that we'll find if we do have cases of personal harassment. May I confirm that we do not have such statistics, as we have not presently started recording under the distant workplace harassment category. This does not necessarily mean that no incidents have occurred, as cases may have been underreported or classified under broader labor or criminal categories, for example, maybe being recorded under the gender-based violence when they are reported in the police services. May I confirm that awareness of the SOF DV framework has been promoted through various Activities such as simplification of the act itself, radio programs, outreach activities, and also a refresher training for the police. Workplace policies have been aligned as well with the SOTV Act and the integration of prevention and response measures into employee wellness programs. May I confirm that the government will continue to strengthen reporting mechanisms and the collection of disaggregated data to ensure that we do capture such statistics. Thank you.

Head of delegation, I think pending questions from yesterday include on the area of ending discrimination, where a question around measures to put in place to address gender discrimination, including where land issues are concerned. Head of delegation may report at this point that access to land for women has really improved in Eswatini. Following advocacy, strengthening more advocacy around Section 211 of the National Constitution, which is more specific to access to land for all EmaSwati. This section had included and emphasizes that access to land for all EmaSwati that includes women and men. should be without regards to gender. That section has been part or has been the highlight of most advocacy activities and capacity building exercises, targeting traditional authorities, targeting the public, targeting families. Additionally, efforts to also mitigate existing gaps has been prioritized, such as the review of the land policy itself, which we anticipate that it should promote sustainable land management, its administration, and promote equitable access to land, including those for women and other vulnerable groups. Additionally, the sensitization workshops on raising awareness, I will give an example also among many, giving an example of the recently held Chief's Dialogue that was held in June 2026. We saw issues of land including equitable access to land for women and men being a priority item in the agenda, and recommendations were made, which we also feel that it formed part of a consultative process to inform the land policy. Additionally, from yesterday's question was a question on measures in place to ensure gender parity in elections. May I begin by submitting an amendment on the percentage of women in politics, head of delegation. Under the current 12th Parliament, women record 29% representation, taking note that Taking note of that, may I also submit that election of women into parliament follows the electoral process, whereby the general public of eligible electoral age vote for their preferred candidate. However, we do acknowledge the change that meeting the 30% threshold as per the national constitution of Eswatini had been a challenge. However, the country has continued To strengthen advocacy, targeting the population again, intentionally targeting women to also equip them around electoral processes, preparing themselves for the elections, as well as. echoing section 86 and 95 of the national constitution, which also speaks around the election of the four regional women in case after the general elections, 30% of women threshold is not met. And again, to mention to the, through you, HOD, that during civic education, which is conducted by the Electoral Boundaries Commission in the 59 tunkundas, a collaboration is also established with the Department of Gender within the Deputy Prime Minister's office, where slots are provided for lobbying around the election of women, its importance to the nation as the economy of the country as well, and while also more advocacy continues through the different media forums. I submit, thank you.

We may continue with the answers. Dr. Okello.

Thank you, head of delegation, and thank you for the opportunity to address SOT in his health issues as requested by the distinguished committee yesterday. In terms of Eswatini's health system, we are guided by the National Health Sector Strategic Plan of 2024 to 2028, which aims to provide all citizens with high quality, accessible, acceptable, affordable, effective, equitable, and efficient promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care. The goal is to accelerate the progress towards the attainment of universal health coverage and other health related sustainable development goals. In this regard, the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini is working with its partners to ensure that the population has access to health services that they need, when they need them, and at high quality. With health financing, our system is supported through tax based financing. and further contributions from donors and development partners. The health expenditure stands at 4.1% of gross domestic product, with government health allocation, government budget health allocation is at 9% of the national budget. Donor funding accounts for 41.6% of health expenditure, and out-of-pocket payments is at 13.4%. Eswatini's expenditure per capita is at US$413. And our universal health coverage index is at 56% in 2024, which is relatively higher than the African region average, sub-Saharan region, which is 46%. But our country aims to increase the UHC to 65% by 2030. The government's performance in terms of health expenditure per capita and out-of-pocket payments are above the average for the Africa sub-Saharan region. However, the ministry is cognizant of service delivery gaps. that we have, and we are working around the clock to improve efficiencies in the budget utilization and to ensure that health is accessible to all populations. Since Eswatini has no national health insurance, there is a national health financing strategy of 2025 to 2030. which seeks to accelerate universal health coverage through sustainable domestic resource mobilization, improved technical efficiency, strategic purchasing, and the establishment of the NHIS or National Health Insurance System. Through this system, we aim to increase the universal health coverage to 70% by 2030. This reform is not merely a healthcare financing intervention, it is a strategic investment in national development, fiscal sustainability, institutional accountability, and economic growth. It seeks to reduce reliance on external financing while expanding prepaid financing, pooling of resources more equitably. and protecting households from financial hardships when they have to access essential health services. In terms of the plans, during the next quarter of January to March 2027, the ministry will undertake a scoping exercise to define the scope, the key milestones, and critical path for implementing the National Health Insurance System. The principal deliverable will be an inception report that outlines the implementation roadmap, the strategic priorities, and key activities and timeline that is required to advance the NHI agenda. There are some questions asked on service delivery. which we are tackling through describing that in Eswatini, we have a total of 301 health facilities as of 2024, which provide healthcare services in the country. 46% are owned by government, 23% are owned by non-governmental organization and mission facilities, and the rest, which is, sorry, which is are owned by private and industrial entities. The Manzini region has the highest density of health facilities and the least at 3.1 per 10,000 population, followed by Shiselhweni region, Lubombo region, and Hhohoe region is the least at 2.02 facilities per 10,000 population. According to WHO, the recommended density for health facilities is two facilities. per 10,000 population in our region, which shows that as Eswatini, we are at borderline performance. Health service delivery in Eswatini has a strong focus on primary health care, which is implemented through widely distributed clinics and community outreach health services. Since over 70% of the population lives in rural areas, The government is investing in the construction of more primary care clinics and health centers in these areas. To ensure access to healthcare and protection of the vulnerable, all residents in the country are able to access highly subsidized healthcare without discrimination. The government is ensuring that 80% of the population can access a health facility within an eight-kilometre radius, including in rural areas where government is continuing to invest in the construction of more clinics. Despite these efforts by government, geographical access to health facilities continues its Geographical answers continues to be a challenge due to the scattered settlements that we have in the country and the topography where rivers and mountains present a real challenge to accessing health facilities. In peri-urban areas, the ministry is planning to establish filter clinics around towns and cities in consultation with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to cover the population that is resident in the peri-urban areas. Financial protection for the population is, I've already mentioned, that is ensured through a highly subsidized health system. To demonstrate that, entry into government health facilities requires a payment of less than one United States dollar for registration. While if you are unable to pay that amount, it does not result in denial of health services, including access to emergency and complicated surgeries, even at the tertiary hospital. Vulnerable populations such as the elderly above 60 years are able to access the whole range of health services, from primary care to tertiary care free of charge, while children under five years can access free immunization, growth monitoring, vitamin A, and deworming services as part of their primary health care package. Pregnant mothers are provided free antenatal and postnatal services, which include family planning, integrated HIV services, and integrated HIV services at primary care level. Furthermore, we, as government, we have embarked on decentralization and integration of basic health services. So services which have historically been provided at hospital level or at secondary and tertiary are now being provided at primary care clinics. These services include maternal, child health, HIV services, TB services, non-communicable diseases, mainly focusing on hypertension, diabetes, and asthma management. Cervical cancer screening is also available at the lower levels, and the general healthcare for treating minor ailments is available for all populations, including the elderly. This has improved accessibility to critical health services, as attested by our statistics showing that over 75,000, sorry, 75% of people who are on antiretroviral therapy are getting these services from rural clinics, which cuts down on the cost for transport like in previous years where they had to go to the hospital. Decentralization of non-communicable disease screening and treatment has increased to 67% of the clinics in the country, and the evidence that was collected recently indicated that 82% of hypertension and diabetic clients interviewed attested to receiving their treatment closer to home in rural clinics. There was a question on Bamani Government Hospital, which is the national referral hospital. We just want to highlight that the hospital infrastructure has been prioritized to be developed and has been developed actually to ensure that there's minimal or no service disruption at all times. The hospital has adequate reservoirs for essential support amenities, which include water tanks, electricity generator and medical gases tanks, such as liquid oxygen tanks. The facility has not experienced major electricity shortages in recent years due to regular maintenance of the hospital electricity generator. Even during load shedding, which we have experienced, well, not frequently as in Babane, The hospital electricity supply is prioritized by the Eswatini Electricity Company and is not interrupted. All government hospitals are equipped with high power generators as part of the construction and infrastructure, which seamlessly take over in case of power cuts in the area. In terms of human resources for health, We acknowledge that our country has had challenges with human resources, however, developments are ongoing because the country has increased the availability of health care workers who are trained in healthcare through the expansion of health courses that are offered in local universities. The health personnel levels for the country indicate a ratio, in fact, it has improved. A ratio of physicians or doctors at 0.6 per 1,000 population, although most of these are based in the urban areas where there are hospitals and health centers, but they do provide outreach services to peripheral facilities. The nurses and midwives ratio is at 4.3 per 1,000 population. And they are mainly stationed in the rural clinics, in addition to being in the hospitals. And they form the backbone of essential health services and primary healthcare. Over 3000 community cadres called the Rural Health Motivators provide critical services for health promotion and disease prevention in an integrated manner in communities and are linked with the rural clinics. Although staffing ratios for the country appear higher than the averages in Africa, a hiring freeze that was affected by government through circular number three of 2018 has slowed down the recruitment of health and other personnel in the public sector, which is the reason why we continue to have insufficient numbers in health facilities, which we acknowledge they compromise the quality of healthcare. But discussions are ongoing with the relevant ministry, and they are assisting our ministry to ensure that we catch up with the gaps that have been opened by retirement, resignation, the attrition of staff in general. Another challenge that we have is that availability of specialized services is still a challenge. However, The government has partnered with medical specialists in our local private sector and in neighboring countries to provide the necessary services at a cost that is borne by the Minister of Health or by government. And more MSWAT are also being trained in other countries in certain areas of specialty, and the number is growing. In availability of medicines, which has also been another challenge raised. We acknowledge that Eswatini has faced sporadic low levels of medicines and medical supplies for over a decade, and this situation was worsened post the COVID-19 pandemic. The contribution to the stockouts have been investigated widely over the years through commissions and forensic audits, which made recommendations that we need to tackle inefficiencies at the central medical stores. One of the major recommendation was that the central medical stores should be converted into a semi-autonomous entity that will be able to operate more efficiently. Progress has been made. We are pleased to note that we have made progress there through the promulgation of the EMSA Act, which means the Eswatini Medical Supplies Agency Act number three of 2023. This act establishes the EMSA, as I may call it, the agency, and it is on track to be operational in 2027. EMSA is expected to improve the availability of health commodities, sorry, yeah, yes, health commodities through streamlined procurement, timely payment of suppliers, efficient warehousing, and distribution systems while ensuring that pilferage of health commodities at central and peripheral facilities is eliminated. It will also put in place systems to ensure that rural health facilities, such as clinics, which are further from the central area, receive their health commodities timely in order to serve the rural population. Meanwhile, government continues to improve the systems at central medical stores during this period of transition. Recent reports at the end of September 2026 indicate that the stockout rates have reduced to 24% from an improvement, which from where we are coming from, where the stockout rates were over 50% in 2023-24. The ARV stockout levels were at 2%, so antiretroviral medicines have generally been stable, their availability has been stable due to a deliberate effort to ring fence the IRV budget by government. Moving on to the HIV response, there was a concern about the high rate of HIV infection in the country, but we would like to highlight that Eswatini has demonstrated a strong performance in controlling HIV. despite having the highest burden of the disease. The country has been widely recognized for being the first to achieve the 95-95-95 UN AIDS targets way before the 2030 timeline. By end of September 2026, the targets show that 98% of people living with HIV are aware of their status through access to HIV testing. sorry, 98% of the population. Then of those who know their status, 99% are HIV positive and are taking ART. And those who are taking ART, ART is antiretroviral therapy, and those who are taking antiretroviral therapy, 98% of them are virally suppressed. This essentially means that the population is able to to continue being economically productive, and this has reduced the burden of disease on our health facilities. The impact of this achievement is the reduction in new HIV infections by over 70% and over 75% decline in HIV related mortality since 2001. Mother-to-child transmission has declined from 20% in 2002 to 1.3% in 2025, and Eswatini has already applied to WHO to be validated under the Path to Elimination Certification Program. While we celebrate these major gains, we know that HIV/AIDS still remains a looming threat to our health system and presents a burden because our government needs to ensure that 217,073 people are maintained on antiretroviral therapy without fail. One of the major contributions of the success to the HIV/AIDS response is that Eswatini government took an early decision around 2010 to procure all ARV medications an incremental manner, with the latest budget being 274 emalangeni per annum, with the decline 274 million emalangeni per annum. With the decline in HIV funding that we've seen in recent years, HIV service delivery has not been interrupted in our country, and efforts are underway to take over the rest of the the HIV commodities procurement that have been currently funded by our development partners. In order to ensure that no one is left behind in accessing HIV services, access to testing, treatment, and monitoring for those living with HIV is free of charge for all who need the services. And this caters for all citizens, residents, key and vulnerable populations such as persons within the SOGIE groups, migrants, refugees, prisoners, and commercial sex workers. Sexual orientation or SOGIE and gender identity focus programs, SOGIE focus programs within the MOH are addressed by Eswatini National AIDS Program since the early days of the HIV response. And these programs also target healthcare workers to prevent their discrimination within government hospitals. Key populations program provides comprehensive HIV services, such as prevention, information and counseling, pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, condoms and lubricants, and antiretroviral therapy. The program also includes addressing policy issues against stigma and discrimination of the key populations. The Minister of Health is also working with other ministries to ensure access to HIV services and general health services for those who are living with disabilities, especially the deaf and the blind, which for where we see a gap due to our skills lack of inadequate skills within our health facilities and health workers to provide services for sign language and also information that is braille enabled health information. In childhood immunization, vaccination for preventable diseases is the cornerstone of Eswatini's disease prevention for children below the age of five years. While a decline in immunization coverage was experienced during and soon after COVID-19 pandemic, the country has seen a rebound in immunization coverage. At the end of September 2026, the BCG vaccination coverage, which is for TB, was at 78.1%. Oral polio virus 3 vaccination was at 99%, measles rubella two vaccination at 88%. All four regions showed good vaccination coverage during the reported period, including Shiselweni region. It is worth noting that the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini is one of the few countries in the Africa region that does not use donor funding to procure all vaccines. In this regard, vaccine stockouts have been very minimal due to a pulled procurement mechanism that a government is utilizing through UNICEF supply division. All childhood vaccines are therefore provided free of charge and can be accessed by all citizens, no discrimination, whether you're a resident, Whether you're a migrant or a refugee, you still access vaccination, childhood vaccination, free of charge. The country has also introduced HPV, human papillomavirus vaccine, recently for girls aged 9 to 14 years in 2023, and has covered 74% of this age group. This year, the coverage for nine-year-olds is still at 11%. Hepatitis birth dose is planned to be introduced in 2027, following approval by relevant committees. However, hepatitis B vaccine is included in the pentavalent vaccine, which has hep B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and haemophilus influenzae. This vaccine is administered at six, 10, and 14 weeks, and a post that dose at 18 months. An uptake of vaccination is generally good in the country, with outreach activities being conducted to rural areas on a frequent basis for children to catch up among those who have missed vaccines at any point. With NCDs and mental health, NCDs are significant growing threat to the health of our nation. While we have succeeded in responding to communicable diseases such as HIV and TB, NCDs are a challenge. The share of deaths attributable to NCDs rose from 38% in 2017 to 46% by end of 2023, and this includes people living with HIV who are living longer and have developed NCDs themselves. So in response to this, our country has prioritized ensuring that these services are integrated, decentralized, as already mentioned before, and integrated at primary care level, so that all people can access these services, more especially the elderly over 60 years who are mostly living in those rural areas. Among mental health conditions, we do see a number of mental health conditions such as epilepsy, suicide, and attempted suicide, which record a highest admission among mental health. And there's also depression, anxiety, dementia, substance abuse, which are recorded at lower levels due to, this could be due to under detection and low low reporting and gaps in screening that are observed for this type of mental health. The ministry is therefore improving mental health conditions through deploying psychologists in general health facilities who also provide counseling for victims of gender-based violence, including those who have experienced sexual violence. in consultation with the Royal Eswatini Police Service, who also have their unit for psychologists. The decentralization of mental health services to regional hospitals is ongoing in order to minimize the overcrowding at the National Psychiatric Hospital, which is the central facility, which we have noted that it has a persistently high bed occupancy rates. So the ministry is working with the regional hospitals to ensure that within regional hospitals, there are units that are looking after those who are mentally unwell, so that the National Psychiatric Hospital caters for the seriously unwell population in terms of mental health. So with sexual and reproductive health, we still note that teenage pregnancies continue to be a challenge for the health system in the country. During the quarter, July to September 2026, 17% of maternal deliveries were those below the age of 20 years, that is 17%, highlighting a need to sustain investment in adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. Our health policy of 2016 to 2026 stipulates that adolescents shall be provided with evidence-based, youth-friendly sexual reproductive health services. In this regard, the ministry has prioritized the provision of youth-friendly reproductive health services, with about 40% of our public health facilities having adopted this approach. In public health facilities, Services such as those for HIV counseling, family planning, are provided in a youth-friendly manner. The ministry works closely with other government sectors, such as the Ministry of Education and the Department of Social Welfare under the Deputy Prime Minister's office, to tackle the prevention of teenage pregnancies, which are multifaceted. We want to tackle this in a holistic approach. And my colleagues will weigh in on some of the measures. Also, in conjunction with the Minister of Justice and the Deputy Prime Minister's office and Royal Eswatini Police Service, our ministry has begun establishing one-stop centers within public hospitals where victims of sexual violence are attended to in a confidential environment. May I submit head of delegation and request my colleagues to weigh in and add when necessary?

I thank you.

I will respond to questions on the population, water, adequate food, and housing.

The question raised on the.

Population, we would like to highlight that the population of Eswatini is estimated at about 1.2 million, and of this population, 34% are young people under the age of 15. The population age 60 and above is estimated at about 7.8%. And the Swatini population being predominantly dominated by young people gives us the opportunity to plan for the future in terms of service provision as the population ages. In terms of the plans to ensure that elderly people have access to health services, the Ministry of Health is working on introducing the universal health care coverage. Now I will speak on the, respond to the question on the water pollution, including sewage discharge. The government of Eswatini is committed to implementing the SDGs environmental goals to address issues of water population, including sewage discharge, and is looking at doing this through the law, treatment, monitoring, compliance, and community action. In terms of the legislation, the government of Swatini has a number of legislation to address water pollution, including the Water Act of 2003, the Environmental Management Act of 2002, as well as the Public Health Act of 1969. All this legislation prohibits pollution into the air, water, and soil. We also have the environmental authority, which enforces this legislation to ensure that there's adherence to standards. On treatments, we have Eswatini Water Services Corporation, which operates 10 wastewater treatment plants. the largest being treatment plants in Matapa, Nhlambeni, and Ezulwini. To ensure compliance, the Eswatini Water Services Corporation does regularly conduct samples in the sewage plants to ensure that there is control in terms of what gets discharged in the sewage system. In rural areas, The Department of Water Services, which is responsible for rural water, periodically collect samples from rivers and tests the water in the laboratories to ensure that the water that is consumed by the people is safe. Another approach that is being utilized by the government of Eswatini is the community-led water and sanitation approach, whereby Enforcement is done through traditional structures. Through this approach, communities are being empowered to end open defecation and to build latrines. And this is one of the requirements for community members when they circle in an area. The first thing is for them to build a latrine. The results that we have seen is the decline in open defecation from about 11% in 2014 to about 4.6% in the latest survey mix of 2022. Coming to housing and secure tenure, the government prioritizes housing security and secure tenure. Through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, government has initiated a national program to upgrade informal settlements, working in collaboration with municipalities. Instead of removing informal settlements, The municipalities are working with communities to upgrade the informal settlements to ensure that the services are provided, such as water, electricity, roads, and lights, and also waste collection. The aim is to improve the standard of living of the people, particularly in urban informal settlements. For example, the settlements that have been upgraded in the Manzini region, we have Mohobotleni. In Babane, we have Msundusa, and in Lhanganu, we have Matendele.

In rural areas.

Governments through the deputy prime minister's office has introduced a project for the construction and rehabilitation of housing, targeting vulnerable population, particularly the elderly, child-headed households, and households for persons with disabilities to ensure that they also have proper housing and enjoy a decent life. I will now respond to question on adequate food. With regards to ensuring food security, the government of Eswatini is consistently monitoring the situation of food insecurity and has been conducting the vulnerability assessments on an annual basis. During 2024, the population that was food insecure, that was classified under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, IPC, phase three, stood at 20%. In 2025, we observed the numbers declining to about 16% of the population. And we should say, Head of Delegation, that The population that is affected in terms of food insecurity is population that is mostly in the low field, and the low field is the region, one of the region that is prone to droughts. The situation of food insecurity has been exacerbated by the climate shocks that Eswatini has continued to experience. And in recent years, the increase in the global prices, particularly for food, seeds, fertilizers, and fuel. Despite these challenges, government is responding in terms of provision of food parcels, targeted cash transfers to those vulnerable households through the National Disaster Risk Management Agency. In addition to that, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, is implementing programs aimed at improving food production through projects such as Food for Work, and also the provision of farm inputs through the Farm Input Subsidy Program. Okay, we'll now come to the question on poverty. The question was that there is high poverty rates in Eswatini, there's large rural-urban disparities. We acknowledge that poverty rate is high in Eswatini, and the government is responding in terms of the poverty reduction strategy and action plan that government continues to implement, which includes projects, particularly in the low fields such as LUSIP, and also responding in terms of social protection programs whereby vulnerable groups are supported in terms of grants, including the old age grant, disability grants, and supports to children, vulnerable children, through the neighborhood care points. I thank you, program head of delegation.

Thank you, team. Thank you, Madam. We hope we have answered the questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Excellency, and thank you to the distinguished delegation for their detailed responses. The floor is now open for follow-up questions from colleagues. And I recognize Ms. Pérez, Ms. Furio. Ms. Pérez, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Chair, and good morning to one and to all. I will give the delegation time to put on their headphones and find the interpretation channel, so they can hear what I'm saying. I know that this caused a little bit of confusion yesterday, so if I can just check that all of the delegation can hear the English interpretation. That seems to be the case. Thank you very much. So I'd like to begin by thanking the delegation for the very extensive data and information they have shared with us, including the information on the various actions that are under way in the State Party, which have been described by the delegation, and some of this information is also available, of course, in your report. I am going to pick up on two issues, if I may. Firstly, I would like to refer to suicide rates in Eswatini. This rate is four times higher than the average in sub-Saharan Africa. It's a rate that stands at 27.2 deaths by suicide per 100,000 inhabitants. At least that is the figure from the year 2024. I beg your pardon, 2021. And obviously, This is information gleaned from the Sustainable Development Goals reporting. Now, it's a multi-factor problem, as the member of the delegation has already described, to address this issue, and that means, of course, that coordinated action will be needed on various different fronts to address suicide and prevent same. We've already heard something about the actions that are being taken in terms of mental health in Eswatini, but I would like to ask whether you have made any headway in identifying and diagnosing the root causes that drive people to suicide in Eswatini? And if you have carried out such an analysis, have you been able to roll out coordinated actions in various areas to address those root causes, whatever they may be? I would also like to know the number of beneficiaries of mental health coverage, how many people tap this service. The second issue I'd like to address refers to hunger and food security. And again, I'm drawing my information from the SDG database. In 2023, according to this database, 14.7% of the population of Eswatini were living in a situation of hunger. Your report provides a lengthy explanation of various different laws and programmes that have already been rolled out and promulgated, and we have taken careful note of this important information. about these programmes and policies to address hunger and food security, but the Committee would like to know more about any changes in your budget measured against overall GDP, the budget line that you've set aside as part of GDP to support these food security activities, both in terms of direct food aid to persons as well as amounts or sums provided to agricultural improvement programmes over the last few years? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Pérez. Mr. Santiago Furio, you have the floor, sir.

Muchas gracias. In paragraphs 178 to 183 inclusive of your report, As well as in paragraphs 81 to 83 inclusive of your replies to our list of issues, the delegation provides a wealth of information about measures that they have taken to combat poverty in Eswatini and ways that they have measured the impact of these measures. This information is also referred to on a cross-cutting basis in other sections of both of the documents, the report and the replies. In reading this information, it seems that you use poverty measurement methodologies that focus on family or individual income as the yardstick. So I would like to ask whether the State Party intends to develop and roll out a multidimensional poverty measurement system that would allow you to identify not just deprivation that is linked to a lack of income, either at the family or individual level, but also to identify poverty indicators related to access to food, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation, and other economic, social, and cultural rights. Multidimensional measuring of poverty would allow the State Party to better identify and pinpoint simultaneous causes of poverty, which can be experienced on a cross-cutting basis in different situations, including more remote areas of the country. It would also allow the State Party to develop more targeted public policy to address poverty. Turning to another point, I would like to address subsistence income. Could the delegation share more information, or provide additional and complementary information, about other measures that have been adopted to improve access to a sufficient level of income to meet basic needs? particularly for workers in the informal and agricultural sectors? Also, if you could share with us any targets that you have established to make headway and improvements in this area. My final question will be on water and sanitation. And here I would like to ask the delegation to share with us more information about measures that you intend to enact to expand coverage of access to safe drinking water in houses across the country. as well as the provision of basic sanitation services and expanding the coverage thereof in rural and semi-urban areas, as well as measures that you have taken or steps that you intend to take to enable you to measure properly the extension of coverage of water and sanitation to these areas? Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Jiyoung Lee.

Thank you, Chair. The Committee welcomes the State Party's commitment to universal health coverage and commends its achievement of the 95-95-95 targets and its reduction of new HIV infections compared to previous years. However, the sudden withdrawal of external funding disrupted HIV testing, prevention and community-led services, according to UNAIDS, threatening to reverse this progress. Although it was subsequently followed by a new five-year health cooperation agreement with the development partner, I'm concerned that the HIV response remains heavily reliant on external funding, leaving it vulnerable to future disruptions. So could you please provide information on whether the State Party has a plan with targets and timelines to progressively increase domestic financing of the HIV response so that it does not heavily depend on external funding? I would like to also ask to what extent HIV services, including prevention and community-led services, are integrated into primary health care and financed through the essential health care package, and what steps are planned to complete this integration to ensure their long-term sustainability? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Kanhai.

Chair, my first question is in relation with forced evictions and the right to housing. Recent information points to continued concerns regarding forced evictions, insecurity of tenure, insufficient consultation of affected communities, and allegations of pressure on residents to accept relocation, and there are also concerns about risk of forced displacement without adequate safeguards. Could the delegation please provide information on the legal, policy, and practical measures adopted, sorry, to prevent forced evictions and ensure security of tenure? including in rural areas. And please indicate what safeguards are in place to guarantee genuine consultation with affected communities, adequate compensation and resettlement, access to effective remedies, and protection against coercion in relocation processes. And finally, with regard to maternal mortality, Please tell us what are the concrete measures taken to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity amongst women in rural and disadvantaged communities? And please indicate any progress achieved in improving access to skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care, antenatal and postnatal services, as well as the availability of health personnel and healthcare facilities throughout the country. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Winfer.

Thanks and a warm welcome from me addressing the delegation for the first time. Thanks for all the data you have provided to us. I just want to come back to one figure, particularly on stunted Children, yeah, it has been reduced, the number, quite considerably from around 40 to 20% in the last three decades, but it's standing at 20. And my question would be less about all the programs you might have undertaken, but what are the reasons you still see? What are the core reasons for this situation, and how do you want to address them? Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Pijie Chen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There's information this committee received in which there's a concern expressed for the right to housing based on its two component rights, the right to water and the right to basic sanitation. According to this information that for the overall right to housing, according to statistics, there has been only minimal improvement over two decades. And based on WHO and UNICEF joint monitoring project data, there's only 63.9% of people in Eswatini have access to at least basic sanitation. So the analysis is that state party is underperforming in meeting its immediate obligations under the covenant and converting its resources into good human rights outcomes for its people. However, It has real potential to make improvements, even at its current level of resources. So in this regard, the questions are maybe the question, I think, is similar to what Santiago raised at his last point. One, what actions will the State Party take to expand access to water? Two, what steps will the State Party take to prevent further decline in access to basic sanitation? Three, what specific actions will the State Party take to ensure that vulnerable groups are not excluded from meaningful enjoyment of their economic and social rights? I believe just now the delegation already introduced us some information about the sanitation and the pollution, but here I would like to hear some more introduction on how could you do in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Chen. Your Excellency, that brings us to the end of our follow-up questions under cluster 3. So we would request the distinguished delegation to kindly respond about in 20 minutes to the questions that have just been posed. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will request my team to answer the question. I'll ask Dr. Okello, followed by Mrs. Nonsansa, followed by Mr. Mlondi Sbanzi. Thank you.

Thank you, head of delegation. So we are addressing the question on the suicide rates. What we note here is that this is a cross-cutting.

Issue, that you will find that as a country, we have not consolidated the collection of data. between health, between the police, because when somebody dies of suicide, it is the Royal Swaziland Police.

That takes the statistics. But from their statistics, they did highlight that.

Mainly suicide are largely more than 80% among men, and majority are of working age groups above the age of 25.

Relatively young generation, but really a linkage to the social problems that.

As a country are facing, that includes poverty still for quite a number of them, coupled with unemployment. And of course, we are seeing a rise in substance abuse because of the availability of the marijuana, what is it called? Yeah, marijuana, which is, it's illegal in the country, but it finds its way in the hands of the young people who are already disponent because of lack of what to do having completed school. So it's a myriad of social factors and economic factors. So the actions to address are quite also, different sectors are applying their own approaches.

Of course, the police are also going to the public to sensitize the population. The Minister of Health is also speaking to people, offering debrief sessions.

But because of the inadequate numbers of psychologists, for now you find that as Minister of Health, we target our health workers and patients so that they're able to, those who are identified by the psychologist, they're able to offer them the debrief sessions. So that they can come out of the feeling of whether it's depression or another condition that is causing them to go into suicide, or even substance abuse can cause others to commit suicide. So it's multifaceted, and I think with DPM, the Deputy Prime Minister's office, they also have interventions that they are implementing in that aspect. So there is a need for a coordinated approach in addressing suicide in our country, which is being prioritized so that we can come out of it. Then when we talk of beneficiaries from mental health services, it's a similar response. in that the mental health services are distributed in different ministries or sectors. So we don't yet have one common reporting mechanism for mental health services. So we might report on health and those who benefit under health, but there are those who benefit.

We are also encouraging even churches to offer mental health.

Services prevention, so that people are able to debrief with somebody, even if you're a member.

Of the church or a member of the school, even teachers, they also have their psychologists in the schools.

So it's just lack of that coordinated mechanism to report on how far are we reaching the people in terms of mental health services. So it's one area that we need to improve as government. But various initiatives are existing already. And then when we move to the HIV response, we acknowledge that when there was a presidential order in earlier 2025, we did see a disruption of services.

Because some of the commodities, such as self-test kits, but not the whole testing.

Profile, but the self-test kits were funded by the partner who disrupted the services. So some services were able to continue, but not at the rate at which we would have preferred. So having gone through that, we have now learned, of course, that We need to take over. As in my presentation, as a country, we highlighted that we are now taking over all commodities for HIV. And now that we have taken over the treatment, which is the medicines, and our health care workers are paid by government, they are part of the government staff. We, the lagging behind, the most lagging behind issue has been the lab commodities, lab reagents, such as those for viral load testing and CD4 testing. So those ones have been heavily supported by the donors, and our government is ready to take over. So in the MOU that we've signed with the entity, I will say USG, we have agreed that we are taking They will slowly pull out their support and the government will be taking over over the next five years, so that by 2030, most of the critical or all the critical services will be within government. So, and the advantage that we have as a country is that when we started HIV services, we made sure that we decentralize, we integrate almost immediately our services in the primary care facilities.

So if you go to a clinic in Eswatini.

Whether how far rural it is, you'll find nurses who are trained in providing HIV services. They can prescribe for you your ARVs, they can prescribe for you that you need to do monitoring tests. The only difference is that because those facilities don't have high technology for testing viral loads, there is a system which we call the sample transport system, that takes samples from the clinic, picks them up on certain days, and takes them to the regional hospital where these tests can be done and the results can come back to the clinic. So already the integration has been happening, and I must say that it is already completed. The only thing we are just working on is to ensure that our diagnostics are fully funded by government. So, domestic HIV funding is therefore expected to increase over the next five years. Thank you.

Thank you, head of delegation. In responding to the question on hunger and food security, Eswatini has developed through the Minister of Agriculture the Eswatini Agriculture Improvement Program, which has a lifespan that is covering the period 2022 to 2026. And that plan has seven pillars. that are all working towards ensuring that we improve agricultural production, we move from subsistence farming to commercial farming. And there are a number of interventions that are proposed under that improvement program to ensure food security. including mechanization, irrigation, intervention that include linking farmers to markets, interventions that are aiming at commercializing agriculture, and many more intervention, including interventions that are aimed at ensuring access to credit for farmers. The Agriculture Improvement Program was costed, and the total estimated budget is estimated at over 11 billion, and it is costed on an annual basis. For the first year, about 3 billion is required to implement, and the funding for that plan is expected to come from both government and partners.

So we, as a government of Eswatini, we believe that the implementation of this agriculture improvement program.

Can go a long way to ensure food security and ending hunger in Eswatini. Now coming to the question on the poverty methodology that has been used, which is more on income, I would like to bring to the attention of the house that Eswatini does appreciate the importance of both methodologies, income-based methodology for measuring poverty and the multidimensional approach to measuring poverty. With the support from partners, Eswatini has done a multidimensional poverty analysis for children. with the support of partners, whereby the poverty was assessed against eight dimensions of deprivations for children. And drawing from the lessons of the multidimensional child poverty analysis that was undertaken in 2024, Eswatini is looking forward to undertaking another multidimensional poverty analysis that will cover the entire population based on the latest income and expenditure survey data once it is released, is published. Coming now to the questions on sanitation and access to water and sanitation. The government of Swatini is implementing a number of projects to ensure improved access to safe drinking water. And from the surveys that have been undertaken, taking from the MIX 2022 survey, a national access to safe drinking water has increased to 77%, up from 67% in 2017. We acknowledge the rural-urban gap of 23%, with access in urban areas at 95% and in rural areas at 72%. We also appreciate the importance of ensuring safe drinking water. As such, the government of Aswatin is implementing a number of projects that are aimed at ensuring safe drinking water, particularly for vulnerable communities. Hence, we have targeted the Shiselweni region and we are working with partners to implement the Shiselweni water supply and sanitation projects, which has a funding amounting to 45 million US dollars. aimed at expanding potable water coverage across water stressed communities. In the Manzini region, government is also implementing the integrated Manzini and peri-urban water projects with funding amounting to 825 million Malangeni. And the investment is aimed at expanding piped network to serve over 76,000 residents. There are also a number of rural water access projects that have a total funding of about 35 million US dollars to expand the network. And these projects combined to benefit about 118 rural residents in terms of supported localized infrastructure. I thank you, Chair, for now.

Delegation, may I answer the question on forced evictions? Under our national law, evictions are pursuant to a judicial process in accordance with the constitutional guarantees. Thus, we distinguish what is being termed, we distinguish from the evictions that are happening from, we distinguish them from being forced eviction. What usually happens is that evictions are carried out after a new person takes ownership of the farm. So these are the cases that are very prevalent, where the new owner now requires to displace the people that are found in the farms. Our constitution provides for the procedural safeguards, such as the consultations with the affected families, and that they should be given enough time or they should follow due processes. May I bring to the attention of this committee that the government does consider that we do need a comprehensive left policy that will address the many challenges that we are facing. May I also report that The development of the lead policy, as said earlier, has been revived after being in draft form for some time. It has been revived in March 2025, and consultations are ongoing. The reasons why it has been going for such a long time is based on the fact that we need to balance the constitutional provisions, our way of life, the traditional way of life, and also take into consideration the social economic For the cases that we have highlighted in our list of issues to include about six cases that have been brought before the Commission of Human Rights, may I report that there have been progress in re-settling those people that have been affected by those evictions. Some families have already been relocated, while it may not be the whole relocation because some relocations are still ongoing, but may I also report that alternative land have been identified where these people would be settled to, identified through the traditional authorities. The government, in collaboration with the Commission on Human Rights, is facilitating resettlement, the There are those that are being compensated, but the compensation is not in monetary. Compensation is being provided through construction of improved houses on new sites as to prevent destitution. That is why we are not giving them money so that to make sure that they don't go destitute. My apologies, we are not compensating through monetary so that we prevent destitution as a result of poor management of the funds by the affected families. May I submit that the government is working very hard to ensure that the land policy is in place. I thank you.

Delegation, I would like to respond to the maternity, the actions to reduce maternal mortality ratio in the rural areas and among the disadvantaged. So the actions here include increasing the number of clinics that have maternities that are being constructed. 'Cause some clinics don't have the maternity units, but we are focusing on increasing those with maternities. And then we've also, we've introduced theaters in the rural health centers where the doctors who are, the junior doctors who are posted there. can be able to do cesarean sections so that they minimize referral to the regional hospital for a complicated delivery. Ambulances are available through 977, and in our data, it shows that the largest, sorry, the highest amount of cases that they pick up are for maternity, for various maternity emergencies. And then health workers are also trained in emergency obstetric and neonatal care, and also are already providing ultrasound services for pregnant mothers. So we have allowed nurses or midwives to do ultrasound services so that they can quickly pick up a complicated maternal case. So access to skilled birth. is in the country is at 93.4%, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2022. However, we do acknowledge that availability of healthcare, our healthcare workers are strained, actually. They do try their best to provide the service, but it's really taxing on them because of the numbers that are not adequate to cover the demand. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. Honourable Chair, before I hand over to you, I wanted to emphasize on the issue of water coverage. Government is trying by all means, every financial year, that there must be a project on the ground on water. Yes, you might think that water in the rural areas, water coverage, it's very slow. It's different from the cities, the urban area, because we have houses next to each other. In the rural area, it's different. There's a community here, there's another community in a different place. So it's a process, but rest assured that every year government makes sure that there is a project on the ground, that the people, the rural people get water. And lastly, on the issue of the forced eviction. Yes, it's a forced eviction, but before we reach forced eviction, engagements have been there before. Yes, people have been born in that particular farm, they might refuse to move out, but usually the owner, the new owner who takes over, before he evicts them, there are some engagements. Sometimes they do regional agreements, sometimes they do not until they go to court. So, it's not just like when they wake up in the morning and they evict the people. Processes have been followed. Thank you, Honorable Chair. I hope we have answered the questions, cluster 4. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Excellency, for that explanation, and thanks to the delegation for their responses as well. Your Excellency, we will now move on to the last segment of our questions, cluster 4, where I'll request cluster leader, Mr. Santiago Furio, to kindly pose his question. Sir, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Chair, for offering me the floor. As I thank once again the delegation of Eswatini for participating in this dialogue as well as for the report that they have presented and the replies to the list of issues, I would like now to ask some follow-up questions on both reports. First, on the right to education, on assessment and updating public policies in the area of education. Regarding the Public Education Law of 2018, the National Framework for Studies of 2018, both of which are mentioned in paragraph 287 of the initial report, and seeing how long it has been since its adoption, I would like to ask the delegation whether you have, whether these instruments have any measurable objectives and indicators that would allow you to assess their implementation and determine the impact that they have had on the educational system. Have any assessments of the results have been carried out since the adoption? particularly as regards access to education, permanence, and carrying out studies in quality of teaching? If so, if it is indeed the case, could the delegation share the main conclusions from this? Furthermore, does the State plan on updating these instruments in light of the results that they have obtained in the area of education and the current challenges of the educational system? If so, what is the scheduled time frame for that process? Also, with regard to the aforementioned instruments, the Committee would appreciate information on the inclusion of civic education in the school curriculum, as well as the guarantees of academic freedom and the participation of students and teachers in educational and public life. So in this regard, could the State clarify whether civic education is taught systematically in a compulsory fashion at all levels of education? And, if so, please provide information on its content and its implementation. Also, we would like to know if any consideration is being given to including specific content on human rights, state institutions, civic participation, and accountability. And could the State indicate what measures are being taken in order to guarantee the academic freedom of teachers, while, of course, following the curricular standards established by the Government? Also, what measures are adopted to ensure that students and teachers can express their opinions, participate in academic activities, and organize peacefully without fear of reprisals? The Committee has been informed of the use of the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act of 1938, as well as the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008, then being used against student activists, and we have received information concerning the case of Kolani Maseko, President of the National Students Union. Could the State please provide information on the investigation or the proceedings undertaken in relation to these events? and clarify what safeguards are in place to prevent the application of criminal legislation that would unduly restrict academic freedom and student participation.

Turning now to the topic of free education, and considering paragraphs 289 to 302 inclusive of the initial report, as well as paragraphs 108 and 115 of the State party’s replies to the list of issues. Here we note that the State reports on measures to guarantee free primary education and provide support to orphans and vulnerable children. However, the State party does acknowledge that secondary education is not yet entirely free of charge, and that it is working towards harmonizing school fees at the secondary level. In this context, could the state provide information on the plans and expected timeline for progressively expanding free and compulsory basic education, at least until the completion of the first nine years of schooling? On a similar note, what mechanisms are in place to prevent and sanction the charging of unauthorised school fees in primary education institutions, and to ensure that the indirect costs of schooling do not prevent children from accessing or remaining in the education system? Turning now to access to secondary education, here I would like to draw attention to paragraphs 300 to 302 of the initial report and paragraphs 106 to 109 of the replies to the list of issues, where we read that the State reports that the net enrolment rate in secondary education stood at 56% in 2019. The State party identified educational costs teenage pregnancy and distances to schools as being among the main factors contributing to school dropout rates. The State also reported on measures to address these factors, these barriers. And against that backdrop, I would like to ask, firstly, what are the enrolment, retention, dropout and completion rates in secondary education, disaggregated by sex, disability, socioeconomic status and place of residence? Furthermore, I would like to ask what results have been achieved through those measures that have already been adopted to tackle this low rate of secondary education completion in the State Party, and what additional actions does the State intend to implement to reduce inequalities in access to secondary education, particularly among children from low-income households and rural communities? Turning now to availability and accessibility of resources to ensure school retention, here I am focusing on paragraphs 296 to 299 of the initial report and paragraphs 106 to 109 of the replies to the list of issues. The State reports on measures taken to reduce schooling costs, provide financial support to students in vulnerable situations, expand school meals programmes, and improve educational infrastructure. In this context, my questions are as follows. Firstly, could the State provide updated information on the budgetary resources allocated to primary and secondary education, including the annual allocation of funds earmarked for rural schools and the most disadvantaged communities? Secondly, under this heading, what mechanisms are in place to assess whether educational subsidies, school meals programmes, and assistance for the purchase of uniforms and teaching materials, or educational materials, school supplies, etc., are sufficient to prevent schooling costs from causing absenteeism or school dropouts? I now turn to teenage pregnancy, child marriage, and school dropout rates among girls. And here a first question: Could the State provide information on the implementation of the policy and guidelines for the prevention and management of learner pregnancy, including data on the number of pregnant students who have been able to continue their studies thanks to this policy and guidelines, and those who have been able to return to the education system after initially dropping out? Secondly, what specific measures are being taken to prevent school dropouts associated with child marriage and to ensure that married or pregnant girls can continue or resume their education on an equal footing? And thirdly, under this heading, What monitoring mechanisms are in place to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken by the State Party to address school dropout among girls as a result of teenage pregnancy and child marriage, and what budgetary resources have been allocated to their implementation? I turn now to some questions on cultural rights. Could the State Party provide updated information on the degree of implementation of the National Arts and Culture Policy 2023-2028, including information about the financial resources actually dispersed to this policy programme and the results achieved? What measures have been adopted to ensure that cultural initiatives and programmes are equally accessible to rural communities, women, persons with disabilities and young people. Now some questions on discriminatory customary practices and women's participation in cultural and community life. The Committee has received information about customary practices and gender inequalities that restrict women's participation in community and cultural life. In particular, it has been reported to us that widowed women may be excluded from public and community events, a situation which is also acknowledged by the aforementioned national arts and culture policy. Against this backdrop, I would like to ask what legislative, administrative and community-based measures the State Party has adopted to prevent and eliminate customary practices that restrict the participation of widowed women in cultural events, community activities and other areas of public life? How does the State ensure that the promotion and preservation of cultural traditions is carried out in a manner compatible with the principles of equality and non-discrimination and with the rights enshrined in our Covenant? And now, my last set of questions relating to compatibility between traditional cultural practices and the rights of girls and women. Here, the Committee has received information about certain traditional practices, including kwenzisa and inflanti, which may facilitate child marriages and affect girls' autonomy and development opportunities. The report which flagged these issues also raised concerns about certain power dynamics associated with the celebration of Umhlanga. Without disregarding or setting aside the importance of preserving cultural expressions of Eswatini, I would like nonetheless to ask the delegation: what measures has the State adopted to prevent traditional practices and customary authority structures from legitimizing or perpetuating situations of child marriage, subordination, or discrimination against girls and women? And finally, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that women and girls can freely participate in cultural practices and celebrations, absent coercion, and on an equal basis and with respect for their human rights. I may come back with additional questions during the follow-up segment, but I'll leave it there for the time being. Thank you.

We will just take a brief break. I request dear colleagues to kindly stay in the room while the distinguished delegation just regroups to organize its responses. Dear colleagues, distinguished delegation, we will now look forward to listening to the responses from the distinguished delegation of Eswatini to the questions posed to them by Mr. Furio under cluster 4. You have the floor, madam.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On cluster 4, I will request my colleagues to come up with the answers. And thank you for the questions. Ms. Bongiwe Mkhonta will be the first one, followed by Mr. Vilagati, followed by Ms. Nomzamo Dlamini, and Nontlango Ashongwe, and lastly it will be Mr. Mdlondi. Thank you. Over to you, colleagues.

Thank you, head of delegation. The government has introduced grade zero and is being implemented in 420 public schools. This was introduced in the year 2025, and it In that regard, the government has employed 40 teachers on a permanent basis. The implementation will be incremental until all public schools have a properly resourced grade zero class. The grade zero in the country is currently not free as it is not covered under the free primary education. But the government does provide meals, infrastructure, teaching, and learning materials. The parents only pay tuition that is meant for the teacher's salary. However, the government is continuously working on strengthening its early childhood care and development education legislation and regulation and program standards. The total enrollment by sex in this category is 4,851 females and 4,933 males. The total primary school enrollment Primary enrollment over the preceding three years, that is from 2023 to 2025, shows an increasing rate with at least 5% between 2024 and 2025. Between 2024 and 2025, the gross enrollment, the primary enrollment rate rose to 234,025 from the 222,901 students that were enrolled in 2024. There was a drop in the 2024 progression in the number of learners In that, in, sorry, sorry, in that, there were 121 males 121,651 males in 2025 as compared to 114,333 in 2024. The completion rate is above 100% for 2025 because the official age entry is six years old in, is six years in primary, but the completion rate shows a rate of 121.4, which indicates that There are, there were, there's repetition in some grades, and also that there are also over-aged learners. The dropout rate shows that a number of learners dropped out across the four regions from 2023 to 2025. The primary reason for the dropout Um, is… relocation with numbers rising from 2,500 learners in 2023 to over 5,300 in 2025. There was also academic discouragement whereby repeated more than once is a major factor, especially for males. Data shows that dropouts due to school fees have doubled since 2023, which indicates an increasing financial strain on households. Since the primary education is free and the Free Primary Education Act provides that Where schools require an amount to be added, they have to apply to the Minister of Education and Training. The government has since called upon those schools which were noted to have been applying the top-up fees without following this laid down procedure of law to account to the ministry during in January 2026. This process is still ongoing. The secondary school enrollment rate increased by 3.15% between 2024 and 2025. And transition rates from primary level, which is from grade 7 to the lower secondary level, that is form 1, was noted to be 87.7% for the academic year 2025. There are learners who failed in the given cohort, for instance, There were 27,395 learners enrolled for Form 1 in 2023, and this number was reduced to 22,627 for the same cohort in 2024. However, the cohort that was in Form 3 in 2023 The enrollment increased by 1,806 learners when they were in Form 4, before decreasing to 18,380 in 2025 when they were in Form 5. This suggests a sizable repetition rate, especially in Form 4. The dropout rate shows that it has been steadily increasing in the last three years, with more girls dropping out. The government notes that this implies the need to strengthen interventions aimed at keeping learners within the school system.

In this regard, the government has a policy for the prevention and management of learner pregnancy. However, we note that the government has no data at the moment which which shows that the reentry of these learners upon reentry. We must, we submit head of delegations that pregnant learners are not prohibited from reentering, and schools are not expected to expel learners due to pregnancy. The learners, however, due to, in terms of the policy, are allowed to take time off to care for their babies and return to complete studies. The government also launched a Let's Talk campaign aimed at listening to stakeholders on the root causes and solutions for the prevention of early and unintended pregnancies and conduct school visits to engage students and teachers openly. The emphasis is also placed on that boys must not be left out, and the government has also introduced the life skills program, which targets 4,000 teachers and 32 health officers who were trained on how to assist the learners. The government has also.

Is also piloting a boys and schools club where learners, where learners talk to peers about psycho support issues. Whilst the government, it does not have a set timeline for the introduction of free secondary education, it is actively advocating for, the ministries actively advocating for a standardization of secondary fees and the strengthening of the orphaned and vulnerable children grant in that it be increased to at least 4,000 Malagasy, 118 to cater for the cost of education in secondary school. The ministry has, with the support of development partners, is engaging, is piloting in 66, is paying for 667 learners with this added fee. I thank you, head of delegation.

Thank you, head of delegation. I'm going to answer the question concerning academic freedom of students and teachers with particular reference to the alleged indictment of student leaders and teachers under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act. The Government of Eswatini wishes to point out that there are no pending prosecutions against any student leader or a teacher under both the Suppression of Terrorism Act and the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act. There's no pending prosecution against Mr. Tolani Maseko. At present, there is a civil suit which Mr. Maseko instituted against the government, and that pending suit is before the courts. It hasn't come for courts for trial. I thank you.

Thank you, head of delegation.

I will be responding on the customary practices resulting to discrimination in cultural life of women, as well as harmful customary practices and child marriage.

Head of delegation, I will respond to these questions in no sequential order. beginning with the culture of Kwenzisa and Inlanti. We do acknowledge, Head of Delegation, that culture evolves following generations, following experiences, following influences, following education. Therefore, Head of Delegation, these cultural practices in Eswatini are no longer in practice.

As an office responsible for child rights, women's rights as well, we have not received any reported cases or any media publications around such acts. And we do trust and believe that this.

Has come as a result of the enactment of laws that criminalizes child marriage, to be specific. in reference to the Child Protection and Welfare Act, and in reference to the Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Act.

These legislations are loud around criminalizing child marriage, exposing children to sexual activities, and many other. And on at program level, there has been very strong advocacy. targeting different stakeholders to also include traditional authorities, who at most times are custodians of culture, but through the different sensitization topics where such topics, even sensitization forums, where such topics are also discussed. So this has really brought a whole reduction of child marriage, to be specific. And Head of Delegation, may I also proceed to responding on political exclusion and cultural restrictions of a certain bracket of women? Once again, Head of the delegation, my reference to my earlier submission on evolving culture. This also applies in this very same context. Traditionally, this is to also speak to, traditionally, women would also, widows, to be specific, would not be even allowed to maybe move around upon the death of their spouses or while in mourning. So it has been a traditional practice in the past period. However, in current times and the current practice, women, I mean widows, now have the right to move around. Actually, they move around in preparation for the burial of their spouses. Institutions, the relevant institutions that work around as such For example, during the release of the relevant documents, release of funds for the burial of those spouses, such as the pension funds, such as the burial schemes, such as home affairs where death certificates are also released, they now require the direct presence of the widow, no more delegation of relatives or any other person. And again, Coming to wearing of mourning gowns, widows now have an option to choose either to take on the black mourning gowns as it was a practice in the past times, or to mourn in different ways. And this has also been seen with most, especially it's been practiced with women who are even employed, where they are able to continue their work in their own casual wear, or they identify a certain outfit to do mourning, but it is at the interest of that particular widow. And then again, when we come to their participation in public spaces, I will be specific to during the election period. Widows, sorry, the voting centers have now been positioned in neutral areas, for example, schools, churches, and other neutral public spaces to allow all Ema Swati, including widows, to participate freely in the entire voting exercise. And also in overall, the national constitution under section 28, subsection three states that none of Lesotho or Emaswati can be forced to undergo a culture or a religious practice that they are not in agreement with.

I submit, head of the education. Thank you.

To respond on the question on the budget allocation between primary and secondary, and between rural and urban schools. The Ministry of Education and Training in Eswatini is one of the ministries that receives the largest share in terms of the budget allocation, which this financial year is about 6.4 billion, which is approximately 16.7% of the national budget. The budget is centralized in Eswatini, such that the budget is controlled by the ministry. Hence, there are no budget allocations by regions or by rural and urban areas. However, the budget allocation At primary level, the budget allocation is per child, per learner, and not by school. So in terms of the grant that the school receives, it depends on the number of learners in that particular school and not determined by the location. So for bigger schools, The grant will be higher for smaller schools, the grant will be a bit small. Those are some of the challenges that we experience in terms of the allocation, which, of course, are addressed through other measures. Over the years, the budget for education has hovered around 40 to 45% of the Ministry of Education budget, while the budget for secondary education has hovered around 20 to 25% of the total education budget. That is the budget for junior secondary. And then for senior secondary, it has hovered around 10 to 12%. And the differences in the budget allocation by education level is based on the number of learners at each level. At lower levels, the enrollments are higher because education at primary level is free. As you move to the junior and senior secondary level, the enrollments are a bit lower because of the fact that education is not state funded at those levels. Secondary education is not free, as my colleagues has already mentioned, and the reason is that currently subsidizing school fees at this level is not feasible and sustainable considering the fiscal constraints. The government of Eswatini would wishes to scale up the subsidized education to secondary. However, we want to do that with confidence that it will be sustainable and feasible to do so.

In the long run.

Measures that government is implementing to ensure access to secondary include standardizing of the secondary education, as my colleague has already highlighted, and also the provision of grants for orphaned and vulnerable learners at secondary education level, with the grant amounts at 1,950 and the intention to increase it, as my colleague has already highlighted. In addition to this, government provides free meals for students at secondary level. The government also provides dignity packs. And these are measures to ensure that learners at secondary school stay or are retained within the education system, and we reduce absenteeism by providing this or closing these gaps in terms of packs for girls and boys and meals for learners at this level. I thank you, chair.

Thank you, Chairperson. I will respond to the question that was asking Eswatini on what measures have been taken to ensure that the curriculum in basic education schools, it includes human rights principles, as well as what measures is the country taking to remove harmful cultural stereotypes and promote positive alternatives. So in this respect, Eswatini has undertaken curriculum and textbook reforms to ensure that teaching materials reflect constitutional guarantees of equality and the principle of non-discrimination. Through the Ministry of Education, a comprehensive review of the national curriculum have been initiated to enhance its relevance and effectiveness. with attention to inclusivity and the removal of outdated or prejudicial content. Positive alternatives that have been introduced into textbooks include the inclusiveness, the inclusive narrative that highlights Eswatini's cultural diversity and shared national identity. Human rights content integrated into social studies and life skill subjects, emphasizing equality, dignity, and respect for all persons. Gender-sensitive and multicultural examples in teaching material, replacing outdated depiction with content that reflects modern values of inclusivity. Further, There are teacher training programs that are administered periodically to reinforce these reforms by equipping educators to identify and challenge discriminatory language or imagery in teaching materials. Further, there are professional development workshops that emphasize the use of inclusive pedagogy and the promotion of human rights principles in classrooms. In practice, subjects such as social studies, history, and life skills include chapters on Eswatini's national heritage, cultural tradition, and contribution of different communities to national development. These materials highlight the values of unity in diversity and promote understanding of cultural practices of groups living in Eswatini. Then, in terms of cultural institutions and associations that promote national culture, traditions, and intercultural tolerance, Eswatini has established a number of cultural institutions and associations whose mandate is to preserve national culture, promote traditions, and foster intercultural tolerance. For instance, there is the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Youth Affairs, which has a Department of Arts and Culture that plays a central role in coordinating cultural programs and supporting initiatives that highlight Eswatini's heritage while encouraging respect for diversity. There is also Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture, which is an administrative body tasked with promoting cultural development, supporting artists and cultural associations, and ensuring that cultural activities reflect inclusivity and tolerance. It organizes national festivals, traditional ceremonies, and intercultural exchanges that brings together different communities to celebrate shared values. On this note, may I thank you, Chairperson.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We submit our answers.

Thank you, thank you, Your Excellency. The floor is now open for follow-up questions. I see Mr. Santiago Furio has requested for the floor. Sir, you have the floor, sir.

Thank you very much. I will take a moment to ask a few additional questions, as well as some that are follow-up questions related to previous topics. Regarding access to education in early childhood, looking at paragraphs 109 and 115 of the replies to the list of issues, I would like to ask whether this State could please provide updated information on pre-primary education coverage, its geographical distribution, and the costs that families are required to bear in order to have access to that education. Also, what measures does the State intend to adopt to progressively extend access to affordable and quality early childhood education, paying particular attention to children from households living in poverty and those residing in rural areas? Also, on inclusive education and the right to education of persons with disabilities, could the State please provide information, updated information, on effective coverage of inclusive education, including the number of educational institutions with accessible infrastructure and the availability of teachers with specialized training, as well as adapted educational resources. What measures is the State adopting in order to reduce differences in enrollment and completion rates between students with and without disabilities, and what results have been achieved through the four inclusive schools mentioned in the initial report? These schools were mentioned in paragraphs 294 and 295 of the initial report. And we're also looking at the statistical data that was presented following paragraph 113, or immediately before paragraph 113. Access to education for undocumented children, refugees, and asylum seekers. Regarding paragraph 314 of the initial report, this State indicates that it provides assistance to undocumented students through cooperation between relevant ministries. and that refugees can have access to assistance for free primary education whenever they are duly registered. So in this context, could the state clarify whether the lack of documentation or civil registration can either prevent or delay the enrollment of children in the educational system? And also, what specific procedures are in place in order to ensure that undocumented children, refugees, and asylum seekers can effectively exercise their right to education without discrimination? The Committee would appreciate receiving information on measures adopted to ensure that administrative procedures do not become obstacles to school enrollment. prevention of bullying and sexual violence in educational institutions, and considering paragraphs 318 to 320 of the State’s initial report, the Committee has received information about ongoing situations of discrimination, sexual harassment and requests for sexual favors by teachers towards female students in particular. highlighting the need to strengthen prevention, reporting, and accountability mechanisms. In this context, could the State provide information on specific measures adopted to prevent, investigate, and sanction bullying and educational violence in educational institutions? And in particular, are there confidential and accessible mechanisms for submitting complaints, independent investigation procedures, and measures to protect against possible reprisals? Also, could the State please provide information on the number of complaints received, of the investigations carried out, and the sanctions imposed in recent years, as well as training measures that have been given to the training staff recently? On the quality of education, and considering paragraphs 295 up to 301 of the initial report, which indicate that over 8,900 qualified primary school teachers and more than 7,600 qualified secondary school teachers are available. Can the State please provide information on the results that have been achieved through the curriculum reform and the teacher training initiatives? In particular, does the State have data on the proportion of qualified teachers in relation to the total number of teachers in the country? Do you have data on availability of trained teaching staff in rural and urban areas? And also, what measures are being adopted to ensure that investment in infrastructure, educational materials, and technologies translates into verifiable improvements in learning outcomes and a reduction in geographical inequalities? Could the state also provide information on teacher salaries in Eswatini? Are these salaries competitive? How do these salaries compare with the minimum wage or the average wage in the country? Is there a teacher career progression plan? Are there teachers working on an ad-honorem basis in Iswatheeni? With reference to the educational continuity and transition of the workforce, And with reference to paragraph 289 of the initial report, which established compulsory primary education from the first to the seventh grade, the Committee has received information indicating that children who complete this stage between the ages of 12 and 14 may find themselves outside of the scope of compulsory education, while simultaneously being below the legal minimum age for employment. which means that they have an increased risk of being exposed to child labour. So, in this context, can the State clarify which public or legislative measures are there available to ensure the compulsory schooling of children after having completed primary school and then access to education or their exposure, avoid exposure to child labour? Also, has there been an assessment of harmonizing the duration of compulsory schooling with the minimum legal age for employment. And this takes me now to other questions on cultural rights, beginning with the involvement of children in cultural life and preserving cultural expressions. We have received information presented by some civil society organizations that indicate that certain sectors of the youth are being marginalized from public participation opportunities, and that students and young people have limitations to express opinions if they are critical. So these concerns raise questions about their actual participation in cultural, artistic and intellectual life, which is why we would like to know what measures has the State adopted in order to promote the effective participation of young people in artistic creation, cultural production and decision-making on cultural policies. What guarantees are there to protect the freedom of expression and artistic creation and intellectual pursuit among the youth, including those who express critical opinions or who participate in independent cultural initiatives? And lastly, regarding tribal and indigenous peoples, I would like to refer to The 1989 International Labour Organization's Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, No. 169, in its Common Core Document, the state itself describes Eswatini as a predominantly homogenous society, in which 97.8% of the population belongs to the Eswati ethnic group. The State itself has had interpretations in official documents recognizing the population at large as indigenous. So, against this backdrop, I would like to ask the delegation whether the State has conducted any analysis of the possible existence of communities or groups that, in light of the criteria established in Article 1 of Convention No. 169, communities or groups that could fall within the scope of its application? Also, has the State considered the possibility of ratifying this Convention? If not, could you please explain the reasons for which? and whether you are considering assessing this possibility? And lastly, can you tell us whether any other tribal populations or groups have been identified within the territory of Eswatini, and whether these groups have received legal recognition from the State? That concludes my questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Furey, for those very comprehensive follow-up questions. I now request the delegation to kindly respond to them.

Thank you, madam Chair. I will request Mr. Mlondi, Nozipho, Mr. Vilagati, Bongwe and Nonsatsha to respond. Thank you.

Thank you, head of delegation. In relation to the questions posed on the access on pre-primary education, a national grade zero and grade zero-zero curriculum with a complementary package of teacher guides, workbooks, indoor and outdoor materials has been provided, and also the first national learning outcome assessment for five-year-olds. 19,022 learners benefit from this well-resourced learning space. And also 340 grade zero classrooms received the child development support package. 368 teachers and 340 head teachers were trained on the curriculum. 61% of grade zero learners show that they developmentally, they are on track. There also the The Eswatini MEC 2021-22 report reported a low literacy in the region of 16% and numeracy at 8%. The government, therefore, is implementing the The TAL approach, it's being piloted in 30 schools, and it is benefiting 1,900 learners.

Also, 990 teachers were trained on this approach. Moreover, the competency-based education also seeks to improve the quality and proficiency of children, of learners.

The mix also reported a low result in the maths and science department, therefore, the government trained 24 teachers in the progressive maths and science initiative. And it is, this pilot is ongoing in 126 schools.

Even though there is not data yet, as it is still at pilot stage, preliminary information is that there is improvement in the learning and teaching instruction of the maths and science subjects. Regarding the access, if refugees, the lack of documentation for refugees can delay their enrollment or enjoyment of their right to education. What we have noted is that the children, in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the children are allowed access into the classes, therefore, their access to the right to education is not infringed. The government, in terms of the issue on measures on bullying and sexual harassment. The government has a dedicated toll-free line, which any learner or any stakeholder can call and report any issues, the Department of Educational, Training and Career Guidance then will investigate and the investigations are guaranteed to be confidential.

I thank you, head of delegation.

We just take a pause of two minutes without anybody leaving the room, please. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so, Your Excellency, yes, please continue.

Colleagues, we can continue.

Thank you, Head of Delegation. I will respond to the question on whether the Kingdom of Eswatini intends to ratify the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989. I submit that the government will consider the ratification of this convention. I will move on to the issue of the competitiveness of salaries for teachers in Eswatini, and I wish to submit that management audits are carried out by the Ministry of Public Service. Every five years, we have a salary review for all public servants. And what the Minister of Public Service does is they look at the job worth of every sector, and that informs the grading structure of the civil service. Employees who are not happy with the outcome of the salary review have the option to appeal, and this right is exercised every five years through the relevant structures within the public service. Thank you. I submit, head of delegation.

I'll start by responding to the question that was asking, so I think that it was considering to conduct some studies to assess the existence of indigenous communities and any other tribal groups that may exist in our society. So in response to that question, we can state that In Eswatini, we conduct annual population censuses every 10 years. The last census at which we conducted in year 2017. The next round of census is going to be 2027, and processes for conducting the upcoming census have already been initiated. Data is collected. Then to cater or to assess whether there are any indigenous groups that are existing within our society. During the collection of data in our annual population censuses, they are, in terms of the information gathering tools that our data enumerators use. There is a component where it asks people whether they belong to any specific tribal groups or any indigenous groups. So up to this far, maybe drawing from the results of the 2017 census, we found that on the responses, none of the participants or people that were interviewed have identified themselves to be belonging to any indigenous group or any tribal groups. That led us to the conclusion that Eswatini society is largely homogeneous, that is being constituted by one tribal group, that being EmaSwati. And the remaining 2%, it consists of maybe migrants that are from other countries. Then maybe I can also maybe hand over to my other colleagues who are going to respond to other questions that have not been attended to.

Thank you, head of delegation.

I would like to address the question on measures to reduce dropouts. The government of Eswatini has put in a number of measures to reduce dropouts in the school system. The first measure is on addressing financial barriers, and this is done through the implementation of the free primary education program, which covers primary education, that is grade one to grade seven, with grants paid per learner. This helps to keep learners in the school system. At secondary education level, we have the OVC education grants, which targets vulnerable children This grant has also been instrumental in ensuring that the learners do not drop out of the school system. With regards to these grants, yes, there are challenges in terms of sometimes teachers requiring top-up fees. However, the Ministry of Education and Training continues to sensitize teachers to adhere to the, at primary education level, we have the Free Primary Education Act, which guides schools not to send learners home for non-payment of school fees. So the ministry has that role to continue periodically sensitizing teachers or to ensuring that the legislation is enforced.

There are also a number of.

Projects that the ministry is implementing with partners aimed at ensuring retention of learners in schools. These projects are aimed at providing learning material for learners, particularly at primary education level, so that the education is relevant to the needs of the learners. They are also looking at the curriculum, the content, to ensure that it aligns with the labor market, and also training teachers to ensure that they deliver the right content at the right level. All of this helps to ensure that learners keep interested in learning and they stay within the school system. There's also the legislation that's aimed at ensuring completion of learners who fall pregnant. This is the 2020 National School Pregnancy Prevention. and management policy, which is in place and provides opportunities for teenage mothers to reenter into the school system. There are also a number of other measures that are implemented by other ministries and partners to ensure that learners stay in the school systems, which we can share later. In terms of the household's education costs, The government of Eswatini periodically, with the support of partners, conducts the education sector analysis, which is the analysis that provides us with the information on the cost of, on the household cost of education. And the analysis is normally used to inform government policy, programming, and resource allocation. The households costs depend on the level of education of the child and may include tuition costs, cost of uniform, costs of transport, and extra learning, like, for example, educational trips, which are also important for the holistic development of the child. Given these costs and the likelihood of preventing or prohibiting access to education, the Minister of Education and Training has put in place the education sector policy, which provides guideline regarding these costs. I'll just give an example. Regarding school uniform, the policy does provide guidelines that schools, instead of having multiple uniforms, they should have one basic or one standard uniform that is that can be used by the learner for all weather, in line with the Eswatini weather patterns. This helps to ensure that learners don't feel discriminated because they lack one set of uniform. So there's one standard set of uniform that the policy advocates for per school. It can differ by color, but there should be just one basic standard uniform. With regard to transport, the Minister of Public Works does regulate the cost of fuel and revise them, fuel cost now and then in consideration of the affordability, especially by poor households. Coming to the question on inclusive Education, in terms of the number of schools and the trained teachers, that information is readily available and can be shared following this dialogue. The government of Swaziland has received support to construct inclusive schools. One parish, the recent in the in this phase, the latest phase, one school, inclusive education school, has been constructed in in each of the four regions using the universal design. And in terms of the teachers in Eswatini that are teaching children with special education, they have all undergone inclusive education and special needs training, which is offered by one of the local teacher training schools in the country. Some of the teachers have benefited from training programs outside the country to ensure that they are able to support learners with special needs. In regarding the disparities between mainstream schools and special schools, the Ministry of Education and Training has embraced inclusive in the inclusive approach, whereby mainstream schools have been capacitated to be able to handle or support learners with special education needs. The ministers also collaborated with Ministry of Health to ensure that there's early identification of children with special needs, so which provides information to parents and allows them to decide whether they are sending their children to a mainstream school or a specialist schools. Looking at the severity, I don't, I want to use the right name, but the severity of the disability, so they are able to take that decision. So if parents decide they are taking their children to a mainstream school, then the ministry would ensure that there is a teacher that can support the learner and the infrastructure is modified to allow the learner to access all the the buildings within the school. So there are a number of projects that the ministry's implementing. For example, there's a project on the modification of the ramps and pathways and access doors for children that may be using wheelchairs. There are projects that are earmarked to provide learners in mainstream schools who have special needs and in special schools with teaching and learning equipment, like, for example, hearing aids, wheelchairs, assistive devices for them to be able to learn at their own pace and be able to fare well with their counterparts. And lastly, head of delegation, regarding data on trained teachers, the Minister of Education and Training has the Education Management Information System. within the ministry that is responsible for collating all education data on access and quality of education. And data on teachers is available and is disaggregated by gender, by location, by qualification, just to give an example.

I thank you, head of delegation.

Thank you, colleagues. We submit, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Excellency. We now reach the conclusion of our constructive dialogue with the distinguished delegation of Eswatini. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all and would request, before we close, to hear closing remarks from our country rapporteur and then you, Your Excellency. We are a little short of time, so if we can kindly be brief. Mr. Kanhai, so you have the floor.

Thank you, Chair. We are happy to conclude our fruitful exchanges over the broad range of issues and challenges which confront Eswatini in the implementation of the economic, social, and cultural rights under the Covenant. The discussions have indeed been most enriching and stimulating. We have been provided with plenty of useful and helpful information. And the discussions have also brought to light the many relevant and material factors which are vital for an effective realization and protection of the economic, social and cultural rights in Eswatini. Such a constructive dialogue will very much assist our Committee in coming up with fully considered and appropriate recommendations in the concluding observations which would follow. I need to express our deep gratitude and appreciation to the head and members of the distinguished delegation for their active participation and the positive spirit which prevailed throughout the proceedings. I am also grateful to the civil society organizations and all the other bodies and institutions which provided us with a useful input for the purpose of the present review exercise. My thanks also go to all the members of our committee, the Secretariat, and especially Carmen, and also to the interpreters and technical staff for their very valuable support and contribution. Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to the members of the Task Force, Nadia, Peggy, and Santiago, for their meaningful participation in raising and addressing all the crucial issues arising under the various articles of the Covenant. I would end by wishing the head and members of the distinguished delegation a pleasant and safe return journey home. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Your Excellency, I request you for your closing remarks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Chairperson, members of the Committee, on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland, I express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to present the progress made in implementing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Chairperson, we extend our appreciation to the country’s Rapporteur, the task team, and the entire committee for their open, objective, and constructive engagement. In the same light, we thank the Secretariat and the interpreters for their invaluable support throughout the process. Once again, we also wish to extend our appreciation for the technical and financial support, as well as the good cooperation the government of Eswatini is receiving from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Southern Africa, the UN country team, and the human rights unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat in fulfilling its reporting obligation. We extend special thanks to the Human Rights Advisor of the Commonwealth Small States Office in Geneva for assisting in the preparation of the delegation for this review. Chairperson, the Government looks to the outcome of this review with optimism. I would like to assure the distinguished Committee that Eswatini will continue to take steps to the maximum of its available resources towards the the full implementation of the Covenant in line with our obligations and commitment to promote and protect human rights for the citizens of Eswatini. The government of Eswatini acknowledges with appreciation the financial and technical support provided by our development partners, individual countries in our endeavor to implement the covenant and achieve the sustainable development goals and agenda 2063. We look forward to their support in implementing the recommendations arising from this dialogue. We further welcome the Committee’s guidance and support in the following areas: technical and financial support for social protection and universal health coverage; support for climate adaptation and disaster risk financing; strengthening statistical capacity; and continued assistance to the MNRF to maintain timely state In conclusion, on behalf of the Government of Eswatini, I reaffirm our commitment to the progressive realization of economic, social, and cultural rights, and to continued engagement with the Committee to advance the implementation of the Covenant for the benefit of Eswatini citizens. I thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, Your Excellency, and thank you for your assurance about Eswatini's commitment to progressive realization of the Covenant rights. I want to join Mr. Ashraf Kanhai in thanking you and your delegation for your participation in this very meaningful dialogue. It's a constructive dialogue, and at the end of our two-week session next week, we will be concluding, issuing concluding observations, which will be made available to you. And we request that in that concluding observations, we will identify three specific issues which merit potentially follow-up within the next two years. And of course, we look forward to receiving your response to follow up on all other recommendations that will be contained in our concluding observations, but you could kindly look at the three issues specifically identified by our committee. And with that, I want to thank you, your colleagues, my dear colleagues, everyone, for this very meaningful participation and wish you all a safe journey back home. Thank you. The meeting is closed.