Orphans in the room they are now sharing – it is much smaller than the house they used to live in before their parents passed away.

The deceased’s property should go to their children, but too often the house is taken by relatives. Locals call it “property grabbing”. To ensure fair inheritance of property, women and children need to know their rights and policemen and other arbitrators need to be aware of how to settle property disputes.

Lesotho uses Global Fund money to finance the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) which offers legal aid to women and children and promotes their rights. FIDA trains legal advisors to reach the young people most in need of help so that cases can be brought to justice.

The police are being trained so they know what to do if they are faced with a case of property grabbing. More than 220 police officers country wide were trained by December 2008 – many of them going on to share the training in their own units.

To ensure the law is accessible to everyone, radio talk shows and phone-ins answer people’s questions about their entitlements. Students are given training on inheritance law and property rights – more than 1,750 have been trained so far. FIDA translates national law into local languages and distributes booklets informing people of their rights – more than 13,000 info leaflets have been handed out and are widely used in schools and remote areas of Lesotho.

FIDA works to encourage parents to leave a will while they are still alive, ensuring the child’s best interests are protected. FIDA also fights to change laws so they are fairer. Around 12 laws have been amended due to their actions. Under the Child Protection and Welfare Bill, which ensures better protection of minors than in the past, the High Court is able to recover property where it has been grabbed by greedy relatives.

Mathiya Nonayesi talks with Tokani Tokan, an orphan who would like his deceased parents’ property to be returned to him.

Fighting child abuse

The absence of parental care leaves orphans vulnerable to aggression or abuse. Folklore makes a perverted and mistaken claim that a person infected with HIV will be cured by having sex with a virgin. Misplaced belief in this falsehood has led some adults to rape children. Orphans are more susceptible to be raped, either because they are not looked after properly and wander astray, or sometimes they are raped by the very guardians who are supposed to be protecting them.

The Global Fund is helping lawyers to address child abuse with assistance to the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). The organization spreads awareness of the Sexual Offenses Act, which stipulates that people who do not report the sexual abuse of children are also guilty of committing the same crime. Informing people that non-action over child abuse is seen as consent is an important part of breaking the silence and stopping it. The penalty for a sexual offender committing rape knowing that he is HIV positive is death.