Institute for Migrant Rights
Railway line at Cianjur station, c. 1890 · KITLV, CC BY 4.0

Migration Jurisprudence from the South › Botswana

Modise v. Botswana

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights · Botswana · 2000-11 · Regional court or body

Citation: Communication 97/93
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided for the migrant side

Question

Did Botswana breach the rights of a man it refused to recognise as a citizen and repeatedly deported?

What the court decided

Yes. Denying him citizenship and deporting him to South Africa and a homeland breached his rights to equal protection, dignity and family life.

In plain language

A politician in Botswana was told he was not a citizen and was sent to South Africa several times, ending up in a homeland area with no status. The African Commission said Botswana had broken the Charter.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Seorang politisi di Botswana dinyatakan bukan warga negara dan beberapa kali dikirim ke Afrika Selatan, hingga terdampar di wilayah homeland tanpa status. Komisi Afrika menyatakan Botswana melanggar Piagam.

Pertanyaan: Apakah Botswana melanggar hak seorang pria yang tidak diakui sebagai warga negara dan berulang kali dideportasi?

What happened afterwards

  • 2000-11: Decision adopted.
  • 2000s: He is given a form of citizenship; the Commission notes it is not by birth. [Check.]

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/achpr-modise-2000/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

For researchers

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Keywords: case law; jurisprudence; judicial decisions; comparative constitutional law; courts and migration; judicial behavior; litigation outcomes; refugee law; non-refoulement; citizenship and nationality; empirical legal studies; empirical legal scholarship; quantitative legal research; statistical analysis in law; law and economics; law and economics of migration; comparative law; socio-legal studies; legal pluralism; migration law; labor migration; migrant workers’ rights; human rights law; access to justice; Global South; Asia; Africa; Middle East; Latin America; Indonesia; open data; replication data.