"text":"Paramount chief MOSHOESHOE I consolidated what would become Basutoland in the early 19th century and made himself king in 1822. Continuing encroachments by Dutch settlers from the neighboring Orange Free State caused the king to enter into an 1868 agreement with the UK by which Basutoland became a British protectorate, and after 1884, a crown colony. Upon independence in 1966, the country was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho. The Basotho National Party ruled the country during its first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE II was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995 and subsequently succeeded by his son, King LETSIE III, in 1996. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after seven years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Batswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relative political stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002, but the National Assembly elections in 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties disputed how the electoral law was applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly. In 2012, competitive elections involving 18 parties saw Prime Minister Motsoahae Thomas THABANE form a coalition government - the first in the country's history - that ousted the 14-year incumbent, Pakalitha MOSISILI, who peacefully transferred power the following month. MOSISILI returned to power in snap elections in February 2015 after the collapse of THABANE’s coalition government and an alleged attempted military coup. In June 2017, THABANE returned to become prime minister."
"text":"Orange river source (shared with South Africa and Namibia [m]) - 2,092 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"relatively higher population density in the western half of the nation, with the capital of Maseru, and the smaller cities of Mafeteng, Teyateyaneng, and Leribe attracting the most people as shown in this population distribution map"
"text":"<p>Lesotho faces great socioeconomic challenges. More than half of its population lives below the poverty line, and the country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is the second highest in the world. In addition, Lesotho is a small, mountainous, landlocked country with little arable land, leaving its population vulnerable to food shortages and reliant on remittances. Lesotho’s persistently high infant, child, and maternal mortality rates have been increasing during the last decade, according to the last two Demographic and Health Surveys. Despite these significant shortcomings, Lesotho has made good progress in education; it is on-track to achieve universal primary education and has one of the highest adult literacy rates in Africa.</p> <p>Lesotho’s migration history is linked to its unique geography; it is surrounded by South Africa with which it shares linguistic and cultural traits. Lesotho at one time had more of its workforce employed outside its borders than any other country. Today remittances equal about 17% of its GDP. With few job options at home, a high rate of poverty, and higher wages available across the border, labor migration to South Africa replaced agriculture as the prevailing Basotho source of income decades ago. The majority of Basotho migrants were single men contracted to work as gold miners in South Africa. However, migration trends changed in the 1990s, and fewer men found mining jobs in South Africa because of declining gold prices, stricter immigration policies, and a preference for South African workers.</p> <p>Although men still dominate cross-border labor migration, more women are working in South Africa, mostly as domestics, because they are widows or their husbands are unemployed. Internal rural-urban flows have also become more frequent, with more women migrating within the country to take up jobs in the garment industry or moving to care for loved ones with HIV/AIDS. Lesotho’s small population of immigrants is increasingly composed of Taiwanese and Chinese migrants who are involved in the textile industry and small retail businesses.</p>"
"text":"relatively higher population density in the western half of the nation, with the capital of Maseru, and the smaller cities of Mafeteng, Teyateyaneng, and Leribe attracting the most people as shown in this population distribution map"
"text":"population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Air pollutants":{
"particulate matter emissions":{
"text":"27.78 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)"
},
"carbon dioxide emissions":{
"text":"2.51 megatons (2016 est.)"
},
"methane emissions":{
"text":"2.56 megatons (2020 est.)"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers"
"text":"<em>due to poor harvests and increased food prices -</em> according to the latest national food security assessment, 22% of the rural population are expected to face acute food insecurity between October 2022 and March 2023, compared to 15% between July and September 2022; the forecasted proportion translates into 320,000 people in rural areas, while an additional 201,000 people in urban areas are foreseen to also need assistance; the foreseen increase of acute food insecurity levels is primarily due to the reduced harvest, high food prices in basic food and non‑food commodities and a slow recovery of households’ income reflecting a downturn in economic growth; harvesting of the 2022 main-season summer cereal crops, mostly maize and sorghum, is complete; production of maize, the main cereal staple, is about one‑third of the average, while the sorghum output is almost negligible; the poor harvest was primarily due to torrential rainfalls during January and February 2022, which caused localized flooding and resulted in crop losses (2022)"
"text":"Orange river source (shared with South Africa and Namibia [m]) - 2,092 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"previous 1959, 1967; latest adopted 2 April 1993 (effectively restoring the 1967 version)"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by Parliament; passage of amendments affecting constitutional provisions, including fundamental rights and freedoms, sovereignty of the kingdom, the office of the king, and powers of Parliament, requires a majority vote by the National Assembly, approval by the Senate, approval in a referendum by a majority of qualified voters, and assent of the king; passage of amendments other than those specified provisions requires at least a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Parliament; amended several times, last in 2011"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"mixed legal system of English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
"text":"King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996); note - King LETSIE III formerly occupied the throne from November 1990 to February 1995 while his father was in exile"
"text":"consists of the prime minister, appointed by the King on the advice of the Council of State, the deputy prime minister, and 26 other ministers"
"text":"the monarchy is hereditary, but under the terms of the constitution that came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a \"living symbol of national unity\" with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law, the College of Chiefs has the power to depose the monarch, to determine next in line of succession, or to serve as regent in the event that a successor is not of mature age; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition in the Assembly automatically becomes prime minister"
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of:<br>Senate (33 seats; 22 principal chiefs and 11 other senators nominated by the king with the advice of the Council of State, a 13-member body of key government and non-government officials; members serve 5-year terms)<br>National Assembly (120 seats; 80 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 40 elected through proportional representation; members serve 5-year terms)"
"text":"Senate - last nominated by the king on July 2022 (next in late July 2027)<br>National Assembly - last held on 7 October 2022 (next to be held on October 2027)"
"text":"Senate - percent of votes by party - NA, seats by party - NA; composition - men 26, women 7, percent of women 21.2%<br>National Assembly - percent of votes by party - RFP 38.9%, DC 24.7%, ABC 7.1%, BAP 5.4%, AD 4.0%, MEC 3.2%, LCD 2.3%, SR 2.1%, BNP 1.4%, PFD 0.9%, BCM 0.8%, MPS 0.8%, MIP 0.7%; seats by party - RFP 56, DC 29, ABC 8, BAP 6, AD 5, MEC 4, LCD 3, SR 2, BNP 1, PFD 1,BCM 1, MPS 1, NIP 1, HOPE 1, TBD 1; composition - men 87, women 28, percent of women 23.3%; note - total Parliament percent of women 22.9%"
"text":"Court of Appeal (consists of the court president, such number of justices of appeal as set by Parliament, and the Chief Justice and the puisne judges of the High Court ex officio); High Court (consists of the chief justice and such number of puisne judges as set by Parliament); note - both the Court of Appeal and the High Court have jurisdiction in constitutional issues"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Court of Appeal president and High Court chief justice appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister; puisne judges appointed by the monarch on advice of the Judicial Service Commission, an independent body of judicial officers and officials designated by the monarch; judges of both courts can serve until age 75"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Magistrate Courts; customary or traditional courts; military courts"
"text":"All Basotho Convention or ABC [Nkaku KABI]<br>Alliance of Democrats or AD [Monyane MOLELEKI]<br>Basotho Action Party or BAP [Nqosa MAHAO]<br>Basotho National Party or BNP [Thesele MASERIBANE]<br>Democratic Congress or DC [Mathibeli MOKHOTHU]<br>Democratic Party of Lesotho or DPL [Limpho TAU]<br>Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Mothetjoa METSING]<br>Movement of Economic Change or MEC [Selibe MOCHOBOROANE]<br>National Independent Party or NIP [Kimetso MATHABA]<br>Popular Front for Democracy of PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]<br>Reformed Congress of Lesotho or RCL [Keketso RANTSO]"
"text":"three horizontal stripes of blue (top), white, and green in the proportions of 3:4:3; the colors represent rain, peace, and prosperity respectively; centered in the white stripe is a black Basotho hat representing the indigenous people; the flag was unfurled in October 2006 to celebrate 40 years of independence"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"mokorotio (Basotho hat); national colors: blue, white, green, black"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Lesotho fatse la bo ntat'a rona\" (Lesotho, Land of Our Fathers)"
"text":"<p>Small, mountainous, and completely landlocked by South Africa, Lesotho depends on a narrow economic base of textile manufacturing, agriculture, remittances, and regional customs revenue. About three-fourths of the people live in rural areas and engage in animal herding and subsistence agriculture, although Lesotho produces less than 20% of the nation's demand for food. Agriculture is vulnerable to weather and climate variability.</p> <p></p> <p>Lesotho relies on South Africa for much of its economic activity; Lesotho imports 85% of the goods it consumes from South Africa, including most agricultural inputs. Households depend heavily on remittances from family members working in South Africa in mines, on farms, and as domestic workers, though mining employment has declined substantially since the 1990s. Lesotho is a member of the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), and revenues from SACU accounted for roughly 26% of total GDP in 2016; however, SACU revenues are volatile and expected to decline over the next 5 years. Lesotho also gains royalties from the South African Government for water transferred to South Africa from a dam and reservoir system in Lesotho. However, the government continues to strengthen its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties and other transfers.</p> <p></p> <p>The government maintains a large presence in the economy - government consumption accounted for about 26% of GDP in 2017. The government remains Lesotho's largest employer; in 2016, the government wage bill rose to 23% of GDP – the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lesotho's largest private employer is the textile and garment industry - approximately 36,000 Basotho, mainly women, work in factories producing garments for export to South Africa and the US. Diamond mining in Lesotho has grown in recent years and accounted for nearly 35% of total exports in 2015. Lesotho managed steady GDP growth at an average of 4.5% from 2010 to 2014, dropping to about 2.5% in 2015-16, but poverty remains widespread around 57% of the total population.</p>"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> most of the resident population is engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa"
"text":"until late 2020, Lesotho’s telecom regulator maintained a market duopoly between the privatized national operator, Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL), which is focused on fixed-line services, and Vodacom Lesotho, which dominates the mobile sector; competition between the two was insufficient to promote effective price reductions for consumers, while the regulator had no mechanisms in place to monitor the telcos to ensure quality of service and fair pricing for consumers; the small size of the country’s population provided little incentive for new players to enter the market; legal wrangling between the regulator and the telcos are ongoing; both telcos were fined in late 2020, though Vodacom has the more troubled relationship with the regulator; this culminated in the regulator having attempted to revoke Vodacom Lesotho’s operating license, a process which was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court after the company appealed; a positive outcome for consumers was the deployment in early 2021 of a service to monitor traffic and billing; this ended the practice whereby the regulator was dependent on telcos submitting data about their performance, billing, and other matters; the regulator has also turned its attention to addressing multiple SIM ownership and stem incidences of crimes committed using unregistered SIMs; in May 2022, it instructed the country’s MNOs to begin registering SIM cards on their networks from the following month; Vodacom was the first operator to introduce mobile broadband services in the country, supplemented with a WiMAX network; this was followed by fixed-wireless 5G trials in early 2019 based on a trial 3.5GHz license. Vodacom Lesotho was among the first network operators in the region to conduct such trials; the crucial nature of telecom services. (2022)"
"text":"fixed-line is less than 1 per 100 subscriptions; mobile-cellular service subscribership nearly 73 per 100 persons; rudimentary system consisting of a modest number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a small radiotelephone communication system (2020)"
"text":"country code - 266; Internet accessibility has improved with several submarine fiber optic cables that land on African east and west coasts, but the country's land locked position makes access prices expensive; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced a downturn, particularly in mobile device production; progress toward 5G implementation has resumed, as well as upgrades to infrastructure; consumer spending on telecom services has increased due to the surge in demand for capacity and bandwidth; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home is still evident, and the spike in this area has seen growth opportunities for development of new tools and increased services"
"text":"1 state-owned TV station and 2 state-owned radio stations; government controls most private broadcast media; satellite TV subscription service available; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters obtainable (2019)"
"text":"Lesotho Defense Force (LDF): Army (includes Air Wing) (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the Lesotho Mounted Police Service is responsible for internal security and reports to the Minister of Police and Public Safety"
"text":"Lesotho's declared policy for its military is the maintenance of the country's sovereignty and the preservation of internal security; in practice, external security is guaranteed by South Africa<br><br>the LDF began in 1964 as the Police Mobile Unit (PMU); the PMU was designated as the Lesotho Paramilitary Force in 1980 and became the Royal Lesotho Defense Force in 1986; it was subsequently renamed the Lesotho Defense Force in 1993 (2022)"
"text":"<p><em>Lesotho-South Africa</em>: South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration</p> <p></p>"
"text":"Lesotho is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking and for men subjected to forced labor; Basotho women and children are subjected to domestic servitude and children, to a lesser extent, commercial sexual exploitation within Lesotho and South Africa; some Basotho women willingly migrate to South Africa seeking work in domestic service only to be forced into prostitution; some Basotho men who voluntarily migrate to South Africa for work become victims of forced labor in agriculture and mining or are coerced into committing crimes"
"text":"Tier 3 — Lesotho does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore it was downgraded to Tier 3; positive steps included partnering with an NGO and an international organization in awareness-raising activities, participating in a regional data collection tool, and training 27 diplomats on trafficking in persons; however, authorities did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any traffickers or officials complicit in trafficking and did not investigate concerns of official complicity in trafficking crimes restricted law enforcement actions; fewer victims were identified and received no protective services; no standard operating procedures for victim identification or implementation of the national referral mechanism; the government did not finance the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund or the Child and Gender Protection Unit; front-line responders to trafficking crimes are inadequately trained; penalties for human trafficking are not stringent enough to serve as a deterrent (2020)"
