The Best Interests of the Child Principle in Botswana

Abstract

The objective of this article is to interrogate and assess the development and application of the principle of the best interests of the child in Botswana. After a brief discussion of the principle at the international and regional levels, the article will then assess how courts in Botswana have applied this principle in various aspects of private law. These areas include, among others, custody, maintenance, adoption and access rights for unwed fathers.  The article will show, through a discussion of decided cases, that the best interests of the child principle had permeated all aspects of child law even prior to the country’s enactment of the Children’s Act of 2009 and subsequent accession to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.