The plaintiff, Unity Dow

Unity Dow

Unity Dow is a judge, human rights activist, and writer from Botswana. She came from a rural background that tended toward traditional values of the African kind...

, was a citizen of Botswana

Botswana

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...

, married to a non-citizen, whose children had been denied citizenship under a provision of the Citizenship Act 1984 that conferred citizenship on a child born in Botswana only if "a) his father was a citizen of Botswana; or b) in the case of a person born out-of-wedlock, his mother was a citizen of Botswana." The plaintiff claimed that this provision violated guarantees of the Botswana Constitution. The High Court agreed, holding that the provision infringed

• the right to liberty,
• the right not to be expelled from Botswana,
• the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment, and
• the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex.

It concluded that the right to liberty had been infringed because the provision hampered a woman's free choice to marry a non-citizen and, in fact, undermined marriage; that the right not to be expelled from Botswana was infringed because, if the plaintiff's resident permit was not renewed she would be forced to leave Botswana if she desired to stay with her family; and that the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment was infringed because any law discriminating against women constitutes an offense against human dignity.

This decision was subsequently upheld by the Botswana Court of Appeal.