I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Kingdom of Lesotho (Lesotho) is a State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter or the Charter), having signed the Charter on 7 March 1984, and ratified and deposited its ratification instrument on 10 February 1992 and 27 February 1992, respectively.
2. In accordance with Article 62 of the African Charter, Lesotho submitted its Initial Report in 2001 and this was reviewed by the Commission at its 31st Ordinary Session (2nd to 16th May 2002, Pretoria in South Africa). The Initial Report covered Reports due from the ratification of the Charter to 2001. It should be noted that the Initial Report could not be reviewed at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Commission in 2001 due to the fact that representatives of the country were not present at the said session.
