Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Cecilia Chazama has pledged total support and commitment to improving prison living conditions and upholding prisoners’ human rights in the country. Malawi prisons notorious for their poor hygiene, overcrowding and spread of disease has over 13 000 inmates against a space capacity of 7 000. According to the […]
Murder suspect Wilson Kambonje, 45. who has spent eight years in prison without trial has been granted bail by High Court in Mzuzu. Justice Dorothy De Gabrielle granted the bail , saying it was in the interest of justice to release Kamboje because the State breached Section 161 (G) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence […]
Malawi’s failure to establish the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been condemned by United Nations Human Rights Commission. The commission will be an independent body which will be making its decisions on people’s complaints on police brutality or injury to citizens independently. UN asked Malawi government to expeditiously establish the IPCC which is provided for in […]
President Peter Mutharika prides himself to be a democrat, saying the ground realities are strikingly different from the picture of doom and gloom that emerges from the media – social or mainstr eam – as his administration has taken concrete steps to consolidate social, cultural and economic rights of the people. The President said in […]
Malawi Members of Parliament on Tuesday voted to reject coercive and criminalising provisions that threatened human rights in a long-deliberated HIV (Prevention and Management) Bill. Activists and people living with and affected by HIV celebrated outside Parliament after having protested for months against rights-infringing provisions in the HIV Bill, tabled earlier this year. The Bill, […]
Malawi Police has denied having committed any form of human rights infringement in the arrest and interrogation process of Von Gomani, a 19-year-old male who disguised himself as a woman and posed as a commercial sex worker. Police publicist for Kanengo police station, Salome Zgambo was reacting to concerns from some human rights bodies and […]
The Malawi government has fully committed itself into implementing the African Union’s development “Agenda 2063” as one way of realizing inclusive growth and sustainable development in the country. Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years. It builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation […]
Paralegal Advisory Services Institute (PASI) has asked magistrate courts to regularly conduct Camp Courts, an initiative where courts sit in prisons, as a way of quickly delivering justice to those who have over stayed on remand and the ill. The request was made by PASI’s Paralegal Coordinator, Chimwemwe Ndalahoma, during a Court Users Committee (CUC) […]
Norway has praised Malawi government for its keen interest in respecting human rights and rule of the law in the country. Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi, Kikkan Haugen made the remarks Wednesday in Lilongwe during the commemoration of Norway’s National Day in Lilongwe. He noted that Malawi was doing much be in the areas of human […]
Civil society leaders have threatened to report the Malawi government to the UN and other international human rights bodies because of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) resort to violence against its critics and other of undemocratic events. Gift Trapence, executive director of Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP p confirmed the civil society […]
After published report that the Legal Ai Bureau (LAB), a government agency that provides free legal services to people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer, suspended offering the services in February last year due to funding constraints, there has been calls for authorities to empower the bureau with more resources to discharge its function. […]
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Friday launched a Human rights section, addition to the Ministry’s sections. Speaking at the launching ceremony in Lilongwe at Golden Peacock Hotel, Solicitor General and Secretary of Justice, Dr. Janet Banda SC stated that the launch should have done a long time ago due to its importance. She said, […]
Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu has disclosed that Government will review the Human Rights Act to ensure proper and robust legislative framework to enable Malawians fully enjoy their rights on access to information. Tembenu said this in Lilongwe Friday, as Malawi joined the African countries in celebrating 30 years of African Charter […]
Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) which initiates various projects aimed at curbing human rights violations has reacted to a story which appeared on Nyasa Times about sex workers abuse in Chitipa hospital. One of the projects the organization implements is “Promoting Sex Workers Rights” whose overall goal is to reduce human […]
The inhumane conduct against sexual minorities is affecting access to health services and employment in Malawi, an organisation that works to promote minority rights Centre for Development for People (Cedep) has said. Simeon Thodi, the communications officer for Cedep said his organisations has registered over 50 cases of violence agaist sexual minorities last year. “Sexual […]
Centre for Development of People (CEDEP) has condemned in strongest terms the death threats that different human rights defenders have been receiving following a court order obtained from Mzuzu High court ordering the Minister of Agriculture, Goerge Chaponda, to temporarily vacate office pending investigations into the alleged Maizegate. In a statement signed by its Executive […]
Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician Ken Msonda will this Thursday be in High Court to hear the determination of Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda on whether his case of “kill homosexuals” remarks he made on his Facebook page should be heard as a constitutional case. Two leading activists on minority rights – Gift Trapence and […]
The ruling by the Constitutional Court in Blantyre which Nyasa Times first reported on Tuesday that a panel of three judges have declared Section 184 (1) (c) of the Penal Code that deals with offences of rogue and vagabond as unconstitutional and invalid has dominated the headlines on Wednesday with human rights activists and the press […]