Malawi government has denounced as incorrect a recent Country Report on Human Rights Practices published by the US State Department last week which accused Malawi on human rights abuse as evidenced by, among many cases, government’s failure to bring to justice police officers who were charged with manslaughter in July 2011 anti-government demonstration and on […]
Malawi government has announced plans to construct a new maximum prison at Chitedze in Lilongwe after concerns of overcrowding in prisons and degrading conditions. Rumphi East MP, Kamlepo Kalua (People’s Party -PP) asked Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe and Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Atupele Muluzi why there has been no allocation of […]
Malawi High Court judge Justice nyaKaunda Kamanga on Wednesday ruled that the police and medical personnel violated the rights of 11 Mwanza women by subjecting them to mandatory HIV testing, setting a precedent by declaring that mandatory testing of HIV/AIDS is illegal and unconstitutional. Lawyer representing the 11 women, Chrispine Sibande, filed an application in court on March 10 […]
Former fierce human rights activist Undule Mwakasungula, who went into oblivion after making a bold decision to serve God, has maintained his earlier position on same sex marriages, saying the LGBTI (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) community needs protection and support. Mwakasungula disclosed this in a local newspaper interview after being asked his stand […]
The United Nations has welcomed the release of 13 persons from death row in Malawi in pursuant to a ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal that prisoners sentenced to a mandatory death sentence are entitled to be resentenced. In 2007, in the Kafantayeni case, the High Court declared that mandatory death sentences were unconstitutional, […]
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Thursday petitioned Office of President and Cabinet asking it to quickly domesticate protocols which government has been signing. The petition is a reminder to government to fulfill various obligations to its citizens in various sectors such as, water, health, agriculture, and good roads. National Advocacy Platform of States of the Union (SOTU) […]
Two of Malawi’s leading human rights and governance NGO groups Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for Development of People (Cedep) have described Malawi government’s report before the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland as general and vague. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu, who is […]
One of Malawi’s leading human rights and governance organisation Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has said Malawians can directly access the African Court on Human and Peoples rights on various human rights violations following Malawi’s deposition of the Declaration of the African Court Protocol. Until recently, only 7 member states of the African […]
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu has said government remains committed to protection and promotion of human rights in Malawi as clearly evident in the progress the government has made in the area. Tembenu made these remarks during his presentation of Malawi’s initial report before the African Commission at the 56th session African […]
The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights has asked the Malawi government to provide the Commission with information on when the Access to Information bill will be tabled in Parliament and enacted. Speaking in Banjul, Gambia after Malawi’s submission and presentation of its initial report before the Commission. The African Commission Special Rapporteur on […]
The United State based Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is urging Malawi on government to “immediately” amend provisions of the new Marriage law that stigmatize and violate the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. During President Peter Mutharika’s visit to Washington D.C. this week, the rights body also called on United […]
Civil society organisations (CSO) have declared that they will not be intimidated by government through Solicitor General Janet Banda that they reported human rights abuses to the United Nations (UN) to please donors. A letter from the UN rapporteur on human rights angered Solicitor General after it contained information that police and government officials harassed […]
Civil society organisations (CSOs) met the UN rights committee in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday during the pre-session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and reported on the human rights situation in Malawi, mainly focusing on the discrimination of sexual minorities. Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) executive director Gift Trapence pleaded with the committee to impress on the […]
Centre for Development of the People (Cedep) which campaigns for rights for the Lesbians, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Inter-sex persons (LGBTI) community in Malawi has commended government for “embracing” homosexuality by requesting resources from The Global Fund for HIV and Aids interventions targeting the LGBTI community. According to published report, Malawi has asked for $388 […]
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been accusing its critics of being anti-regime activists, one such is executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Timothy Mtambo. Nyasa Times interviewed him on this. Excerpts: Nyasa Times: Some section of the society have often accused your institution and Cedep as always coming […]
Sex work is still criminalised across the region through laws that target related activities such as procurement, living off the earnings of prostitution, brothel-keeping, soliciting for immoral purposes, committing immoral acts in public, idle and disorderly behaviour, rogues and vagabonds etc. In some countries, the ‘spread of disease’ or ‘failure to disclose HIV positive status […]
A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members—Mahatma Gandhi A society founded on ill principles of life is doomed; that built on blatant disregard for decency is crooked; and that whose survival depends on the sacrifice of innocent souls’ freedom is jinxed. It appears, from simple observations of life, that nature […]
Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati has pleaded with Malawians to afford people with albinism equal opportunities in life and to desist from the culture of stigmatizing them. This comes amid recent reports of victimization and killing of albinos for rituals. Kaliati said Albinos are like any other individual hence a […]