Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Malawi

Malawi accepts 132, rejects 41 human rights recommendations – 2015 UPR review

Malawi’s performance on human rights was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism in Geneva on 5th May 2015. UPR is a peer review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council. The UPR mechanism examined the fulfilment by Malawi Government of its human rights obligations and commitments. Following the review, Government has accepted 132 recommendations and rejected 41 recommendations which it received from 74 Member States participating in the dialogue, as follows:

Women’s rights, gender equality and child rights

  • About 20 recommendations on the promotion and protection of women’s rights and gender equality, the prevention of violence against women and expanding women’s participation were accepted.

  • Malawi accepted 14 recommendations on implementation of the new Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act on ending Child Marriage, and other recommendations on ending child labour, criminalising all forms of sexual abuse against children, implementing the action plan on vulnerable children and ensuring registration of children at birth.

  • Malawi accepted five recommendations to amend its Citizenship Act to ensure women have the same rights as men. Malawi also committed to speeding up the review of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act.

  • Malawi rejected a recommendation to criminalise Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is a human rights violation which involves procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is considered a human rights violation.

  • Two recommendations to tackle maternal mortality were accepted and Malawi will reply by September to two other recommendations calling for review of the legislation on abortion and implement the Maputo Protocol which has provisions related to medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus. Malawi is Party to this protocol.

Civil and political rights

  • Four recommendations to implement the Trafficking in Persons Act and four recommendations to promote and protect the rights of persons with Albinism were accepted.

  • Malawi accepted two recommendations to investigate all cases of harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders.

  • Malawi accepted seven recommendations to improve prison conditions and a recommendation to submit the Prisons Bill (2003) to Parliament. It also accepted several recommendations to reduce pre-trial detention and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce the court cases backlog.

  • On the death penalty, whilst rejecting nine recommendations to abolish the death penalty, Malawi accepted to review cases of those sentenced to the mandatory death penalty and continue to delay enforcement of the death penalty.

  • Whilst rejecting 17 recommendations to decriminalise same sex sexual relations, Malawi accepted a recommendation to take effective measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons from violence and prosecute the perpetrators of violent attacks, and a recommendation to guarantee that LGBTI communities have effective access to health services including HIV/AIDS treatment.

  • Malawi accepted two recommendations to sign up to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.

Cooperation with the UN Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures

  • Malawi accepted a recommendation to strengthen cooperation with the UN human rights machinery and to accept a visit of the UN Rapporteurs on freedom of peaceful assembly, extreme poverty and human rights defenders.

National Institutions

  • Malawi accepted recommendations to amend the Human Rights Commission Act to ensure that the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) enjoys full independence and is adequately resourced, and to establish and resource an Independent Police Complaints Commission

Refugees and statelessness persons

Economic, social and cultural rights

  • Malawi accepted one recommendation to establish a legal framework on the right to food, building on the draft Food and Nutrition Bill.