Speaking during the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) consultative conference held at Grace Bandawe in Blantyre, HRCC Vice-Chairperson Margaret Ali, said time had come for civil society to engage an extra gear in dealing with the myriad challenges affecting ordinary citizens in the country.
“Looking at the contributions and the experiences from the [HRCC] members, it is clear that we need to unite and work together before the human rights situation gets out of hand. We shouldn’t relax,” she said.
The conference, which was organised in collaboration with Civil Liberties Committee (CILIC), drew participants mostly from the Southern Region to compile and document cases of human rights violations occurring mainly in the region.
In his presentation, National Electoral Systems Trust (NEST) Executive Director, Unandi Banda, reminded the participants that in the recent past Malawians had experienced a repeat of the 1966 scenario where Parliament passed some laws which were oppressive to the citizens.
He said the recent series of political episodes, including the last year’s historical events of the July 20, was a repeat of the years that followed the infamous 1966 constitutional review which saw many Malawians suffer from various forms of human rights abuses and political intimidation during the one party era. Some Malawians went into exile while many others lost their lives.
“To address the issue of bad governance and abuse of human rights [today], I would propose that we as human rights defenders in HRCC we should keep an open eye on the activities of the state and its branches,” he said.
He urged his fellow activists to stand to the truth in defence of human rights in the country, observing that the July 20 demonstrations last year led by HRCC and other networks throughout the country helped to liberate the minds of Malawians from the yoke of a dictatorial administration.
“We need not to have a divided opinion on matters that relate to human rights because there is power in unity,” Banda advised.
Social services
The Human rights defenders resolved to hold accountable those responsible for provision of basic social amenities and utilities. In particular, they agreed to confront water utility companies on the shortage of water in the cities and towns which had almost reached crisis levels in some areas.
They noted that the prolonged scarcity of water had resulted in many residents resorting to drawing contaminated water from wells and rivers for daily consumption.
African Network for Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Executive Director, Ken Williams Mhango, cited Mudi River in Blantyre as the most contaminated stream with raw waste.
“They draw water for cooking and washing from this heavily polluted river. Our children are bathing in this river. The water is stinking, but they have no any other choice. We must take action,” he said.
Gender-based violence
The activists noted that the country was experiencing increased cases of gender-based violence in homes, schools, offices and other public places which needed urgent intervention from CSOs under the HRCC.
CILIC Executive Director, Emie Chanika, said her office had been inundated with numerous cases of gender-based violence, some of which it could hardly handle due to limited resources and other forms of support.
“We receive many cases of gender-based violence ranging from property grabbing to defilement. We need support from Government, donors and improved coordination with other CSOs,” she said.
Chanika appealed to donors to rationalise they way they support CSOs, alleging that some donors were focusing more on human rights organisations that just know how to write better proposals than on those who actually do the donkey work on the ground.
Police services
Human Rights defenders were concerned about poor law enforcement by the Malawi Police Service. They said the situation was hindering the advancement of human rights in the country. They noted that some police officers were allegedly misplacing files and other documentation after receiving bribes in an attempt to sabotage the due process of the law.
The activists also expressed concern over reports that some wealthier people were accessing bail more quickly than those who were less privileged.
There was a general consensus among the participating organisations that law enforcement was poor especially in police stations that were situated in rural areas.
“People are committing serious crimes that are being left unpunished in the villages. For instance, my organisation came across a case in Neno where a husband battered his wife to death with an axe. Police arrested him but only to be released two months later,” bemoaned NEST’s Unandi Banda.
While acknowledging that the police behaviour could be a way of indirectly sending out a message about the poor working conditions they were subjected to, the human rights defenders deplored the conduct, nonetheless.
“If indeed this is the case, the police system has ways of forwarding their concerns than allowing their challenges reflected in their day to day work,” he said.
Prisoners’ conditions
The human rights defenders raised an alarm over the worsening situation of prisoners in many prisons in the country due to overcrowding.
Centre for Human Rights, Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) Executive Director, Victor Mhango, said most prisons in Malawi have poor living and sanitation conditions due to congestion. He added that a lot of inmates lack legal representation while others are duped by unscrupulous lawyers who collect money from them on the pretext of representing their cases.
“Unless we all join hands with government to ensure that we have realistic strategies and programmes in place aimed at reducing congestion in prisons, the situation will continue to worsen,” he warned.
Child rights abuse
The activists noted increased cases of child rights abuses ranging from child trafficking to corporal punishment.
They cited a case of a learner who was severely beaten and tied to a tree at the Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre yet the police did not arrest the aggressor.
They also noted that the City’s Bangwe Township in particular was becoming more notorious for various forms of abuses against children which were heinous in nature.
The township, which is closer to the Malawi Council of the Handicapped (MACOHA) offices, is said to be flooded with many cases of abuse against children with disabilities.
“There is a habit of burning children there. There is need for human rights defenders to do something about it,” said Caroline Mvalo Chisi, Executive Director for Centre for Conflict Management and Women Development Affairs.
Alert system
The defenders agreed to come up with an alert system whenever there are human rights violations so that it forms a strong basis on reports sent to the United Nations (UN).
Malawi has an obligation to send both State Party Reports and CSO Shadow Reports periodically to the UN. It is also supposed to participate in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a new and unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC) aiming at improving the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 193 UN Member States.
They acknowledged that for periodic human rights reporting to be effective, there was need to make human rights documentation a continuous process through an alert system.
“In the process, it would be easy and convenient to consolidate data on human rights violations for reporting purposes at the UPR in Geneva,” said George Kayange, Executive Director forChild Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CRIDOC).
Emergency Fund
The activists also noted that there was need to put in place an emergency fund for human rights defenders who get arrested while protecting citizens’ rights based on past experiences.
However, they noted that an Irish international development organisation, Trócaire, has assisted some of the human rights defenders who found themselves in trouble with police in the recent years, but not many activists were yet aware of the facility.
“Some of us have benefited from it when we got arrested this year. Perhaps what we need is just to publicise the facility,” said Billy Mayaya, Programme Manager at Church and Society CCAP Nkhoma Synod.
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