By Macdonald Thom:
A consortium of three civil society organisations (CSOs)—Family Planning Association of Malawi (Fpam), Sonke Gender Justice as well as Men Engage Alliance (MEA), has underscored the significance of presenting shadow reports on human rights to the United Nations (UN).
During the opening of a two-day workshop on the review of implementation of 2020 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations for Malawi and shadow report writing in Lilongwe on Thursday, Malawi Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Alliance National Coordinator Hastings Saka said it was important to be focusing on issues that were happening on the ground.
“We complement the government’s reports. That’s why we are here to work on a shadow report on how people are accessing SRHR services.
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“We are also looking at the policies and programmes that are there so that we should inform the State report,” Saka said.
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Malawi, as one of the UN member states, submits five-year reports on human rights.
It presents an official report through a delegation led by a team from the ministries of Justice as well as that of Foreign Affairs.
“We plan to meet [members of the] Malawi delegation but we will also submit this as a shadow report, as a parallel report that will complement the State report,” Saka said.
On his part, Fpam Director of Programmes Tazirwa Chipeta said her organisation would like to see access to SRHR services improving for every person regardless of their gender description.
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“If this is included in the shadow report, it will help create space where the government can be taken to account or be requested to commit more [resources] in addressing recommendations that are being made,” she said.
Malawi’s report will be submitted next month.
The review of Malawi, as a state party, will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, in November this year.
