By Deogratias Mmana:
Malawi is among the Southern Africa governments faulted for backsliding on democracy, the Human Rights Watch has said in its World Report 2024.
Other countries include Zambia, Mozambique, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Angola.
The report, released on January 11, 2024, says the countries targeted and clamped down on their political opponents, journalists and activists.
It says Southern African governments have faltered in their commitment to human rights and rule of law on which effective democracies are built, through the progressive dismantling of checks and balances on executive power, including restricting parliaments and the independence of the judiciary, and violating citizens’ rights and freedoms of association and expression.
- Advertisement -
The report says governments in some countries in the region have been criticized for suppressing opposition voices, clamping down on civic space, and restricting independent journalism.
The report urges the countries to do more to uphold and protect human rights, meet everyone’s basic needs, and strengthen the protection of all groups, including refugees and internally displaced people in line with governments’ national and international obligations.
Among others, Malawi has earned itself a low score on democracy in the year 2023 because of the treatment it gave to refugees and asylum seekers during their relocation exercise.
“In Malawi, refugees have also faced the brunt of government excesses. Since May 2023, the Homeland Security Ministry has detained and forcibly relocated 902 refugees and asylum seekers, including children to Dzaleka refugee camp,” the report reads.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
“The government states that the refugees and asylum seekers have not followed the ‘proper procedures’ and violated their rights to freedom of movement, education, and basic standards of living,” adds the report.
Recently, HRW accused Malawi of jeopardising refugee rights at Dzaleka refugee camp by expelling a refugee rights group, INUA Advocacy, which was providing independent scrutiny of the human rights situation at the camp.
Chief Executive Officer of INUA Advocacy, Innocent Magambi, told HRW that the Homeland Security Ministry did not give a reason for ending the partnership.
He believes the authorities acted because of the organisation’s advocacy around human rights violations that refugees and asylum seekers have suffered during and after the forced relocations to Dzaleka camp in 2023.
Ministry of Homeland Security spokesperson Patrick Botha said the ministry has clarified its position on the matter several times.
According to Botha, the ministry carried out the relocation exercise within the confines of the law and that relevant stakeholders are looking into the matter to see if there was any form of human rights violations and that those found to have violated the rights of refugees and asylum seekers would be taken to book.
“Malawi has an obligation to offer protection to refugees and asylum seekers, but at the same time, refugees and asylum seekers also have an obligation to follow the laws of the land,” Botha said.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa agreed with the HRW report that the Malawi government faltered in its commitment to human rights, particularly refugee rights.
He said there are other violations that have tarnished Malawi’s democracy record too.
“We all witnessed the harsh manner in which the relocation exercise was conducted by law enforcement agents,” Kaiyatsa said.
He said refugees and asylum seekers, including women and children, were rounded up like criminals and indiscriminately forced into overcrowded army and police vehicles where they were packed like sardines.
HRW Executive Director Tirana Hassan says 2023 was a consequential year not only for human rights suppression and wartime atrocities but also for selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy that carried profound costs for the rights of those not in on the deal.
But she says there were also signs of hope, showing the possibility of a different path, and calls on governments to consistently uphold their human rights obligations.
