Malawi

Malawi has a ad hoc inter-ministerial mechanism for implementation, reporting and follow-up entitled the "National Task Force on Universal Periodic Review", which coordinates reporting to the UN and regional human rights mechanisms.

INSTITUTIONAL SETUP

The National Task Force on Universal Periodic Review currently functions on an ad hoc basis without specific legal basis. However, Malawi's mechanism is not purely ad hoc because there are an enduring set of practices that are maintained which inform how the next inter-ministerial committee is empaneled. Malawi through the Ministry of Justice has standardized practices for compiling state party reports as well as following up on the implementation of recommendations from treaty bodies. It has adopted terms of reference to guide its work.

The Ministry of Justice, through the Human Rights Section which acts as secretariat, coordinates and chairs inter-ministerial committees which are empaneled to compile a particular report. The composition of the committees’ changes slightly depending on the state party report being compiled.

Composition

• Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs
• Homeland Security
• National Statistical Office The task force also includes non-state actors such as Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who work in the area under which the report is being compiled. Focal persons are selected by the respective heads of the institutions to be members of the Task Force.

Focal points established under article 33 paragraph 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities

☒ Yes

Focal points from Gender Equality Mechanisms

☒ Yes

MANDATE

The mechanism's mandate includes:

• Reporting to UN Human Rights Mechanisms (UN Treaty bodies, Universal Periodic Review)
• Responding to individual complaints from UN Treaty bodies
• Responding to communications (letters of allegations, Urgent appeals, questionnaires) from UN Special Procedures and hosting visits of UN Special Procedures
• Reporting to Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
• Reporting and following up on other processes including under the 2030 Agenda (SDGs)
• Following up on recommendations from human rights mechanisms (Special Procedures, Treaty bodies, Universal Periodic Review)
• Implementing recommendations from human rights mechanisms (incl contributing to legislative changes)

Though communications from international and regional bodies are received through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for engaging with international and regional human rights bodies.

In recent years, the Ministry of Justice (Human Rights Section) has adopted the central role of drafting state party reports to the various treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism and engagement with UN special procedures. These reports are prepared by working closely with the task forces.

Officers in the Human Rights Section have participated in various trainings conducted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on state party reporting and engagement with UN human rights mechanisms.

The Section has an annual work plan which indicates all activities to be undertaken in the financial year. The activities are costed prior to the financial year commencing.

COORDINATION

The Ministry of Justice coordinates the dissemination of information about state party reports which are due for submissions and recommendations made by treaty bodies. The Ministry of Justice also coordinates the gathering of information to be fed into state party reports and responses to UN special mechanisms.

The information is gathered from the National Statistics Office, Government ministries, departments and agencies(MDAs), the judiciary as well as CSOs.

The Ministry uses the task forces empanelled for a specific report to follow- up on progress made in implementing recommendations. Quarterly meetings are called for this purpose.

The major challenge faced in coordinating the preparation of state party reports and following up on recommendations is the lack of focal points or contact persons within government ministries, departments and agencies. As a result, the Ministry spends a significant amount of time re-familiarizing MDAs' representatives on the status of reporting and the reporting guidelines.

Channel of communication with the National Statistics Office

The National Statistics Office is represented in the Task Force on Periodic Reviews and the role of this representative is to provide country statistical data required by the task force.

Channel of communication with Parliament

Unfortunately, there is limited engagement with Parliament to collect data to be fed into reports.

CONSULTATION

Malawi includes in every task force for every state party report the Human Rights Commission (NHRI), judiciary and CSOs working under the subject matter of the state party report.

Malawi has adopted a highly inclusive membership in its task forces to ensure that state party reports are not Government reports but are ‘Malawi’ reports which are as accurately as possible, a representation of the state of human rights relating to the treaty Malawi is reporting under.

Furthermore, besides having an inclusive task force membership, before any state party report is submitted, consultations are done with state and non-state actors in four regions of Malawi and finally, a national consultation meeting is conducted. Regional and national meetings are also conducted when disseminating recommendations and following up on the implementation of recommendations.

Malawi tracks the issuance of recommendations and decisions by the international and regional human rights mechanisms through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Once received the Ministry of Foreign Affairs transmits them to the Ministry of Justice for dissemination. The Ministry holds various meetings to disseminate the recommendations.

However, Malawi faces challenges in systematically capturing and thematically recording the recommendations due to the lack of a comprehensive information management system.

Notwithstanding, the capturing of recommendations and generation of an implementation matrix has been systematic in some thematic areas such as in child rights. This is because the technical and financial support from international partners dedicated towards child rights in recent years has increased, making it possible to develop some form of management system though it is still not a comprehensive one.

Malawi developed a follow-up plan for recommendations from various human international and regional human rights bodies in the form of the National Human Rights Action Plan. The Plan is in draft form and will be presented to Cabinet for its approval. The Plan states the implementing entity and states the timelines for achieving the recommendations.

Due to the lack of a comprehensive information management system, it is challenging to collect the necessary data especially statistics to be incorporated into state party reports.