Malawi government revel in UN Human Rights Council recognition
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Titus Mvalo, has said Malawi’s election to UN’s 47-member Human Rights Council is a step in the right direction to improve human rights record.
Mvalo told a news conference in Lilongwe that the UN the Human Rights Council
is satisfied with Malawi human rights record.
“This is a mark of recognition by the member states of the United Nations and the world as whole that Malawi is on the right track in observance of human rights issues,” Mvalo said.
He further said that Malawi will benefit and improve a lot from the Council both international and at local level as it will be responsible for assessing human rights declaration in Malawi and other member countries
“The assessment of human rights in other countries will help Malawi to improve some areas in human rights as it will be given a chance to sponsor some of the resolutions which will give more space in the operation.
Commenting on the new development, Chief State Advocate responsible for Human Rights Section, Pacharo Kaira said the gap which comes in terms of lack of knowledge on human rights will be decreased as the Council is there to review human rights violations.
“Malawi is expected to be a policy holder of human rights, and this can be done if we fully participate as the activeness of our country will elevate Malawi to influence human rights outcomes in the United Nations (UN) system and could be a stepping stone for achieving other political ambitions,” he said.
The Council is expected to review the 20215-2020 report on human rights during the first week of November this year.
The Ministry’s Director of Finance and Administration, William Kantayeni, was optimistic that the review is crucial as Malawi has improved a lot in human rights record through consultations of other bodies which fight for human rights.
“The upgrading of Malawi in human rights record is what has prompted the Council to include Malawi, for instance, there was congestion in our prisons, in the past Malawi cells were 260% above capacity. Government released some of the prisoners to create more space as one of the preventive measure in the spread of Covid-19.
“From the records we can see that a lot of recommendations have been acted upon thereby giving no room of doubts in the process of reviewing the 2015-2020 human rights report,” Kantayeni said.
Created in 2006, the Human Rights Council has merely picked up where its justifiably maligned predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, left off. It has made Israel its only permanent agenda item, meaning that it discusses the Jewish state at each of its three meetings a year. It has focused its investigations and resolutions overwhelmingly on Israel while ignoring far more egregious problems elsewhere. And it has created a “blacklist” of companies that do business with companies in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
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