Malawi among worst countries for children’s access to justice

Feb 15, 2016 Health 76
Advertisement

An international research, policy and advocacy organisation has named Malawi as one of the countries failing to guarantee children’s access to the courts, a situation the organisation says is characteristic of countries with poor human rights records.

gender inequality
Children like these find it hard to access the courts

The United Kingdom based organisation, Children Rights International Network (CRIN), has ranked Malawi at 152 out of 197 countries on how effectively the country’s legal systems guarantee children’s right to access the courts.

A report CRIN has released called ‘Rights, Remedies and Representation’ takes into account whether children can bring lawsuits when their rights are violated, the legal resources available to them, the practical considerations for taking legal action, and whether international law on children’s rights is applied in national courts.

Malawi ranks worse than Afghanistan (149) while neighbours Zambia (180) and Mozambique (177) have received lower rankings.

Director of CRIN, Veronica Yates says most of the countries which have lower rankings also have awful human rights records.

Yates said: “Our ranking represents how well states allow children access to justice rather than how well their rights are enshrined. However, it is hard to ignore how many countries with deplorable human rights records are on the lower end of the ranking for children’s access to justice.”

The organisation found that in Malawi, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is directly applicable in the national courts, although it has not been fully incorporated into the country’s legal system. The report by CRIN also notes that the courts have broad powers to hear legal challenges by children which must be brought through a guardian or “next friend”.

According to CRIN, even though Malawi does have a legal aid programme, there are issues with its implementation hence most Malawians cannot access the formal legal mechanisms. The situation, CRIN says, make citizens to use non-state institutions such as traditional family counsellors or religious leaders.

The UN has since welcomed the report saying that it hopes the study “is only the beginning of a new shift in making access to justice for children, a priority that will enable other rights to be fulfilled.”

Advertisement

76 Comments

  17. Sad news. more sad news is the people in charge(govt) dont get to c this. people are comparing MW with USA. just bcoz sum kids are fucked up anywhere dont mean we have to b too. Malawians are really good at underestimating themselves its so pitiful.

  18. Malawi24 is here by critising the rulling party, their writtings are always negative to The Government Of Malawi…. Ngati mumasowa zotiuza ife anthu just change the name of your page and should relate to the political opposites

  19. It has been the culture in this planet to report things on negative as the way of cautioning human being. Sad story indeed about Malawi. But it is very difficult to understand if you Malawianise this issue .

  20. It has been the culture in this planet to report things on negative as the way of cautioning human being. Sad story indeed about Malawi. But it is very difficult to understand if you Malawianise this issue .

  24. No one is judging here,but i agree that it is true.Ngati inu mukudya bwino ndiana anu osaganiza kuti zonse zili mtendere.AMalawi tikukhala mmambuyo,ukhondo,umpawi,dyera,chitukuko komanso mwaicho chisamaliro chamai ndiana.

  25. Patson Chirwa Thegha they’re not talk only negative, They know what they are doing because of our leaders they are weak they can’t say anything about this.

  30. I dont beliv dat,its only de crazy minds of de ppl who always think negativety about malwi.they can hav everything but end of ady we we breath mpweya imodz.

  31. Chokani apa inuu….agogo athu agogo awo awooo anabadwa kukula mpakana kufa ku Malawi komkuno ifenso tabadwa pano tili ndi zidzukulu ku Malawi komkuno, ndy awa akufuna kutiuza chani?
    Adziwa liti zimenezi?
    Ana onsewa akumabadwa mkumakula bwino bwinowa sakuwaona?

  33. Ine ndakulila kuno kungoti pano mwapha miyambo mwatenga za anu wake ndi iwo akuseka.kodi Demacracy pa chichewa ndi kutenda osavala?ukadzudzula akuti Kaliyati ati mangitsa Vuto si malawi

  39. They want us to migrate and live in UK ?nonsense report go there to bootlick them if they do not give Aid do they want money just to be printed?Libya was paradise why did they destroy Libya and murdered Gaddaf?

  40. They want us to migrate and live in UK ?nonsense report go there to bootlick them if they do not give Aid do they want money just to be printed?Libya was paradise why did they destroy Libya and murdered Gaddaf?

  48. Chilungamo kupweteka, komadi zandipweteka. Posachedwapa timva Malawi government have been ranked the most senseless government in the world. Haaa! Zandiwawanso in advance!

  49. Malawi is among the worst countries on everything, not only children access to justice. Hunger, unemployment late, envy, diseases, blackout, water shortages, expensive airtime usage etc

  54. This z Malawi whether u like or not,we born here, grown up here will die and buried here no matter what.Just let de children. we know ourselves on how to handle dem, dis z our land.

  55. ena mukumanena kut akulaquisa kulemba nkhani zanegative..qua ine ndikuona ngat akukhoza coz it wil gv shame to govnt kenako u wl c kut de govnt wl deal wth de problem.

  58. I don’t understand this ,Why people talk Only about negativity ?They can not speak positive things about Malawi. They can not say Malawi is a peace country no terrorism.

  60. That’s very true because where i stay kids below the age of two go to bed without food in their stomachs, no beddings and living without a clothes.

  62. I dont trust those who did that research in what criteria used in their research?only bad things in malawi?what about America?

    1. this comment you wrote out of some kind of anger. man if u had cancer would you rather the doctor not tell you?? wud want him to tell u that u r ok?? its good to know you have a problem, that way u can try to come up with a solution to make things better

    2. kkkkkkkk Malawi it has been my beloved country it pains me a lot when people day and night write bad things about it ,when we look on de other side of de coin we can not dispute this fact things are not movng to the expection of de majority .should we say dat all de pipo in Malawi are movng in rags?sleepng with empty stomach?not drivng poshy cars?not sleeping in mashons?even if u go to those countries whose pipo are livng in expensive life u shall still find the poorest of de poor if de aurthor of dis article claims dat Malawi is not a conjusive environment I totally dispute dis.this is a cheap propaganda by furnishing the good image of Malawi

Comments are closed.