Country: Malawi

UPR: Malawi must protect Phanga village community

Posted on by fredsaxo

The report builds on the previous report submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and highlights the current situation of the affected community members who have returned to Phanga village in the central Malawi district of Dedza a decade after they were forcefully evicted.

The community members’ land was sold to Crown Plantations, a Southern African company, but was never exploited by the company and was subsequently sold by village chiefs to several new owners. The affected community members contest these transactions and claim they are the original owners, under traditional customary ownership rules.

“Community members in Phanga village, have shown the courage to defend their human rights by deciding to retake their land and defend it,” says Tobias Jere, Project manager at the Center for Social Concern.

One of the key recommendations provided by the UN ESCR Committee requires the State of Malawi to:

“Accelerate the implementation of comprehensive land titling and registration systems to secure titles for individual and communal landowners, promptly resolve overlapping claims through transparent mechanisms, and pay special attention to Phanga village community members in Dedza district.”

Valentin Hategekimana, Africa Coordinator at FIAN International says it is crucial that the Malawi state implements the UN ESCR Committee recommendation to ensure that the community members in Phanga village are adequately compensated.

“They must be protected from any further forced evictions and their customary rights over their land must be protected,” he adds.

Read the full UPR parallel report on Malawi here.

For more information, please contact Valentin Hategekimana hategekimana@fian.org

CESCR: Malawi must ensure economic, social and cultural rights of communities affected by land grabbing

Posted on by fredsaxo

The Center for Social Concern in Malawi, with support from FIAN international has submitted a parallel report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. The report focuses on human rights violations linked to land grabbing and forced eviction of community members from Phanga Village in Dedza district. Their land was acquired by the South African company Crown Plantations and community members were relocated 200 km away from their land in Mchinji District.

The loss of the land has caused several human rights violations including the right to food and nutrition, the right to land, water, health, education and adequate housing, as well as women’s rights. The report deplored the manner in which the affected community lost their land without adequate compensation.

“Community members have lost their livelihood and today they live in a precarious situation. Justice must be done and those responsible for the violations of community members’ human rights must be held accountable,” says Tobias Jere, Project manager at the Center for Social Concern, a faith-based organization that promotes a just society.

The affected community members have been pushed into poverty and cannot feed themselves adequately. The new land, allocated through the government, is less fertile and they are unable to cultivate their customary crops. The change of culturally accepted meals, which are healthy and nutritious has increased wasting, stunting and left many children underweight. Malnutrition has increased among adults, significantly impacting pregnant and breastfeeding women. Additionally, affected community members lack sufficient access to health centers and irrigation. They cannot afford to buy materials to construct adequate houses and children continue to drop out of school due to poverty.

“The government of Malawi must ensure that the economic, social and cultural rights of community members affected by land grabbing in Phanga Village in Dedza district are protected. Equally, it must ensure that in the new relocation district of Mchinji, the soil quality is improved and legal framework is put in place to ensure that customary rights over the land tenure gives the ownership of the land to affected community members,” says Valentin Hategekimana, Africa Coordinator at FIAN International.

Read the full ESCR parallel report on Malawi here.

For more information, please contact Valentin Hategekimana hategekimana@fian.org

Government of Malawi Must Comply with Right to Food Obligations

Posted on by fredsaxo

An international fact-finding mission composed of representatives of civil society organisations from Canada, Ghana, Germany, Malawi and Zambia today concluded with a set of observations and recommendations to the Malawian government. The mission was conducted by the Canadian human rights organisation Rights & Democracy and FIAN, an international human rights organisation that advocates for the human right to food. The mission was invited to evaluate the state of the right to food in the country by the National Right to Food Taskforce, a Malawian civil society initiative. Mission members met with rural communities in the Kasungu, Salima and Mchinji districts and with representatives of local and central government, donor agencies and civil society in Lilongwe.

Although the Government of Malawi has taken positive steps to respond to the hunger crisis, the mission observed a number of shortcomings with regards to State compliance with its human rights obligations.  The response to the hunger emergency was characterised by lack of accountability, a systemic discrimination of the most vulnerable groups, and a failure to take appropriate steps to lift the country out of food aid dependency.

The alleged sale of subsidised maize to traders through government outlets at the height of the hunger emergency represents a breach of the Malawi’s obligation to respect the right to food. The breach is compounded by a lack of accountability – such as the absence of effective complaint and monitoring procedures through which individuals and communities could have reported such misappropriations and obtained recourse. Likewise, the distribution of fertiliser coupons to farmers revealed a systemic discrimination against those who needed assistance most. It was observed that the poorest segments of the rural population often did not obtain fertiliser coupons because of poor targeting or could not redeem coupons due to the lack of financial means. Finally, lack of sufficient programs and resources dedicated to agricultural development and extension services has perpetuated over-dependence on maize and imported inputs such as chemical fertilisers and delayed progress towards national food security.

On the basis of these observations, the preliminary recommendations of the fact-finding mission include the following:
– The Government of Malawi should draft and adopt legislation that entrenches the primacy of human rights in the design of food security and nutrition related policies;
– The Government of Malawi should implement effective monitoring mechanisms and complaints procedures at all levels but particularly at the district and village levels;
– The Government of Malawi and its donors should adopt and support long term programming aimed specifically at the implementation of policies for national self-sufficiency in food production.