Lilongwe, 26 September 2024: IHRDA and Eye of the Child have concluded, 25 September 2024, a public dialogue with key stakeholders in Malawi on the implementation of the amicable settlement agreement reached in October 2016 in the Malawi Children’s case.
The event brought together representatives of relevant Government institutions (notably the Ministries for justice, health, child protection, labour, and gender social welfare), the National Human Rights Commission, international human rights institutions, civil society organizations, media, and a representative of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC).
The dialogue sought to assess the level of implementation of the amicable settlement agreement, and to advocate and craft strategies for the engagement of all stakeholders for its full implementation.
It should be recalled that in 2014, IHRDA, on behalf of children in Malawi, filed a complaint against Malawi before the ACERWC, challenging section 23 (6) of the Malawian Constitution which had set 16 years as the age of majority, contrary to the provisions of the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of the Child to which Malawi is a party. Between January 2017 and September 2018, Malawi submitted five (5) progress reports on implementation of the amicable settlement agreement to the ACERWC. In November 2021, at the ACERWC’s 38th Ordinary Session, IHRDA requested for ACERWC to close the file, though Malawi had not submitted its final report.
“We appreciate Government of Malawi for its sense of responsibility and goodwill towards putting in place measures to promote the best interest of the child. IHRDA is confident that the roadmap agreed on will ensure all legal and structural measures put in place will protect the rights and welfare of children in Malawi,” stated IHRDA Advocacy Officer, Lydia Kembabazi.
The public dialogue falls within the framework of an Open Society Foundations-supported project to strengthen human rights accountability through compliance of States with decisions of African human rights mechanisms. It comes after similar events organised by IHRDA in Guinea in August 2024, Cameroon in May 2024 and Sierra Leone in March 2024.
