Malawi case flags rising threat to human rights

Almost every country in the world is experiencing a narrowing of peoples’ rights and freedoms because of government restrictions imposed in the name of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But will these governments willingly give up their new powers as the contagion eases? And if not, where should the people of a state turn for help, if their own courts uphold these infringements on fundamental rights? In Africa, the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights would be the court to adjudicate serious rights issues like these. But the question is whether, come the end of the pandemic, the court will still be in a position to help. Very few of the 55 members of the African Union have fully signed up to the court in the sense of allowing individuals and NGOs to bring cases of human rights violations for adjudication by the court. And those numbers have dropped in the past few months, weakening the court further. Carmel Rickard, in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, argues that the case of Malawi human rights activist Charles Kajoloweka should persuade people of the need to protect the African Court from any further withdrawals. And to lobby for more countries to submit to its jurisdiction.

African Court ruling

Malawi Supreme Court judgment

A Matter of Justice