Evance Moyo was arrested and detained in 1997, when he was only 16, accused of murder. Malawi’s law provides that juveniles, sentenced for homicide crimes, are sentenced at “the pleasure of the President”. But while Mr Moyo should have been sent to an approved school, where a “board of visitors” would have assessed his progress and made recommendations as to his continued detention, he was, in fact sent, to Chichiri prison – notorious for its overcrowding and appalling conditions. His entire period of detention and imprisonment has not seen him separated from adult inmates, as is required under international law.
The judgment of the Constitutional Court orders his release, particularly welcome as he has been seriously ill with TB these past months, and finds that his constitutional and international law rights were violated, in respect of not being accorded the special treatment owed juvenile prisoners. In this the judgement represents a victory for human rights in Malawi and the region. The Court also found that the convention on the Rights of the Child had been domesticated into Malawian law.
But the judgement never addresses the crucial arguments made by the Centre for Human Rights, Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) turning on the separation of powers doctrine – that sentencing is an integral part of trial and that a trial cannot be independent if the President gets to determine sentence, and that the “at the pleasure of the President” provision amounts to interference of the executive in the province of the judiciary.
And, having waited seven months for delivery, the judgement is inexplicably short. We’ll post it soon on SALC’s website.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Project
The project in Malawi additional financing will create a three-year extension of the project closing date from September 30, 2009 to September 30, 2012.
The additional financing will continue to support and strengthen the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi in line with the Government’s National HIV and AIDS Action Framework (NAF). Like the original grant, this additional financing will contribute towards the implementation of the joint program of work agreed to in the context of the HIV/AIDS Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) in Malawi.
This project paper concern the approval of the Executive Directors for the following: (i) additional financing of the Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project for the scale-up of activities under the original financing; (ii) a modification in the wording of the original project development objective (PDO), in accordance with new regional requirements for HIV/AIDS operations; and (iii) a three-year extension of the project closing date from September 30, 2009 to September 30, 2012. No change in project components is planned.
The only change to the project’s implementation modalities involves the funds flow, with respect to holding the designated account at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, instead of a commercial bank. Implementation of activities under the original financing has been satisfactory, as per the requirement of BP 13.20. It is noted that the project has been largely in compliance with grant covenants and that earlier fiduciary challenges have been satisfactorily addressed. The additional financing will continue to support and strengthen the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi in line with the Government’s National HIV and AIDS Action Framework (NAF).
Like the original grant, this additional financing will contribute towards the implementation of the joint program of work agreed to in the context of the HIV/AIDS Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) in Malawi. This common funding mechanism for the HIV response has been operational since 2004. The Malawi HIV/AIDS pooled financing is jointly supported by the Government and multiple key development partners, including the World Bank.
The implementation status and results report (ISR) ratings for the PDO and overall implementation progress for the project have been consistently classified as ’satisfactory’ since effectiveness in 2004, and the original PDO’s are likely to be met by the scheduled end of the project.
Topics: AIDS, Governance, Health Care, healthcare, HIV and AIDS Action Framework, Malawi, Multi Sectoral, society, World Bank
The additional financing will continue to support and strengthen the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi in line with the Government’s National HIV and AIDS Action Framework (NAF). Like the original grant, this additional financing will contribute towards the implementation of the joint program of work agreed to in the context of the HIV/AIDS Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) in Malawi.
This project paper concern the approval of the Executive Directors for the following: (i) additional financing of the Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project for the scale-up of activities under the original financing; (ii) a modification in the wording of the original project development objective (PDO), in accordance with new regional requirements for HIV/AIDS operations; and (iii) a three-year extension of the project closing date from September 30, 2009 to September 30, 2012. No change in project components is planned.
The only change to the project’s implementation modalities involves the funds flow, with respect to holding the designated account at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, instead of a commercial bank. Implementation of activities under the original financing has been satisfactory, as per the requirement of BP 13.20. It is noted that the project has been largely in compliance with grant covenants and that earlier fiduciary challenges have been satisfactorily addressed. The additional financing will continue to support and strengthen the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi in line with the Government’s National HIV and AIDS Action Framework (NAF).
Like the original grant, this additional financing will contribute towards the implementation of the joint program of work agreed to in the context of the HIV/AIDS Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) in Malawi. This common funding mechanism for the HIV response has been operational since 2004. The Malawi HIV/AIDS pooled financing is jointly supported by the Government and multiple key development partners, including the World Bank.
The implementation status and results report (ISR) ratings for the PDO and overall implementation progress for the project have been consistently classified as ’satisfactory’ since effectiveness in 2004, and the original PDO’s are likely to be met by the scheduled end of the project.
Topics: AIDS, Governance, Health Care, healthcare, HIV and AIDS Action Framework, Malawi, Multi Sectoral, society, World Bank
Africa: Acacia Tree Can Boost Crops
Nairobi — African farmers could triple yields by planting a type of acacia tree that sheds its nitrogen-rich leaves in time for the growing season alongside their crops.
The fast-growing, hardy species, Faidherbia albida, which has common names including apple-ring acacia and ana tree, also has a wide range of other benefits, according to Dennis Garrity, director general of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
"Besides organic fertiliser and livestock fodder for farmers, it also acts as a windbreak, provides wood for fuel and construction and cuts erosion by loosening the soil to absorb water during the rainy season," he said at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi this week (24 August).
"The tree becomes dormant and sheds its leaves during the early rainy season at the time when seeds need fertiliser and regrows them at the beginning of the dry season, so not competing with crops for light," Garrity told SciDev.Net.
Planting the trees can nearly triple yields, he says. In Malawi, maize yields under the acacia canopy are 280 per cent higher than outside it.
The acacia variety is already grown on farms in western Africa, as well as in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania. But uptake has been minimal in other parts of Africa. Despite 60 years of research and more than 700 scientific publications on F. albida, few farmers - especially in parts of eastern and central Africa - know of its potential.
As Garrity notes, the tree can thrive in a wide range of conditions and is suitable for planting across the continent. He says the lack of knowledge about the acacia highlights a need for research agencies to find more effective ways to reach farmers. Governments must also invest in generating and communicating research, he adds.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, says that the lack of extension services that tap into agroforestry science from research institutions and universities and then pass information to smallholders is a great disservice to the quest for food security in Africa.
There is a pressing need to communicate research findings to farmers in languages they can understand, Maathai says.
The fast-growing, hardy species, Faidherbia albida, which has common names including apple-ring acacia and ana tree, also has a wide range of other benefits, according to Dennis Garrity, director general of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
"Besides organic fertiliser and livestock fodder for farmers, it also acts as a windbreak, provides wood for fuel and construction and cuts erosion by loosening the soil to absorb water during the rainy season," he said at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi this week (24 August).
"The tree becomes dormant and sheds its leaves during the early rainy season at the time when seeds need fertiliser and regrows them at the beginning of the dry season, so not competing with crops for light," Garrity told SciDev.Net.
Planting the trees can nearly triple yields, he says. In Malawi, maize yields under the acacia canopy are 280 per cent higher than outside it.
The acacia variety is already grown on farms in western Africa, as well as in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania. But uptake has been minimal in other parts of Africa. Despite 60 years of research and more than 700 scientific publications on F. albida, few farmers - especially in parts of eastern and central Africa - know of its potential.
As Garrity notes, the tree can thrive in a wide range of conditions and is suitable for planting across the continent. He says the lack of knowledge about the acacia highlights a need for research agencies to find more effective ways to reach farmers. Governments must also invest in generating and communicating research, he adds.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, says that the lack of extension services that tap into agroforestry science from research institutions and universities and then pass information to smallholders is a great disservice to the quest for food security in Africa.
There is a pressing need to communicate research findings to farmers in languages they can understand, Maathai says.
Malawi: Protests At Proposed Law Backing Sweet 16 Marriages
Lilongwe — Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, has come under severe pressure from civil society groups who are demanding he scrap a newly-passed bill allowing 16 year olds to marry with the consent of their parents.
Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which the country is a party defines a child as "every human being below the age of 18".
According to IPS the new bill is a slight improvement from the previous law which puts the legal age of youth to marry with parental consent at 15.
However, activists say 16 is still far too young to get married and call for the minimum age to be raised to 18.
In Malawi, cultural practices, especially in the north of the country, force girls from poor families, some as young as nine years old, into marriages, particularly when parents need to settle loans.
So far, Mutharika is non-committal on the matter. He says Malawians should debate the new bill freely and agree on how to move forward.
"Let the people and all stakeholders, including boys and girls, debate the issue and agree on whether the marriage age should be 18, 21 or 25 as some people are proposing. After the consensus, the matter will go back to parliament," President Mutharika said at a press conference.
In the meantime, gender and children's rights activists are mounting the pressure.At the launch of the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) in early August, a group of young girls of the Malawi Girl Guides Association (MALGA) used songs and chants to call on the country's vice president, Joyce Banda, who is also the country's goodwill ambassador for safe motherhood, to ensure that girls are not allowed to get married at a young age in order to protect them from maternal deaths.
The Children's Parliament, a gathering of children in the country, which sits once a year to advocate for their rights, also recommended to government that the minimum marriage age should be set at 18.
MacBain Mkandawire, executive director of NGO Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO), agrees that at the age of 16, marriage will deprive children of education and severely limit their right to mental and physical well-being.
Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which the country is a party defines a child as "every human being below the age of 18".
According to IPS the new bill is a slight improvement from the previous law which puts the legal age of youth to marry with parental consent at 15.
However, activists say 16 is still far too young to get married and call for the minimum age to be raised to 18.
In Malawi, cultural practices, especially in the north of the country, force girls from poor families, some as young as nine years old, into marriages, particularly when parents need to settle loans.
So far, Mutharika is non-committal on the matter. He says Malawians should debate the new bill freely and agree on how to move forward.
"Let the people and all stakeholders, including boys and girls, debate the issue and agree on whether the marriage age should be 18, 21 or 25 as some people are proposing. After the consensus, the matter will go back to parliament," President Mutharika said at a press conference.
In the meantime, gender and children's rights activists are mounting the pressure.At the launch of the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) in early August, a group of young girls of the Malawi Girl Guides Association (MALGA) used songs and chants to call on the country's vice president, Joyce Banda, who is also the country's goodwill ambassador for safe motherhood, to ensure that girls are not allowed to get married at a young age in order to protect them from maternal deaths.
The Children's Parliament, a gathering of children in the country, which sits once a year to advocate for their rights, also recommended to government that the minimum marriage age should be set at 18.
MacBain Mkandawire, executive director of NGO Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO), agrees that at the age of 16, marriage will deprive children of education and severely limit their right to mental and physical well-being.
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