‘MHRC is guided by loyalty to the Constitution’

The term for current commissioners of Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is expiring in July this and SAM CHUNGA finds out from the commission’s executive director, GRACE MALERA, how the organisation goes about its work.

How are commissioners chosen and how long can they serve?

The commissioners are chosen through an independent and transparent process detailed out in the Constitution and the Human Rights Commission Act. The law empowers the law commissioner and the ombudsman to jointly issue out a notice calling for nominations for persons to serve in the commission. The law also specifies the requirements which the persons to be nominated should satisfy, i.e. non-partisanship; independent and of high integrity, and minimum education qualifications. Under the regulations to the Human Rights Commission Act, the law commissioner and ombudsman co-opt three eminent persons in the selection process. A forum is organised where all nominees engage with the selection panel, after which the selection panel undertakes the selection leading to a list of seven names being selected and recommended to the President for appointment and three names being recommended to be put on a reserve list for purposes of filling vacancies on the commission. When the commissioners are sworn into office, they elect from among themselves a chairperson at their first meeting.

When is the next lot of commissioners expected to start work?

The term of office of the fifth cohort of commissioners expires on 4 July 2015. The process for selection of commissioners for the sixth cohort is underway. A general notice calling for nominations was already published in the Gazette as required by the law and the commission received nominations until 15 May. It is envisaged that before the expiration of the term of office of commissioners, the law commissioner and ombudsman will have submitted their recommendations to the President to allow for timely appointment of the next cohort of commissioners. In terms of composition, the law as well as applicable international standards demands that there should be diversity in the commission. Thus, membership is drawn from NGOs, the academia, religious institutions, professional bodies, among others, that are wholly or largely concerned with promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Do you think human rights issues have been well embraced among ordinary Malawians?

Generally, a lot of progress has been made. Various studies have been conducted which show that a lot of Malawians are informed about human rights. One study found that 87 percent of the people have heard about human rights, while another one put the level of awareness and understanding of human rights at 64 percent. Nonetheless there is still a lot of work to be done especially to entrench the idea that human rights go hand-in-hand with responsibilities, the issues of limitation of human rights, integration of human rights-based approaches to development, duty bearer accountability, and most importantly empowerment of claim holders to demand rights.

What sort of challenges have xenophobic attacks in South Africa posed for MHRC and what are you doing about these issues?

Apart from issuing a public condemnation of the attacks, MHRC is currently monitoring the response to the attacks, especially the repatriation of the victims or returnees from South Africa, with respect to levels of preparedness and responsiveness. MHRC teams have been to Mwanza border and the Kamuzu Stadium to carry out on-spot checks and have engaged with some of the returnees and the duty bearers that are involved in the process. MHRC is also investigating the factors that fuel the migration patterns to South Africa to inform government’s response to this development as a structural issue. This far, it is clear that, notwithstanding some challenges, there is a significant level of concerted and commendable efforts by government and several partners to address the situation of the victims or returnees. MHRC’s monitoring report on this issue will be released in due course.

Whenever the MHRC has had meetings with sitting presidents in Malawi, the commissioners have tended not to sugar-coat issues. Does this straight-talk depend on the calibre of the commissioners only?

The fundamental premise of this level of constructive engagement is the statutory provision which confers independence on MHRC. Further, as an autonomous institution, MHRC is guided by the values of non-partisanship, loyalty to the Constitution, independence in operations; fairness and impartiality, transparency and accountability as well as integrity.n