Malawi adopts AU charters’ implementation mechanisms
After extensive advocacy by human rights activists, Malawi has finally adopted the country coordination and monitoring mechanisms for the domestication and implementation of the African Union (AU) charters and protocols.
The development has made Malawi one of the first African nations to establish and adopt a clear road map to guide the ratification, domestication and execution process for the AU legal and policy instruments.
The adoption was made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, other line ministries and the National Advocacy Platform (NAP) for the State of the Union (Sotu) programme during a stakeholders’ conference held in Kasungu. Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Francis Kasaila presided over the event.
According to a NAP report, Kasaila expressed hope that the mechanisms would help government to register remarkable progress in domesticating and implementing AU instruments.
He also commended civil society organisations (CSOs) under Sotu for partnering government to develop and adopt the road map.
NAP chairperson Robert Mkwezalamba thanked government for committing to facilitate the process of establishing and adopting the mechanisms.
Mkwezalamba, who is also chairperson of Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), said NAP would work with relevant line ministries to accelerate domestication and implementation of the benefit.charters for the citizens’
Malawi has made strides in signing and ratifying a number of AU charters and protocols, but domestication and implementation has remained slow.
Executive director of Eye for Development (EFD), Edward Chileka-Banda, justified the need for the mechanisms as a major tool to enforce compliance with international obligations.
He said: “Efforts at continental level to monitor and enforce domestication and implementation have been inadequate as the African Union has left such mandates to member States.”.
NAP is a coalition of CSOs and citizen groups currently implementing the Sotu programme to track the ratification, domestication and implementation of the AU instruments.
In Malawi, the Sotu programme is co-hosted by EFD and Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn). n
