In 2023, the authorities in Malawi began a process of detaining and forcibly relocating refugees and asylum seekers from across the country to Dzaleka refugee camp, a report by the Human Rights Watch said. The police and military used excessive force during the roundups and detained children in prisons with adults, the report added.

According to the World Bank, Malawi is the fourth poorest country in the world. Over half the population lives in poverty, and one-fifth in extreme poverty. For those living in poverty, many basic needs are out of reach including access to education, health services, safe drinking water, and basic sanitation. A cholera outbreak killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.

In July, led by leaders of the country’s major religions, many people took to the streets to protest same-sex relations, ahead of a court challenge to laws that criminalize sexual relations that are “against the order of nature.”

Ongoing Cholera Outbreak

Since early 2022, Malawi has been battling a cholera outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) said was the deadliest outbreak of cholera in the country’s history. As of August, there were reportedly a total of 58,982 cholera cases including 1,768 deaths. In July, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that over 14,000 children had contracted cholera, and over 220 had died. The authorities took some positive steps to address the crisis, including by securing 1.4 million doses of Oral Cholera Vaccine and working with WHO, which deployed international experts to provide emergency support to Malawi’s health authorities in improving disease surveillance, prevention, and treatment measures.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Freddy

In March, Severe Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi, devastating 15 districts in the south of the country. By the end of March, over 500,000 people had been internally displaced by the storm, with over 1,000 dead or missing. Public infrastructure, including schools, health facilities, and roads, was extensively damaged in the 15 districts. Women and girls were at particular risk due to sexual harassment and violence in camps set up for people displaced by the cyclone. People with disabilities lost assistive devices, including wheelchairs, clutches, white canes, and hearing aids.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with over 80 percent of the population dependent on agriculture. The economy is extremely vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. President Lazarus Chakwera told the media in May that the country had lost US$500 million to Severe Tropical Cyclone Freddy, affecting the government’s ability to provide shelter, sanitation, food, and other essential services to the hundreds of thousands affected by the storms.

Right to Education

Schools were closed for at least four weeks, as more than 490,000 primary- and secondary school-aged children were unable to attend school due to damage to school buildings caused by Cyclone Freddy. Many of the children in the southern parts of the country were directly impacted by the floods triggered by the cyclone and were forced to move into temporary shelters, impacting their right to access education. The suspension of schools was a particular concern for girls, because lack of access to education is linked to a heightened risk of child marriage. Malawi has very high rates of child marriage, with 42 percent of girls and 7 percent of boys married before age 18.

United Nations experts also raised concerns about the large numbers of children working on tobacco farms in Malawi and remaining out of school.

Older People’s Rights

Section 13(j) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi provides that the government shall respect and support older people through the provision of community services and encourage their participation in the life of the community.

Media reports in July indicated that there was an increase in the attacks on older people in both rural and urban areas of the country. Most of the attacks were based on accusations of witchcraft. An Afrobarometer survey found that three in four Malawians (74 percent) believe “a lot” in the existence of witchcraft, and that most Malawians associate witchcraft with using magic to kill people, make them sick, or bring them misfortune. The survey also showed that older people, especially older women, are at greatest risk of being victims of witchcraft accusations. Malawi’s laws do not recognize the existence of witchcraft, and it is a crime to accuse someone of witchcraft.

Twenty-two older people were killed between January and August 2023, according to the Malawi Network of Older Persons Organisations (MANEPO), for allegedly engaging in witchcraft. In March, MANEPO stated that 72 older people had been killed in the past two years over witchcraft accusations, but “none of the 72 cases has been tried and concluded.”

Malawi has no specific legislation protecting the rights of older people, although the 2016 National Policy for Older Persons recognizes the state’s duty to do so. The government is currently developing an Older Persons’ Bill to improve the implementation of the National Policy for Older Persons. In January, officials from Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), a leading human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Malawi, called on the government to fast-track the bill in parliament so that the law can be used to protect older people from attacks related to witchcraft accusations. In February, the government reported that the Ministry of Justice was reviewing the bill before handing it over to the relevant parliamentary committee. In September during the UN Human Rights Council session, Malawi supported a “comprehensive international legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons.”

The Malawi Law Society and the Network for Older Persons’ Organizations also called on the Malawi Police Service (MPS) to swiftly investigate and prosecute those involved in the abuse, torture, or killing of older people or any person over allegations of witchcraft.

Refugee Rights

Malawi hosted over 50,600 refugees and asylum seekers as of May 2023, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In May, the authorities started detaining and forcibly relocating refugees and asylum seekers from across the country. The police, aided by the military, arrested men, women, and children living in rural and urban districts, shut down their businesses, temporarily detained them in prisons, and later left them empty-handed at Dzaleka refugee camp. Some of those arrested reported beatings and destruction or theft of their property.

Children were among those caught up in the sweeps and taken to Maula Central Prison, a maximum-security prison in Lilongwe. This was in violation of international human rights standards, which prohibit detaining children solely for immigration reasons and in adult prisons.

The roundups of refugees and asylum seekers follow a March 27 government directive to enforce its encampment policy, which restricts refugees’ freedom of movement by requiring them to live in Dzaleka camp. The government ordered all refugees and asylum seekers living in urban and rural areas to return to the camp by April 15 or face enforced relocation.

Government officials have also accused refugees of creating economic problems for Malawians, rhetoric that fosters xenophobia.

UNHCR in May called on Malawi’s government to rescind its refugee relocation decision, warning that Dzaleka camp was already severely overcrowded and unable to meet the food, health, water, shelter, and sanitation needs of its existing population.

Malawi is party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1969 African Refugee Convention, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which applies to refugee children (art. 22). The 1951 Refugee Convention recognizes the right of freedom of movement and choice of residence for refugees lawfully within a country (art. 26) and prohibits restrictions on the freedom of movement of asylum seekers unless such restrictions are deemed “necessary” (art. 31.2). However, Malawi entered reservations when it ratified the 1951 Convention, stating that it considered certain provisions “not legally binding,” including refugees’ rights to freedom of movement, employment, property, and public education.

Malawi’s Refugee Act of 1989 provides for procedures to determine refugee status but does not address the rights of refugees.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Malawi’s Penal Code contains several provisions that criminalize adult consensual same-sex conduct, with punishment of up to 14 years in prison. The government enacted a new anti-homosexuality law in January 2011, amending the Penal Code to extend the crime of “gross indecency” to women, with up to five years in prison. In 2012 and again in 2015, the Ministry of Justice announced a moratorium on enforcing these laws. But in 2016 the Mzuzu High Court issued an order suspending the moratorium pending judicial review. This has led to legal ambiguity.

In July, Malawi’s High Court, sitting as a constitutional court, heard a case involving Jan Willem Akstar, a Dutch citizen, and Jana Gonani, a transgender Malawian woman. Akstar, was arrested in 2020 and charged with nine offenses of sexual abuse and sodomy. In December 2021, a magistrate court convicted Gonani of an offense contrary to section 153(c) of the Penal Code for having “willfully and unlawfully permitted a male person to have sexual intercourse of him against the order of nature,” which carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Gonani appealed to the Constitutional Court to declare the legislation unconstitutional, arguing that the laws violate citizens’ rights to privacy and dignity.

Key International Actors

President Lazarus Chakwera was expected to attend the September inauguration of Zimbabwean president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was re-elected in the disputed August 23 presidential election, but did not. The minister of homeland security represented him.

On January 31, the government interdicted and suspended from work the director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau on the basis that she was facing criminal defamation charges for sharing inside information on an investigation with a third party. The United States ambassador to Malawi, David Young, said that the United States was deeply concerned as “these recent actions undermine the credibility of the government of Malawi’s stated commitment to the fight against corruption.” The US is Malawi’s biggest financial supporter, providing more than US$350 million annually in bilateral assistance.

In January, the British High Commissioner to Malawi, Sophia Willitts-King, met with Malawi’s justice minister over concerns about rising corruption, stressing that local taxpayers and donors could not keep “putting money in a leaking bucket.”

After a first three-year term (2021-2023), Malawi was in October re-elected by the UN General Assembly as a member of the UN Human Rights Council until 2026.