Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Malawi.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Malawi. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Malawi U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/malawi/
[accessed 28 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The constitution
prohibits the use of torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or
punishment; however, police sometimes used excessive force and other unlawful
practices, including torture, to extract confessions from suspects. The MHRC
stated in its annual report that torture was widespread in prisons. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison and
detention center conditions remained harsh and potentially life threatening
due to overcrowding and poor sanitation; inadequate food, potable water,
heating, ventilation, lighting, and health care; and torture. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES The MHRC and NGOs
working in prisons expressed concern regarding the human rights of detained
persons. During the year the MHRC released a report that cited overcrowding,
poor sanitation, and inadequate food and health care as major problems in
prisons and detention centers. It stated torture was widespread and that most
prisoners and detainees lived in degrading and inhuman conditions. From
January to August, the MHRC received one complaint regarding the rights of
prisoners. NGOs attributed the low number of submitted complaints was due to
fear of retaliation by authorities. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/malawi/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 13 May
2020] DOES DUE PROCESS
PREVAIL IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL MATTERS? - Arbitrary arrests and detentions are common
in Malawi. Defendants are legally entitled to legal representation, but in
practice they are frequently forced to represent themselves in court.
Although the law requires that suspects be released or charged with a crime
within 48 hours of arrest, these rights were often denied. IS THERE PROTECTION
FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND
INSURGENCIES?
- Police brutality and extrajudicial killings are not uncommon in Malawi. In
2017, three women accused of assaulting another woman were allegedly
assaulted by police. In recent years, there has been an upsurge in criminal
activity by police officers, including armed robberies and break-ins. The
police are poorly trained and often ineffective. As a result, vigilantism has
increased in recent years. Prison conditions
are dire, characterized by overcrowding and extremely poor health conditions;
many inmates die from AIDS and other diseases. Policing
and Human Rights -- Assessing southern African countries’ compliance with the
SARPCCO Code of Conduct for Police Officials Edited by Amanda Dissel & Cheryl Frank, African Policing Civilian
Oversight Forum APCOF, 2012 ISBN:
978-1-920489-81-6 [accessed 25 March
2014] [MALAWI] -- ARTICLE
4: TORTURE AND CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT No police official shall, under any circumstances,
inflict, instigate, or tolerate any act of torture and other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment of any person. Torture, cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is prohibited in terms of the
Constitution, and the Police Act requires the police to protect life and
fundamental freedoms. Despite these
provisions, there are credible and persistent reports of police torture in
Malawi, particularly in custodial settings. In 2006, the MHRC
released a report indicating that the police frequently use torture and
ill-treatment in the course of investigations, and against
suspects in police custody. During
2011, the police were reported to have used excessive force, and engaged in
sexual abuse, against detainees. The Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Code, which has been interpreted by the courts to
permit the admissibility of confessions even if they are not freely and
voluntarily made, contradicts the constitutional guarantee that every person
has the right not to be compelled to make a confession or admission. This
does not act as a deterrent to the use of torture or other ill-treatment to
extract confessions, and is contrary to Malawi’s obligations under
international human rights law. The government has
claimed that there have been ‘no official records of complaints of torture by
law enforcement officials’, although it was aware that complaints might have
been lodged with the Malawi Human Rights Commission. The MHRC and the United States Department
have reported incidents of torture, ill treatment, the arbitrary and prolonged
detention of suspects, and increasing reports of deaths in police
custody. The UN Human Rights Council
has expressed its concern about the use of torture and excessive force by the
police, both during arrest and in custodial settings. Non-governmental organisations have also expressed concern at the impunity
enjoyed by police officers accused of acts of torture. According to the MHRC, while there have
been some investigations into police brutality, few of the officers
implicated have ever been investigated and convicted of criminal offences. Malawian Policing
Overview In: Overview Of Plural
Policing Oversight In Select Southern African Development (SADC) Countries Julie Berg, Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town, December 2005 www.apcof.org/files/Malawipolicing.doc [accessed 28 Jan
2014] Click [here]
to access the article. Its URL is not displayed
because of its length [accessed 31 July
2017] There are laws in
Malawi – besides the police act – which are also seen as problematic. For instance, the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Code stipulates that any confession made by a suspect in custody is
admissible in court provided it is “materially true” – at the time of
writing, it was not clear whether this had been amended. However, despite this, many courts will
reject a confession that has been proved to have been obtained under duress,
yet; on the other hand, many magistrates’ courts reportedly disregard torture
victim’s allegations. There have also
been accusations of the police holding detainees for much longer than the 48
hour limit – at times for more than two weeks without being charged. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61579.htm [accessed 5 February
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61579.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were instances of police beating and
abusing detainees, and using excessive force in handling criminal suspects.
On June 7, the mother of a 12‑year‑old boy who died in police
custody that month (see section 1.a.) alleged that police officers brutally
beat her and two of her children during interrogation. She also claimed that
police removed her clothing prior to beating her and refused to allow her to
go to the hospital for treatment after the assault. On June 10, two
policemen in Karonga were sentenced to one‑year
imprisonment with hard labor for assaulting and wounding two detainees. The
inspector general of the police ordered the police officers' arrests after
discovering an injured inmate during a police station inspection. Police
violently dispersed demonstrations during the year, which resulted in
numerous injuries and at least one death (see section 2.b.). While higher‑ranking
officials demonstrated familiarity with standards for the humane treatment of
prisoners and publicly condemned prisoner mistreatment, their subordinates
continued to employ unacceptable techniques. Police sometimes mistreated
suspects due to a mistaken belief that the law required them to present a
case (not just charges) to the court within 48 hours of arrest, and police
sometimes resorted to beatings to obtain information within the time limit.
Lack of financial resources for appropriate equipment, facilities, and
training contributed to mistreatment. The MHRC called for the introduction of
a compensation fund to assist victims of police abuse and relatives of
persons who died in police custody; however, no such fund had been
established by year's end. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
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