international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1st Optional Protocol to the Covenant
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty)
situation:The offences for which capital punishment either can or must be applied are murder, rape, treason, armed robbery and burglary with aggravating circumstances.
Records show that from 1972 to 1993 during Kamuzu Banda's dictatorship a total of 823 were sentenced to death. Out of the 823 convicts, 299 were executed and the remaining ones either died in prison or were pardoned. Following Banda, Bakili Muluzi won the first multiparty election in 1994.
In 1994, Bakili Muluzi won the first multiparty election. He was credited for improving Malawi’s human rights record and had pledged to never sign a death warrant throughout his tenure, which lasted until May 2004. His successors, until now, have not changed attitude on the death penalty.
In April 2007, the Malawi High Court in the case of
Francis Kafantayeni and Others v. Attorney General abolished the mandatory death sentence in Malawi. The sentences of all prisoners on death row were vacated and the defendants remitted for sentence. In 2011, Malawi approved amendments to the Penal Code allowing courts discretion in sentencing murder suspects.
In 2011, Malawi amended the Penal Code to allow courts wide discretion in condemning the murder suspects.
After many years of delay, finally, in February 2015, the Malawi High Courts began holding resentencing hearings on cases of the 191 prisoners entitled to be re-sentenced following the 2007 High Court ruling. As of 31 December 2015, the courts had heard 64 cases, of which 63 were re-sentenced. Fifty-one of the completed cases resulted in immediate release of prisoners, while 12 death sentences were commuted to terms of imprisonment. None received life sentences or new death sentences.
On 12 November 2015, speaking at a workshop organised by the European Union, the United Nations (UN) and the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) to solicit views on the death penalty, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Samuel Tembenu, assured the EU, UN and MHRC that government was working towards the abolition of the death penalty.
In 2016, a new death sentence was recorded and 28 people were on death row according to Amnesty International.
In November 2016, Hands off Cain carried out a mission to Malawi in order to call for a vote in favor of the UNGA Resolution pro-moratorium, in the framework of a project supported by the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs. The delegation headed by Antonio Stango (member of the Board of Hands Off Cain and President of the Italian League for Human Rights), and whose members include Eleonora Mongelli, Yuliya Vassilyeva and Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan (Vice President of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty) met in the capital of Malawi the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Francis Lazalo Kasaila, and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Samuel Tembenu. The Foreign Minister announced that Malawi, which had abstained in previous votes, this year will vote in favor of the moratorium. As it was noticed in both meetings, Malawi, which since 1993 has observed a de facto moratorium on executions, may perform in the near future other significant steps towards abolition. However, to this end a gradually growing consensus among the population will be necessary. The Foreign Minister noted that it would be important to develop, with the help of organizations such as Hands Off Cain, information programs involving the civil society. The Minister for Foreign Affairs announced the vote in favor of the Resolution.
United Nations On 5 May 2015, Malawi was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. The recommendations to continue the moratorium on the death penalty were examined by Malawi and enjoyed its support, while those to abolish the death penalty and to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR were rejected.
On 19 December 2016, Malawi, for the first time, voted in favor of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly. It previously, abstained.
