Country Profile: Malawi

The database hosted on ClimateRights.org generates a country profile for all 196 UN member states and the European Union that identifies the legal obligations and political commitments made by each country related to the integration of human rights considerations in climate action, relevant information that the country has included in past national reports to UN climate and human rights bodies, and/or recommendations that these bodies have made to the state.

All UN members have existing human rights obligations in the context of climate change, and the vast majority of governments have already called for a better integration of human rights in climate responses, highlighted barriers for implementation or good practices, and/or received specific guidance from specialised UN institutions.

To access information about other countries or find out about the methodology used for this research, please visit climaterights.org/database

(This profile was last updated on 20th October 2017)


Country Profile Overview: Malawi

Ratification of Human Rights-related Instruments relevant in the context of climate change

…ratified the following human rights instruments with relevance in the context of climate:

  • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the ICCPR 1st optional protocol
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
  • Convention Against Torture
  • Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
  • Charter of Human and Peoples Rights

For more specific information and references regarding the human rights obligation of this country under international law, please visit             http://forestdefender.org/country/Malawi

Positions in the procedures of the UN Human Rights Council

…sponsored the following Human Rights Council’s resolution(s) on Human Rights and Climate Change:

  • HRC resolution 26/27 (2014)
  • HRC resolution 29/11 (2015)

UPR Universal Periodic Review (see Part 2 of the country profile for any reference mentioned in this section);

… referred to climate change in its national report(s) to the UPR: for the first UPR cycle; for the 2nd UPR cycle

… will participate to the UPR in Apr- May 2020, with a deadline for submission of information by civil society on 19.09.2019

Climate change as an issue raised during the review of the country by UN Human Rights institutions (see Part 2 of the country profile for any reference mentioned in this section):

Committee against Torture (CAT),with a pre-session for the committee to consider preliminary information scheduled in 23.04.18

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

… was the subject of concerns or concluding observations by the committee on the protection of human rights in the context of climate change;

Obligations, statements and reports in the context of UN Climate Negotiations

… has ratified the Paris Agreement which recognizes the need for parties to promote and respect human rights when taking climate action;

… emphasized the following principle(s) in its Nationally Determined Contributions submitted under the Paris Agreement: human rights (see Part 2 of the country profile), gender equality or the role of women, food security,

… mentioned human rights in written submission to the UNFCCC in relation to the following issues: the need for capacity building to support countries in implementing human rights-based actions (2016), the need for carbon trading to respect human rights (2017),

… supported publicly the inclusion of a reference to human rights in the text of the Paris Agreement;

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