openings for eliminating gender discrimination in the nationality law, as well as barriers,
including lack of transparency around ongoing processes and lack of implementation of
specific Gender Equality Act provisions.
19. The special law Commission on the Review of the Citizenship act finalised its work and a
report has been compiled and submitted to the relevant Ministry of Home affairs and
Ministry of Justice for further processes to take place, including a cabinet paper that
must be produced before it can be presented to Parliament. As of now, the status of and
progress on these internal processes is unclear.
20. The Gender Equality Act (GEA) implementation guidelines have been developed and
published and a standalone committee has been established to monitor the
implementation and enforcement of the Act.
21. There are indications in the 2019/2020 budget that the Malawi Human Rights
Commission which is mandated to oversee the implementation of the Act has been
allocated additional funds to assist in this work.
22. There has been progress in the area of legal reforms pertaining to gender equality, i.e
the amendment of Section 22 of the Constitution, which previously allowed girls to
marry at the age of 16 years with consent of her parents. The Constitutional amendment
followed the enactment of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act (2015) which
set the legal age of marriage at 18 years, removing consent of parents.
23. Secondly, enactment of the Land Law, especially the customary Land Act, resulted in
further progress with a provision recognizing women as having the ability to own and
register family land, which in the past only applied to male children. Similarly, married
women jointly own and register family land with their spouses, and continue to own the
property in the event of the death of the husband
24. The passing of Trafficking in Persons Act has further supported legal protection for
women and girls at risk of being trafficked.
25. However, implementation of the GEA remains a challenge as many institutions have
demonstrated a lack of commitment to its implementation. For example, the Act
stipulates that recruiting authorities must ensure that public sector recruitment ensures
a 40/60 ration of either sex, but this has yet to be applied, including at the level of
Executive at Public Enterprises. The lack of implementation of the GEA, including in areas
as critical as employment, demonstrates persistent, systemic gender discrimination by
the state.
Recommendations
26. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States
to make the following recommendations to Malawi:
I.
Expeditiously revise the Citizenship Act to ensure that women and men enjoy
equal rights to acquire, change, transfer and retain nationality, in line with
Article 9 CEDAW, and to introduce safeguards to ensure that children born in
its territory who would otherwise be stateless are granted nationality;
II.
Accede to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
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