By Chisomo Phiri
Stakeholders in human rights and justice advocacy in the country have called for the need to strengthen structures and remove barriers blocking the citizenry especially the marginalised, from accessing justice.
The call was made in Lilongwe on Friday during a high-level advocacy meeting for stakeholders in human rights and justice advocacy organised by the Gender and Justice Unit (GJU).
GJU Board Member Linda Jere cited long distances to court and the protracted duration of case resolutions as some of the challenges that need to be addressed.
“To address these challenges we are organising these meetings bringing together the police, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Ombudsman, traditional leaders and the judiciary to map the way forward on how we can address the challenges,” said Jere.
Among others, the stakeholders reviewed the outcomes of an interaction meeting with the citizenry called Pabwalo which was conducted in March, 2023 and collaboratively developed an action plan for improving access to justice mechanisms for the citizenry.
With support from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), GJU is implementing a nine-month project on Enhancing access to Justice for Marginalized Communities, including women and young girls in Malawi, through the operationalization of
the Independent Complaint Commission (ICC) mechanism.
