LGBT Rights in Malawi - Living Conditions

Living Conditions

In July 2005, Reverend Dr. Nick Henderson was elected by the Lake Malawi diocese to serve as its bishop, but conservative members challenged the election. In December, the Anglican Church of Central Africa (ACCA) overturned the election. According to Archbishop Bernard Malango, who led the ACCA, "He has actively demonstrated that he was not of sound faith - that's what the Court of Confirmation decided." The bishops concluded that Henderson's involvement with the Modern Church, which supported LGBT rights, made him "unsuitable". A four-year struggle by laity and priests to overturn the ACCA's decision then ensued. The matter was eventually settled when Henderson asked his supporters to agree to the election of the Venerable Francis Kaulanda as bishop. Kaulanda had been one of Henderson's sabbatical study priests.

In September 2009, Mary Shawa, secretary for nutrition, HIV, and AIDS in the president's office, argued that Malawi must give gay people access to HIV and AIDS services. She said, "There is a need to incorporate a human rights approach in the delivery of HIV and AIDS services to such risk groups like men who have sexual intercourse with men if we have to fight AIDS."

In February 2010, Peter Sawali was arrested for putting up posters on a busy road in Blantyre that read "Gay rights are human rights". He was charged with conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to clean the premises of Blantyre Magistrates Court for 60 days.

In April 2010, President Bingu wa Mutharika condemned acts of homosexuality. He said, "Malawians are even aping cultures they do not understand. They are saying a man should marry a fellow man. This is evil and bad before the eyes of God. There are certain things we Malawians just do not do."

In July 2011, Undule Mwakasungula, the chairperson of the Human Rights Consultative Committee, and Gift Trapence, executive director of the Centre for Development of People, reportedly went into hiding after being threatened with arrest for treason. President Mutharika was quoted as saying, "I will ... hunt you in your homes. You will not hide, I will smoke you out, muziwanso. You should go back to your fathers and mothers from the West, who have sent you." Two months earlier, George Chaponda, Malawi's Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, claimed that recent withdrawals of foreign aid by various countries were the fault of Mwakasungula and Trapence. He said, "The country is suffering because of the conduct of some leaders of the civil society. Those people are not patriotic. Some donors have withdrawn their aid and everybody is suffering."

The U.S. Department of State's 2011 human rights report found that,

An environment conducive to discrimination based on sexual orientation was created and maintained by senior government officials. On World Tourism Day in September, the tourism minister said it was not proper for citizens to engage in same-sex sexual activity as "very un-Malawian." The mistaken notion that western donor countries were withholding financial aid unless the country permits same sex marriages enhanced a homophobic environment. In October the Malawi Council of Churches declared that the country needed aid, and millions of innocent citizens should not be penalized because same-sex sexual activity was outlawed.