Malawi
Urgent appeal
1489. On 13 January 2010, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government concerning the situation of Mr. Dunker Kamba and the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP). Mr. Kamba is an HIV/AIDS activist working for CEDEP, a non-governmental organization that advocates for sexual minorities and people with HIV/AIDS.
1490. According to the information received, on 4 January 2010, the police allegedly raided the premises of CEDEP and arrested Mr. Kamba. Mr. Kamba has been charged with possession of pornographic material.
1491. It is alleged that the material possessed by Mr. Kamba is AIDS/HIV educational materials and that his arrest as well as the raid of the offices of CEDEP follow CEDEP’s involvement in the defence of Mr. Chimbalanga and Mr. Monjeza, who were arrested on 29 December 2009 after their public engagement in a traditional ceremony. CEDEP, notably through statements of his Executive Director in several news reports, has been protesting the arrests of Mr. Chimbalanga and Mr. Monjeza who have been charged with gross public indecency and unnatural offences and are detained in Chichiri Prison pending trial.
1492. Concern was expressed that the raid of CEDEP’s premises and the arrest of Mr. Kamba might be directly related to their work in defense of human rights.
Observations
1497. The Special Rapporteur regrets that at the time of the finalization of this report, the Government had not transmitted a reply to her communications sent during the reporting period dated 13 January and 9 March 2010. The Special Rapporteur considers response to her communications an important part of the cooperation between governments and her mandate and as such requests that the Government of Malawai provide details about the issues raised in the aforementioned communications.
Link to full text of the report: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/defenders/docs/A.HRC.16.44.Add.1_EFSonly.pdf
