Justice Sector and the Rule of Law - AfriMAP

Court fees in Malawi’s judicial institutions have been kept relatively low so as to facilitate accessto justice, and, in an attempt to reduce costs, small claims must be submitted to mediationbefore trial. But the high level of poverty in Malawi and the prohibitive costs of legal servicesmean that the majority of the population have no access to formal justice; this is limited to thewealthy elite. Newly created constitutional bodies such as the ombudsman and Human RightsCommission have played a useful role. Nevertheless, most Malawians seek resolution of civildisputes in various customary fora—of which there are estimated to be more than 20 000—including courts presided over by ‘traditional authorities’ recognised by the executive. Althoughthe Constitution empowers Parliament to make provision for ‘traditional or local courts’ to hearcustomary law cases, no such legislation has been adopted. A legal framework for these courtsis urgently needed. In addition, adequate resources should be allocated to traditional courts andother non-state mechanisms of conflict resolution, reflecting the scale of their contribution inproviding access to justice for many citizens. There have been few surveys measuring public awareness of human rights. One of the mostextensive of such surveys was conducted in 1998 and reported very low rights awareness amongmembers of the general public. 506 Since then, numerous state institutions and non-governmentalorganisations have undertaken a wide range of initiatives aimed at imparting ‘civic education’ tothe general population. Examples of such initiatives include radio and television discussion of