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afrol.com / AENS, 6 December - Human rights activists in Malawi are under fire from an unexpected quarter - the very people they are trying to protect. An increasingly critical media and general public have blamed human rights activists for the country's soaring violent crime after a series of highly successful programmes to curb illegal arrests and police brutality. Critics contend however that human rights organisations are hampering the police fight against sophisticated crime gangs and are according criminals better rights than their victims. The Malawi Centre for Advice and Education (CARE), one of Malawi's most prominent human rights organisations, tried to refute the criticism in an unprecedented statement this week defending its programmes to provide para-legal assistance to prisoners. CARE spokesman Shernard Mazengera said in the statement that human rights activists were increasingly being used as scape goats for government's inability to tackle or control crime. "More and more people are questioning our pledge to ensure that everyone's rights are protected. Malawi is a society that has little real understanding of universal human rights and most people believe that criminals should have no rights at all," said Mazengera. - Our mission is to ensure that all suspects are treated as innocent until proven guilty in court, and that all prisoners are granted basic rights protecting them from beatings, sexual and other abuse. Malawi national police spokesman Oliver Soko stressed the importance of CARE and other human rights work, but confirmed growing opposition amongst policemen to what they viewed as "meddling". "The police and courts are increasingly releasing even dangerous criminals on bail because of the pressure from these organisations to recognise human rights. Often suspects are released because officers are afraid of being labelled brutal or human rights abusers," said Soko. "The public backlash has included mob lynchings, protests against police and a growing public belief in mob justice or jungle courts." Police and human rights activists have also, he said, been accused of accepting bribes from criminals in return for early release. "Public dissatisfaction has become so severe that suspects released on bail now face a growing threat - summary execution by angry mobs," Soko added. A recent spate of mob killings prompted the Malawi government to tighten its bail procedures in criminal or violent crime cases and warn that it would charge anyone implicated in mob stonings, burnings or assaults. "Malawi lived under a brutal system of State repression by the former dictatorial regime for decades and normal citizens therefore have very little genuine understanding of the concepts of a fair trial or institutional justice," said Mazengera. - This is the reality, but it cannot be used as an excuse for giving up. We have to fight popular sentiment if necessary to ensure that Malawi develops the kind of human rights culture that will entrench our democratic system. CARE's core programmes attempt to entrench the concept that all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty, should be informed of all charges against them, be allowed legal defence or advise, and be granted a speedy and public trial. Convicted criminals should, CARE contends, be allowed to appeal their sentence, be granted the chance to rehabilitate themselves and qualify for parole, and be treated humanely while in jail. "Only once these safeguards are in place can we be sure that people will not be wrongly imprisoned and that prisoners are not mistreated," said Mazengera. Southern African police and human rights lawyers meanwhile met in Malawi two weeks ago to draft the region's first international code-of-conduct for law enforcers. The three-day Southern Africa Police Chiefs Corporation Organisation (SARPCCO) conference in Malawi's Mangochi region began drafting ethical guidelines to stop the use of undue physical force, assault, torture and corruption within the region's national law enforcement agencies. The guideline will, it is hoped, finally be adopted as a Southern African Development Community protocol to standardise policing standards on the sub-continent. The conference will also attempt to streamline regional extradition laws and procedures, and create a regional database of known criminals or syndicates to help police track their movements. Malawi currently chairs SARPCCO, which was established five-years ago to co-ordinate cross-border police investigations and help police track international drug, weapons, contraband and vehicle smuggling syndicates. Malawi police legal advisor and country delegate on SARPCCO, Tumalisye Ndovi, said the proposed guidelines would attempt to instil better professional standards and a deeper understanding of human rights amongst regional police officers. "We are all carrying out vigorous campaigns to teach our officers why human rights are important and how to handle suspects properly," said Ndovi. The review of regional extradition procedures may be incorporated into a generalised regional extradition treaty, signed by all SADC members. The conference follows huge public outrage in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Malawi about perceived police abuse or torture of suspects. South African police are still attempting to patch their public image after leaked video footage showed rogue officers setting their attack dogs on three hapless suspected illegal immigrants as "training". The suspects were repeatedly savaged by dogs, and beaten by their handlers, before being released without charge. Mozambican police are fighting a Mozambican Human Rights League report alleging that they sparked nationwide riots that left 41 dead and 200 injured last week. The police allegedly fired on opposition party supporters without provocation, killing 11. They also allegedly pursued and shot at least one more fleeing demonstrator, and tortured many of those arrested during the aftermath. Swaziland police were condemned by international human rights bodies this week for harassing, manhandling and deporting foreign journalists, beating pro-democracy supporters and jailing union leaders. Malawi police heave meanwhile been grilled for a spate of torture and assault cases, as well as for the illegal possession and use of unregistered firearms. The weapons were allegedly used to kill unco-operative suspects, when attempts to torture confessions from them failed. By Brian Ligomeka, Hobbs Gama & Justin Arenstein,
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