[Continued from HERE.]

From Idi Amin to apartheid to the Rwandan genocide to Robert Mugabe to female genital mutilation to the Janjaweed in Darfur, significant and disturbing human rights abuses are, to some, nearly synonymous with modern Africa. Indeed, there are many human rights abuses great and small plaguing the continent (and yes, the entire world, U.S. of A. included.)

Malawi, though never having produced a horrifying incident or despot worthy of a Hollywood script, is no exception. A report covering the years between 1994 and 2005, created by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) (the same state organization that is now trying to be added onto the suit filed by the human rights NGO coalition in the M Fray) said the worst human rights violations in the country were rape, murder, child labor, defilement, child abandonment, rights to family and marriage, property, human dignity, administrative justice, development and economic activity, education, freedom of expression, language, culture and freedom of conscience. The most common human rights abuses were related to labor issues.

Amnesty International, in its 2006 report, highlighted freedom of expression, child prostitution, torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody and denial of access to food as some of the major human rights abuses in Malawi.

Clearly, human rights are constantly being monitored for a reason and human rights watchdogs have an important role in the Malawian context.

Why then such an uproar by human rights groups over the M Fray? Has there been even one accusation of violation of human rights? Is this truly a priority “human rights” case or are the issues in the M Fray more about the adoption laws, their implementation, their validity and their future ramifications? Where are the “rule of law” watchdogs to verify the veracity of the laws allegedly being usurped if the M Fray is of justifiable legal concern? Where are the local and international corruption hawks that the World Bank and IOM have demanded put in place in every facet of government? Shouldn’t they be involved if someone is using influence and means to usurp the laws established to protect citizens, as that is supposed to be their raison d’etre?

The only angle I could possibly see relating directly to human rights hasn’t been mentioned at all as a concern by any of the various activists: claims by Mr. Banda that the government official sent to explain the adoption and related contract instead mislead him by claiming that the adoption would be like the arrangement Mr. Banda already had with the orphanage. If Mr. Banda’s claim is true, it really is a violation of both Mr. Banda’s and David’s rights, so why doesn’t anyone seem to care about this? The majority of Malawian parents and caretakers are illiterate; couldn’t this be an indicator of a past/present/future blight of manipulation, deception and coercion of such people, perhaps not just in adoption cases, but as a bigger issue?

If this isn’t part of the concerns of the rights groups over the M Fray, what are those concerns?

[Next blog: What IS Their Point, Anyway?]