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(NYASATIMES) Malawi on alert ‘failed states index’

Malawi on alert ‘failed states index’
By Nyasa Times
Published: March 25, 2011

Malawi has been marked on alert as a country on the brink to be a failed state, according to the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy Magazine and on their latest Failed States Index (FSI).

Malawi has been ranked top 28 weakest states and is on “alert” based on factors including its economy, human rights record and security. The 2010 “Failed States Index” was released on Monday, ranking 177 countries to determine those most at risk of failure.

President Mutharika: Malawi on alert

The annual report uses 12 metrics including security threats, economic implosion and human rights violations.

A failed state is defined as “one in which the government does not have effective control of its territory, is not perceived as legitimate by a significant portion of its population, does not provide domestic security or basic public services to its citizens, and lacks a monopoly on the use of force.”

Rating the five core state institution, Fund For Peace said Malawi leadership, judiciary and its military were “weak”.

And it rated Malawi Police and public service as “poor”.

The index comes at a time when western donors have expressed concerns over governance issues in Malawi. The civil society organisations have also petition the United Nations including a similar one presented by a group of Malawians based in UK to Britain’s Prime Minister on deteriorating human rights situation in Malawi.

But Malawi Information and Civic Education Minister Symon Vuwa Kaunda has defended the country’s human rights record.

The Minister said the country’s leadership has sustained “institutional framework” including respecting the independence of the Judiciary and that since the country attained multiparty democracy in 1994 there has no presidential signing of a death warrant for those sentenced by the courts is an indication of commitment and respect for human rights.—(Reporting by Judith Moyo, Nyasa Times)

Labels: MALAWI

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