Information on the "Malawi Action Committee" [MWI11349]

The editor of the Malawi Action Committee newsletter (which will be made available to the Documentation Centre upon publication) informed the IRBDC that the Malawi Action Committee is a group of Malawian exiles in Canada and United States which was formed on 4 April 1992 (6 Aug. 1992). Previously, these people had worked in small groups to lobby governments and international organizations to make them aware of human rights abuses in Malawi. Several of their members contributed to the Africa Watch report on Malawi, Where Silence Rules (October 1990), one of the few human rights reports on the situation in Malawi. (Ibid.)

The Malawi Action Committee, which is in the process of incorporating, has offices in both United States and Canada. Officers of the Committee represent both countries equally. To date, the Committee has sent a delegate to the Paris meetings of the World Bank (See Inter Press Service 13 May 1992) and has made representations to the House of Representatives in the United States (Ibid.). The attached two Inter Press stories describe the Malawi Action Committee as "non-partisan" (14 May 1992) and "a lobby group representing exiled Malawians in the United States and Canada" (13 May 1992).

The IRBDC is unable to corroborate this information at the present time.

References

Inter Press Service. 13 May 1992. "Malawi: Creditors Condition Aid on Democratization, Human Rights". (NEXIS)

Inter Press Service. 14 May 1992. "Malawi: Exiles Anxious to Return Home." (NEXIS)

Malawi Action Committee. 6 August 1992. Telephone Interview with Representative.

Attachments

Inter Press Service. 13 May 1992. "Malawi: Creditors Condition Aid on Democratization, Human Rights". (NEXIS)

Inter Press Service. 14 May 1992. "Malawi: Exiles Anxious to Return Home." (NEXIS)