HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION: SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION)REGULATIONS
under s. 38
ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS
REGULATION
1. Citation
2. Interpretation
3. Public advertisement
4. List of nominating organizations
5. Handling of nominations
6. Pre-selection forum
7. Screening and assessment of nominations
8. Recommendation to the President
9. Notification of appointment
10. Publication
11. Oath of office
12. Orientation of members
First Schedule
Second Schedule
G.N. 44/2014
These Regulations may be cited as the Human Rights Commission (Procedure for Appointment of Members of the Commission) Regulations.
In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Commission elected in accordance with section 6 of the Act; and
“UN Paris Principles” refers to the set of recommendations adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris, in 1993, relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights.
(1) A public advertisement calling for nominations of persons to be considered for appointment as members of the Commission shall be published in the last month of the third and last year of the tenure of office of a sitting Commission, and shall run for 30 days.
(2) The public advertisement which shall be signed jointly by the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman, shall be in accordance with the First Schedule hereto, and shall call for the nominations of not more than two persons from each nominating institution.
4. List of nominating organizations
(1) The Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman shall compile and update the list of reputable organizations representative of Malawian society three months prior to the completion of the tenure of the sitting Commission.
(2) A concerned organization not included in the list of reputable organizations mentioned in subregulation (1), may submit a written application, through the Executive Secretary, to be considered for inclusion on the list of reputable organizations.
(3) The concerned organization shall in its application, include detailed information about its work in the Malawian society and how their organization protects and promotes human rights and fundamental freedoms.
(4) The Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman shall consider the submission made by the concerned organization and shall accept or refuse the application.
(5) An application accepted under subregulation (4), shall be included in the final list of names of the nominating organizations that will be published in the Gazette, and the organization whose application has been accepted shall submit its nomination within the 30 days deadline stipulated in the public advertisement.
(1) All the nominations that have been received by the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman shall be treated as confidential documents.
(2) The Executive Secretary shall, on behalf of the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman, compile all the nominations, indicating—
(a) name of nominating organizations;
(b) name of nominated persons;
(c) age of nominated persons;
(d) district of origin of nominated persons; and
(e) academic qualifications and occupation of nominated persons.
(1) The Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman may hold a pre-selection forum with all the nominated persons aimed at—
(a) providing a forum for the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman to seek further information from the nominated persons in accordance with section 4(3) of the Act; and
(b) providing a forum for the interaction of the nominated persons with the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman as part of the screening and assessment of the nominations.
(2) The Executive Secretary shall ensure that all nominated persons are invited to the pre-selection forum with a notice of not less than 14 days, and shall dispatch the invitation through multiple means including postal mail and e-mail.
(3) The pre-selection forum shall take the form of a highly participatory session.
7. Screening and assessment of nominations
(1) Following the pre-selection forum, the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman shall screen and assess the nominated persons on the basis of their Curriculum Vitae.
(2) In conducting the screening and the assessment, the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman shall, in addition to the criteria set out in the Constitution, the Act and the UN Paris Principles, take into account the following—
(a) the need to maintain at least half of the number of the appointed members from the previous Commission that are eligible for re-appointment, in order to ensure continuity;
(b) the need to select persons with integrity, that are non-partisan and demonstrate a significant degree of independence;
(c) the type of expertise or work experience that is needed to be brought into the Commission;
(d) educational qualifications in order to ensure the competence of the individual in understanding the various human rights instruments, among the…
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