‘Materially true?’: The nexus of human rights violations, due process rights and admissibility of forced confessions in the Malawi criminal justice system

Malawi has a permissive legal framework which permits admissibility of forced confessions, a subject that is under-researched in African literature. Civil society organisations have regularly reported to various United Nations committees that the use of excessive force and torture to obtain evidence in the Malawi criminal justice system is endemic and relied upon by prosecutors and judges in criminal cases despite inherent unreliability. The prison system continues to suffer from lengthy remand detention, severe congestion and poor conditions. We present a socio-legal assessment of the legal, human rights and procedural concerns regarding the admissibility of forced confessions in Malawi. Prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is provided in the 1994 Constitution of Malawi. Section 176 of the 1967 Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code (CP&EC), however, allows forced confessions as admissible evidence, contradicting constitutional and human rights protections. Our assessment illustrates how colonial-era legal frameworks continue to undermine fundamental human rights and administration of justice in Malawi. Constitutional advocacy, legislative reform of the CP&EC, oversight mechanisms and resourcing of law enforcement training on the Méndez Principles on effective interviewing and interrogation is warranted.