Abstract

NKHATA, Mwiza Jo  and  MWENIFUMBO, Anganile Willie. Livelihoods and legal struggles amidst a pandemic: The human rights implications of the measures adopted to prevent, contain and manage COVID-19 in Malawi. Afr. hum. rights law j. [online]. 2020, vol.20, n.2, pp.512-539. ISSN 1996-2096.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2020/v20n2a7.

Malawi's COVID-19 response has evinced a measure of fluidity. This has been manifested by, among other things, the adoption of two sets of subsidiary legislation on COVID-19, the judicial intervention striking down proposed lockdown measures and the constant change in the institutional arrangements meant to spearhead the country's response. A key challenge that the response has had to contend with is the balance between saving lives and preserving livelihoods. This article analyses Malawi's response to COVID-19 and establishes that aside from its rather haphazard nature, serious questions of legality have been implicated by the measures adopted. Specifically in relation to lives and livelihoods, the articles focuses on the right to economic activity, to highlight some of the challenges that Malawi's response generated to the preservation of livelihoods. The human rights implications of some of the measures adopted are also briefly analysed.

Keywords : livelihoods; state of disaster; promulgation of subsidiary legislation; limitation of rights; right to economic activity; socio-economic rights.

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