The Women Lawyers Association (WLA) of Malawi is a non-profit organization made up of women lawyers from: the public sector; private practice; commercial and non-governmental organizations; law students; paralegals, professional and lay magistrates and some honorary male lawyers.

WLA was formally launched in 1998 although it has been operational since 1993 under the umbrella of the Malawi Law Society as a permanent Committee on Women and Children’s Affairs.   WLA has since de-linked from the Malawi Law Society in order to focus on its objectives. The Women Lawyers Association exists in four chapters, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu and Zomba.  The leadership of the Association is distributed in all four chapters.

MISSION

“to champion the promotion and protection of the human rights of women and children with a view to contributing to the realization and enjoyment of those rights through legal services, advocacy and research”.

AIMS

• to promote among the Malawian society respect for human rights, more especially of women and children;
• to assist women and children to attain effective protection under the law and to bring about social harmony and peace through the law;
• to be a watchdog of all the legislation that is discriminatory, oppressive or unconstitutional as regards women and children and ensuring that the same is amended/repealed in line with internationally accepted standards of human rights;
• to create unity and foster good relations among women lawyers locally and partners in the justice system.

WLA DOCUMENTATION

Here are some of the core documents for WLA, including the Constitution.

wlaconstitution