Malawi

Malawi’s penal code punishes “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” with up to 14 years in prison and hard labor under Section 153. “Attempts” to commit unnatural offenses (Section 154) and “indecent practices between males” (Section 156) are punishable by seven and five years in prison, respectively. In 2011, parliament expanded the penal code through the addition of a new Section 137A that punishes “indecent practices between females” with up to five years’ imprisonment, emblematic of several countries that have, in the last three decades, extended colonial laws to explicitly criminalize sex between women. Activists in Malawi have informed Outright that trans people have been subjected to extortion by state actors who leverage threats of arrest under a law criminalizing “idle and disorderly persons.” 

In June 2024, in the case of Akster and Another v. Director of Public Prosecutions and Another, the High Court of Malawi struck down a constitutional challenge to these “unnatural offenses” laws, citing tradition and cultural values as justifications for their continuation. This decision reflects a broader trend in some African nations, where colonial-era laws are upheld under the guise of protecting so-called traditional values.

The NGO Regulatory Authority oversees the registration and regulation of the operations of all NGOs in Malawi. As a government agency, NGORA is under the Ministry of Gender, Community Development, and Social Welfare. The Registrar has refused to register LGBTIQ organizations that use specific language demonstrating affiliation with LGBTIQ communities. In 2017, a local LGBTIQ organization launched a challenge against the Registrar’s refusal to register an organization advocating for LGBTIQ persons. In October 2023, the case was adjourned. It remains pending, but no new date has been determined as of January 2026. 

There is a widely shared cultural belief that intersex people are cursed and taboo, which contributes to discrimination and violence. According to an intersex activist interviewed by Outright, some visibly intersex infants are killed soon after birth, and a significant number of intersex children drop out of school due to severe bullying.