Rafiq Hajat

Rafiq Hajat (14 September 1955) is a prominent Malawian civil rights activist.[1] He was born in Blantyre.[2] He is the director for the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI) in Malawi.[2]

He received a B.A. in political science at Saint Xavier College in India in 1975.[2]

Career

Vice president of the country's chamber of commerce and industry, chairman of DEMAT, the Development of Malawian Traders' Trust, and also founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI).[3] He has worked at the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and has been a Board member with Small Enterprise Development Organisation of Malawi and the Development of Malawi Traders Trust

Political career

He was a member of the executive in the United Democratic Front[3]

Activism

He is the founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI)[3] and is the founder of Transparency International - Malawi Chapter.[4] Hajat and Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) president Kamlepo Kalua formed a Forum for the Defence of Democracy a pressure group on governance concerns under the Mutharika administration.

Hajat was one of the main civil society organizers of the July 20th Ultimatum and July 20th nationwide economic protests.[5] This forced him to go into hiding for a few days, but later he continued to organize the subsequent protests.

On September 2, 2011, the offices of the IPI were burned whilst Hajat was traveling to Lilongwe.[6]

Accolades
  • 2012, Hajat was a finalist for the Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, which ultimately went to Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi.[7]
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References
  1. "Malawi: Activist's office burns, govt blamed: News". Africareview.com. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  2. http://www.sdnp.org.mw/lawcom/docs/summproc.pdf
  3. "IRIN Africa | MALAWI: IRIN interview with democracy activist, Rafiq Hajat | Malawi | Governance". Irinnews.org. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  4. "Rafiq Hajat's Page - Voices Against Corruption". Voices-against-corruption.ning.com. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  5. "BBC News - Malawi activists 'in hiding after Mutharika threat'". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  6. "DPP thugs 'smoke out' activist Hajat offices | Malawi news, Malawi - NyasaTimes breaking online news source from Malawi". Nyasatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  7. "The Front Line Defenders Award". Front Line. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.


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