Human Trafficking in [Malawi Street Children in [Malawi] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Malawi] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Malawi [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Malawi is a source, transit, and destination country for men,
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation. The incidence of internal trafficking is believed higher than
that of cross-border trafficking, and practices such as debt bondage and
forced labor exist. Children are primarily trafficked internally for
agricultural labor, but also for animal herding, domestic servitude,
commercial sexual exploitation, and to perform forced menial tasks for small
businesses. Trafficking victims, both adults and children, are lured by
fraudulent job offers into situations of forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation within Malawi and in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia. In
2007, a Malawian man was allegedly trafficked to Uganda under the pretense of
attending vocational school, but was instead forced to perform agricultural
labor. Women and children from Zambia, Mozambique, and possibly Tanzania and
Somalia are trafficked to Malawi for forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Child Prostitution worsens in Cities She said for Blantyre, the
children are picked from their parental homes in Zomba, Thyolo, Nsanje and
Chiradzulu after brothel owners pay some money to parents of the
children. “They give the parents
K1,000 and tell them that the children will be employed in restaurants,” said
Mtisunge. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children work in crop production on tea estates and on commercial
tobacco farms, where the incidence of working children has traditionally been
high. Bonded labor has historically
been common among tobacco tenants and their families, including children. There are also reports that young girls
have been traded or sold among tribal chiefs along the border with Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The law
does not prohibit trafficking in persons specifically, and trafficking was a
problem. Although the extent of human trafficking was undocumented, the
government made efforts to combat trafficking and used existing laws to
prosecute cases of child trafficking for agricultural labor exploitation. The
penal code contains several provisions relating to prostitution and indecency
that could be used to prosecute traffickers. Since 2001, seven cases
involving trafficking in persons have been prosecuted. On September 24, two
citizens and a foreigner were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment with
hard labor for kidnapping. The three men were arrested in September while
attempting to smuggle five young boys across the border into The country is a source and
transit point for women and children trafficked for sexual purposes locally
and to brothels abroad, particularly in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2002 [63] The Committee is also
concerned at information on alleged instances of trafficking in children and
at the possible use of inter-country adoption for the purpose of trafficking. Malawi:
Government Intensifies Campaign Against Child Labour POVERTY - While recognising the efforts
by government and its development partners to combat human trafficking and
child labour, Banda said, "Increasing the number of child protection
officers without dealing with what drives thousands of our children into
exploitative labour will not solve the problem. These children are compelled
to work in estates because of poverty and, to a large extent, because they
either have one or no parent at all." - htpv Human trafficking
syndicate exposed An intricate system of human
trafficking exists in the country involving Malawians and Nigerians who
traffic mainly women and children to as far as Europe. Most of the victims of trafficking
in Malawi, Nikolovska said, are sexually exploited in Johannesburg and women
could be sold for as little as R650 (K13,800) as wives to South African men
and for R1,000 (K21,234) in brothels at Kwazulu Natal and Gauteng. NGOs Work
To Eradicate Human Trafficking, Help Victims U.S.-funded nongovernmental
organizations around the world are working to prevent human trafficking,
provide resources to victims and arrest and prosecute child-sex offenders.
From Africa to Europe to Asia, initiatives are raising worldwide awareness of
the illegal practice of human trafficking. PROVIDING
RESOURCES FOR VICTIMS - In Malawi, police officers specially trained to recognize child
victims of exploitation, including trafficking, are raising community
awareness and helping grassroots organizations provide reintegration
assistance for victims. Nearly 400 child protection officers in the country’s
27 local government districts are serving a critical role by monitoring
communities for signs of trafficking, and they identify about half of the
reported trafficking cases in Malawi. Mozambican gets 6 years for human trafficking1 Sauka in an interview yesterday
said Katundu entered the country on October 1 accompanied by a boy aged 17
whom he convinced that he would be paid handsomely after helping him carry
some clothes he was going to buy in Zomba.
“But his going to Zomba was in search of a human market. Last month, police in Zomba
arrested three people suspected to have removed private parts of a boy in the
district. Their motive has not been established yet but they are currently on
remand at the Zomba Maximum Prison awaiting trial. Human
trafficking is a reality in Malawi In order to combat the
multifaceted problem of human trafficking, interventions must be
multi-disciplinary and multi sectoral. They must among others include; the
legal sector -implementing all international human rights conventions and treaties,
developing regional and bilateral MOU’s with neighbouring countries on
prevention and detection of trafficking, strengthening the national legal
framework through the development of specific anti-trafficking laws and
regulations, and strengthening law enforcement through active prosecution of
trafficking offenders. Also the social welfare and health
sector -improving access to high quality and appropriate social and
protection services for trafficking victims, providing health services to
those infected with diseases etc; community based initiatives - supporting
small income-generating projects in village communities; gender
mainstreaming- raising awareness about gender sensitivity within the court
systems, and among police and other law enforcement officials, as well as
raising awareness on the issues throughout the general public; And the education sector -
increasing awareness about human trafficking by providing education for all. Improving
the existing educational systems and ensure vocational and technical
education structures and mechanisms accessible to out of school youth.
Provide relevant education and training for labour markets, particularly to
youth in areas of high mobility and/or vulnerable groups; the migration
sector - strengthening cross-border initiatives, enhancing the number and
quality of repatriation programmes, improving situation of trafficked victims
in receiving country (avoiding detention and expulsion of victims), focusing
on key factors which leads to the migration to neighbouring countries; and
the labour sector - improving job opportunities and strengthening national
labour laws. All these must be included to combat the multifaceted problem of
human trafficking. New
NGO formed to combat human trafficking A new NGO named Centre for the
Protection of Trafficked Persons (Ceptrap) has been formed in the country to
combat human and child trafficking and sexual exploitation. Reports of human trafficking have
been rife in the country with various people using all kinds of tricks to
abduct women. Trafficked people are usually lured with offers of jobs outside
the country. Outrage over lenient
fine for trafficking boys A Kwacha 24,000 (US $200) fine
imposed on a man caught trying to smuggle children across the border into Child Prostitution worsens in Cities She said for Blantyre, the
children are picked from their parental homes in Zomba, Thyolo, Nsanje and
Chiradzulu after brothel owners pay some money to parents of the
children. “They give the parents
K1,000 and tell them that the children will be employed in restaurants,” said
Mtisunge. AIDS
Now Compels Africa to Challenge Widows' 'Cleansing' But they hunted her down, she
said, and insisted that if she refused to exorcise her dead husband's spirit,
she would be blamed every time a villager died. So she put her two small
children to bed and then forced herself to have sex with James's cousin. Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide South Africa
regional centre for human trafficking Malawian women are targeted by
trafficking groups because they do not require a visa to enter the United
Kingdom. Initial recruitment takes place through Malawian businesswomen, who
are linked to the smuggling syndicates. Young women are lured by promises of
job opportunities in Europe. Upon
arrival, as the IOM discovered in the Netherlands, the women are sold to
brothel owners for $10,000, and told they must work as prostitutes to pay off
their debts. "The initiation process involves a ritual used to threaten
the women," Martens said. They are asked for underwear, hair or nail
clippings and threatened with death by magic if they do not cooperate. The
IOM discovered that some brothels even brand or tattoo the women. Human
Trafficking Stretches Across the Region According to the Pretoria-based
Institute for Security Studies, as many as 500 organised crime groups operate
in South Africa. These include Nigerian gangs who operate mainly in Malawi, Zambia and South Africa. SOUTH AFRICA: Initiative to fight human trafficking to be launched South Africa is a country of
origin, destination and transit for victims, who are trafficked primarily for
purposes of prostitution and forced labour. Refugees from neighbouring
African countries, children from Lesotho, women and girls from Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria,
Senegal, Taiwan, Russia, Thailand, Latvia and Romania are all trafficked into
South Africa. MALAWI PRESS
REVIEW June 2004 from Centre for Social Concern SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE - Reports on social and cultural life also revealed efforts that are
being taken by Nankungwis or Ngalibas, the country's custodians of culture in
the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is now common knowledge that some
cultural practices such as chokolo, wife inheritance are not worth keeping
and practicing in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Nankungwis who are
responsible for guiding young people through initiation rites are better
placed to disseminate information on how the disease is spread as well as its
consequences. The practice of marrying girls at
a tender age has been blamed for the rise in maternal death in the country.
This practice has a negative effect on the health of young girls who end up
with various health implications for starting child bearing at a tender age.
All the more, the practice has a negative bearing on the development of the
country, as young girls do not get a chance to finish their education and
contribute positively to the development of the country. Reports have also expressed
concern that Malawian women and girls are increasingly becoming victims of
human trafficking to South Africa and other border districts of Malawi. This
is a sad development hence the need for human rights bodies and government to
put into place measures that would end the practice. The
Smoking Business - Tobacco Workers in Malawi [PDF] Malawi is generally regarded as
one of the countries in the region with the highest incidence of child
labour. Child labour in Malawi is also to a large extent explained by
poverty, lack of resources, especially educational, etc as well as poor
institutional and reulatory settings. Poverty and economic necessity exert
major pressures on families to make use as early as possible of the time and
labour of children to assist family survival, often at the expense of
schooling. SOUTHERN AFRICA: Major destination for traffickers in women and children "Sexual exploitation - in
particular, prostitution - is the most widely documented form of exploitation
for women and children trafficked within and from Africa," said the
report. In certain instances it has been "exacerbated also by a demand
from foreigners", such as in holiday resorts in Malawi, where children
are reported to be sexually exploited by European tourists, or sent to Europe
as sex slaves. Committee on the Rights of the Child - Reports by States - 2002 The Committee emphasized the
problem of kidnapping and trafficking in children for slave labour and
prostitution. The Malawi Government was recommended to take measures to
protect children before the problem increase and bi-lateral agreements were
stressed as a measure to deal with the specific area of concern. 1. The linked
article has been taken down, moved or restricted All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Malawi Street Children in [Malawi] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Malawi] [other countries]