Human trafficking in Malawi

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teenage boys and girls continue.[1]

The

Government of Malawi does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. While the government maintained its efforts to ensure victims' access to protective services and prevent trafficking, adults trafficked for sex or labor exploitation and children exploited in domestic servitude and prostitution still did not receive the same amount of care as children exploited in forced labor.[1] U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017.[2]

Prosecution

The Government of Malawi maintained its progress in its anti-trafficking

NGOs. The Ministry of Labor incorporated a child protection curriculum into labor inspector training. Requests to work with other governments are handled on an ad hoc, informal basis, especially between district officials in Mchinji and officials across the Zambian border. The Anti-Corruption Bureau's investigation, begun in 2007, into two complaints of government corruption relating to trafficking was ongoing at the end of the reporting period.[1]

Protection

The Malawi government maintained its efforts to ensure that victims were provided access to appropriate services, and provided in-kind support to NGO service providers. Malawi continued to depend heavily on foreign donors and NGOs to fund and operate most of the country's anti-trafficking programs. This past year, it provided technical and coordination assistance to NGOs and helped set project guidelines. In Dedza district, police rescued 14 Malawian and 10 Mozambican child victims of labor trafficking. The government provided law enforcement, immigration, and social services personnel with basic training in identifying victims of trafficking, though it has not yet established systematic procedures for proactively identifying victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, especially persons in the commercial sex trade. Government personnel sustained partnerships with NGOs to connect their local programs with government labor inspectors, child protection officers, district social welfare officers, the police, and district child protection committees. The government funded one rehabilitation drop-in center in Lilongwe for victims of trafficking and gender-based violence. The center did not keep specific records of trafficking victims that it may have assisted. Over 100 police stations throughout the country housed victim support units to respond to gender-based violence and trafficking crimes. These units provided limited counseling and, in some places, temporary shelter, though the capacity to identify and assist victims varied greatly among stations. Inter-ministerial child protection committees monitored their districts for suspicious behavior which might indicate trafficking activity. Overall, the government encouraged victims' participation in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes and did not inappropriately incarcerate, fine, or otherwise penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.[1]

Prevention

The government sustained its efforts to prevent human trafficking and raise public awareness of the crime in 2009. An inter-ministerial task force on human trafficking, led by the Ministry of Gender, Child Development and Community Development, forged a partnership with international organizations and NGOs and began drafting a national plan of action which is not yet complete. Addressing child trafficking is also the responsibility of both the National Steering Committee on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the National Steering Committee on Child Labor. Uneven levels of expertise and inadequate inter-agency coordination at national and district levels interfered with the effectiveness of these committees in preventing child trafficking. Through the National Aids Commission's Action Framework on HIV/AIDS Prevention, the government sensitized communities to the dangers of commercial sexual exploitation and attempted to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The Malawi Defense Force provided training on human rights, child protection, and the elimination of sexual exploitation to its nationals deployed abroad as part of peacekeeping missions.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 Country Narratives -- Countries G Through M". US Department of State. 2010-06-18. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2023-02-10. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-12-01.