Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LILONGWE131
2008-03-05 14:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Lilongwe
Cable title:  

2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - MALAWI

Tags:  KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB EAID MI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ2769
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLG #0131/01 0651435
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051435Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5087
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC 0527
UNCLAS LILONGWE 000131 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USAID
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP - RYOUSEY
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR AF/RSA - LMUNCY AND AF/S - EPELLETREAU
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR G, INL, DRL, PRM, AF/RSA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB EAID MI
SUBJECT: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - MALAWI

REF: A) STATE 2731

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000131

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USAID
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP - RYOUSEY
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR AF/RSA - LMUNCY AND AF/S - EPELLETREAU
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR G, INL, DRL, PRM, AF/RSA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB EAID MI
SUBJECT: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - MALAWI

REF: A) STATE 2731


1. SUMMARY. The government of Malawi remains committed in its fight
against trafficking but continues to suffer from a lack of
resources. The GOM has a strong working relationship with
International Organizations (IOs) and NGOs and continued to provide
social, counseling, and rehabilitation services to victims. The
GOM-UNICEF "Lekani" awareness campaign against harmful practices
provided national reach in raising awareness of trafficking, child
labor, and sexual exploitation. Reporting structures throughout
government and between government and NGOs remain weak, however,
making data collection and assessment of efforts difficult.
Additionally, government dependence on donors, IOs, and NGOs for
funding and implementation of anti-trafficking efforts sometimes
limits the government's discretion on which projects to support and
in which districts to place resources.


2. The country's efforts to combat trafficking were affected this
year both by the prolonged illness and subsequent death of the
Minister for Women and Child Development, and numerous political
impasses that limited the sessions of the National Assembly. As
such, the Child Care, Protection, and Justice Bill, which will be
the first law to specifically prohibit a form of trafficking in
Malawi, is still awaiting parliamentary approval. Additionally,
overall lack of financial resources and delays in government
disbursements delayed the Malawi Law Commission's plans to draft a
comprehensive anti-trafficking bill, and Malawi continued to use the
penal code to prosecute trafficking crimes. END SUMMARY.

Post provides the following information in response to reftel A
request. Answers are keyed to reftel paragraphs.


3. Paragraph 27. Overview of Malawi's Activities to Eliminate
Trafficking in Persons:


A. Malawi is a country of origin, transit, and destination for

internationally trafficked men, women, and children. Women and
children are the most vulnerable group for trafficking exploitation.
Numbers for each group are unknown. Most are trafficked from
Malawi to South Africa, Zambia, and Mozambique for both labor and
sexual exploitation. There was one report of a man trafficked to
Uganda by an aid worker for labor. Additionally, children and women
from Zambia, Mozambique, and possibly Tanzania are trafficked to
Malawi for labor and probably sexual exploitation. Incidences of
trafficking within the country's borders are likely higher than
international trafficking. There is little data available to
accurately quantify the magnitude of the trafficking problem in
Malawi.

Sources of information include various ministries, government
officials, NGOs, and church groups. Much of the information is
anecdotal but is generally considered reliable. Few groups have
statistics and those that do are usually limited to a single
district or smaller area for a limited timeframe. There are
discussions in the Ministry of Women and Child Development on how to
consolidate multiple district-level, child-focused committees into
one child protection committee to facilitate better information
sharing and data collection.

The Ministry of Labor, in conjunction with NGOs and ILO, completed a
National Action Plan on child labor but the report has not yet been
released. The Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF
completed a baseline survey on child protection covering child labor
and child trafficking in November 2007. The Ministry of Women and
Child Development, UNICEF, ILO, and the Child Trafficking Network
commissioned a study on child trafficking in November 2007 but it
will not be completed until June 2008.


B. Impoverished rural populations are the primary targets for
traffickers, and this includes children, women, and some men.
Orphans, particularly those cared for by extended family members
with their own children, are extremely vulnerable to trafficking.
Poverty and lack of education are common factors among all forms of
trafficking. Children are most commonly trafficked internally to
work as domestics, to work as cattle herders, to work in
agriculture, and to do menial work in various small businesses. The
Ministry of Women and Child Development and several NGOs also report
incidences of young girls moving from rural areas to urban or other
rural areas to work as commercial sex workers.

Traffickers for domestic and agricultural labor are often former
villagers who have moved to urban areas. The returnees offer
lucrative jobs to children or their guardians and promise to send
the salaries to the guardians while providing clothing, food,
shelter, and education to the child. Often the trafficker is
heralded as a hero by villagers who believe the child will be better
off leaving the village. Village headmen and other traditional
authorities are also used by traffickers who convince the
traditional leader to help recruit children using similar false
stories about providing amenities to the children that they often
lack in the village. Adult victims are offered lucrative jobs either
in other regions of Malawi or in South Africa.

Adults who run brothels or otherwise act as facilitators for
commercial sex lure new underage recruits into prostitution with
promises of nice clothing and lodging. Once the young woman or girl
arrives at the new location she is charged high rental fees for
these items and instructed how to work as a prostitute to pay off
the debt. Anecdotal evidence still indicates there may be some
prostitutes from Zambia and Tanzania working in border areas;
however these cannot be confirmed as victims of trafficking.
Persons have been trafficked internally for labor and reportedly
also to South Africa, Mozambique, and Zambia. There was a claim
that an aid worker trafficked a man to Uganda under the pretense
that he would attend vocational school but instead was forced into
labor.

There is evidence that Malawi is also a destination for
international trafficking. A child labor rehabilitation shelter run
by the Salvation Army in Mchinji, near the Zambian border, confirmed
they have taken in children from both Mozambique and Zambia that
were trafficked for agricultural labor in Malawi.

Victims are generally moved using legitimate travel documents when
necessary or moved across porous borders without passing through
immigration checkpoints. While there is some evidence of
organization among traffickers, especially in the transport of
people to South Africa, no employment, travel, or marriage agencies
have been openly implicated in trafficking.


C. A wide variety of GOM agencies are involved in anti-trafficking
efforts. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry
of Home Affairs and Internal Security (which includes police and
immigration services) and the Ministry of Labor, along with the
Malawi Law Commission, The Malawi Human Rights Commission, and the
Director of Public Prosecution have the most significant roles. The
Ministry of Women and Child Development is the lead agency in
combating trafficking in persons.

There are two committees that primarily monitor human trafficking in
Malawi: the National Steering Committee on Orphans and Vulnerable
Children, and the National Steering Committee on Child Labor. These
committees are of overlapping composition, and trafficking issues
are included in both.

Most districts have a district child labor committee, a district
orphan and vulnerable child (OVC) committee, and a district
committee on child rights, all of which could deal with trafficking
issues. As with the national steering committees, there is a lot of
overlap yet also limited data sharing. There is no guarantee a case
reported to a district labor inspector would also be brought to the
attention of the district social worker or the police victim support
unit. The amount of initiative district committees take varies
widely and is often dependent on the individuals working in the
district or access to NGO or IO-sponsored projects in the district.
There is a recommendation from the Ministry of Women and Child
Development to combine the three district committees into one
district child protection committee to assist in the reporting of
cases and collection of data.


D. The practical limitations on the GOM's ability to address TIP are
many. Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries and suffers
severely from the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Thirty years of dictatorship
gave way in 1994 to democratic rule, albeit plagued by corruption.
Funding for nearly all public institutions -- police, hospitals, and
basic infrastructure -- is inadequate. The current government's
fight against corruption was slowed during much of the reporting
period due to the protracted absence of a director of the
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) but the November appointment of a new
director has re-energized the fight against corruption.

Malawi depends heavily on donor nations, international
organizations, and multi-national NGOs for funding of most
anti-trafficking programs, which sometimes limits the government's
discretion on which projects to support and in which districts to
place resources. Some projects are delegated to local NGOs due to
lack of capacity in government; unclear reporting structures can
limit data collection and sharing of results. The government's
resources to aid victims are extremely limited, though some
assistance is provided through various social programs. Most
assistance programs are funded by international or faith-based
organizations working through domestic NGOs.


E. Systematic monitoring of human trafficking is still not
developed. Due to the broad range of agencies involved at the
central and local government levels, there is a not single point of
contact for trafficking-related issues in a community or at the
national level. While some data is collected at the district level,
there are inadequate reporting structures to compile data at the
national level.

The Ministry of Justice released the First Periodic Report of Malawi
on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
in late 2006 which addressed anti-trafficking efforts. There are a
few efforts currently underway to collect and disseminate data on
trafficking and anti-trafficking efforts (see Section 3A). A draft
review on Community Child Protection Workers in Malawi by the
Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF has been
completed but has not been publicly released.


4. Paragraph 28. Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers:


A. Malawi does not have a law specifically forbidding trafficking
in persons. The constitution prohibits slavery and servitude, and
forbids any form of forced, tied, or bonded labor. According to the
Malawi Law Commission, in spite of the fact that the Constitution
cannot directly be used to prosecute offenders, reference to the
constitution has in the past been essential in prosecuting certain
cases related to trafficking.

The penal code contains specific offenses which may be used to
prosecute traffickers: Section 140 prohibits the "procuration (or
attempts to procure) any woman or girl to become, either in Malawi
or elsewhere, a common prostitute or to leave Malawi with the intent
that she may become an inmate of or frequent a brothel in Malawi or
elsewhere." Section 141 prohibits the procurement and defilement of
a woman or girl by threats, fraud, or administering of drugs.
Section 143 criminalizes any person who detains any woman or girl
against her will "that she may be unlawfully and carnally known by
any man." Living off of the proceeds of prostitution and operating
a brothel are illegal according to Sections 145-147.

Sections 257-269 concern offenses against liberty including
kidnapping, abduction, and abduction in order to subject a person to
grievous harm or slavery. Section 267 prohibits the buying or
selling of any person as a slave and section 268 specifically
identifies trafficking in slaves as a felony. Section 268 is most
often used to prosecute a person involved in trafficking.

In 2007, child labor and kidnapping laws were used to convict child
traffickers although exact conviction numbers were unavailable. None
received prison sentences. In the past, the majority of these cases
involved trafficking of children for agricultural labor exploitation
and cattle herding. Traffickers are usually required to pay fines;
however, some who claimed ignorance of the law were merely warned
and released. For example, in June a man convicted of trafficking
12 girls within Malawi to work as commercial sex workers was
sentenced to 4 years in prison but upon claiming he did not know
trafficking was a crime, he was allowed to pay a find of 18,500 MK
(132 USD) instead.

Existing laws can be used for the prosecution of TIP, but the lack
of specific legislation criminalizing TIP makes prosecution more
challenging. In the absence of actual trafficking laws and broad
knowledge of how to manage trafficking cases, cases are handled
differently according to the prosecutors and judges involved. Those
who have participated in TIP training -- and therefore have some
understanding of how to investigate and try TIP cases -- tend to
mete out stiffer sentences.

The Child Care, Protection and Justice Bill, which defines child
trafficking and sets life imprisonment penalties for convicted
traffickers, remains in cabinet and was not passed by Parliament
during the reporting period. At the end of the reporting period,
the Malawi Law Commission had just begun drafting additional
legislation to specifically criminalize trafficking of all types.


B. Penalties for trafficking for sexual exploitation as delineated
under the existing penal code vary according to the different
articles, but are largely unspecified. Abduction of a woman with
intent to have sexual intercourse or with the intention to marry her
off is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Child sexual
exploitation can be charged under indecent assault of young girls
and boys, which carries up to a 15 year prison sentence. There was
no data available about the number of arrests, convictions, or
penalties for trafficking people for sexual exploitation during the
reporting period.


C. As described previously, most of the trafficking cases that have
been prosecuted in Malawi involve forced child labor. Penalties for
child labor violations vary according to the specific charges. Most
violators receive a warning for the first offense and are fined for
subsequent violations. Child Labor is prohibited under the age of
14 by the Employment Act of 2000 and is punishable by a fine of
20,000 MK (140 USD) or up to five years in prison. Minimum wage
laws can be used to punish employers who use deceptive offers or
switch contracts, but penalties usually amount only to payment of
salary in arrears. There was no data available about the number of
arrests, convictions, or penalties for trafficking people for labor,
and there were no reports of prison sentences for those convicted.



D. Penalties for rape include life imprisonment and possible death.
(Note: No death sentences have been carried out in Malawi's
democratic history.) Rape is a felony.


E. Certain elements of prostitution are illegal; however the penal
code does not specifically prohibit the prostitution of oneself.
Suspected prostitutes are sometimes cited for loitering or
disorderly behavior. Several sections of the penal code
specifically criminalize the activities of brothel owners/operators,
clients, pimps, madams, and prostitute recruiters. The penal code
prohibits living off the proceeds of prostitution which could be
used against traffickers and carries a penalty of imprisonment up to
three years. Operating a brothel can be penalized by up to five
years in prison. Procuring a person for prostitution is also illegal
with a similar penalty.


F. The government prosecuted cases against human trafficking
offenders but could not provide the number of investigations,
prosecutions, convictions, and sentences given to convicted
offenders. Arrests of at least five traffickers were covered by the
media.

The penal code is used to investigate arrest, prosecute, convict and
sentence traffickers. Most are investigated under Section 268,
prohibiting the trafficking of slaves, or sections covering
abduction or sexual assault. The Employment Act and the minimum
wage law can also be used in forced labor and child labor cases.

Labor recruiters who use knowingly fraudulent or deceptive offers or
impose inappropriately high fees creating a debt bondage condition
can be prosecuted. Employers who confiscate workers' passports or
switch contracts can also be prosecuted using the penal code.

There have been no reports of traffickers being sentenced to jail
during the reporting period. The government has difficulty
providing information on investigations, arrests, convictions, and
sentences due to the decentralization of magistrates and courts,
police, and social welfare officers, the lack of uniform reporting
structures, and the lack of reporting systems able to consolidate
data at a regional or national level without an extensive manual
collection effort.


G. The GOM provides specialized training for police, child
protection officers, social welfare officers, and other officials in
how to recognize, investigate, and prosecute instances of
trafficking. During the reporting period, UNICEF, ILO, Norwegian
Church Aid, along various local NGOs provided or assisted the GOM
with training. The USG OPDAT resident legal advisor also provided
training on human trafficking to police prosecutors and magistrates.
The Ministry of Labor is working to incorporate the child
protection curriculum into labor inspector training.


H. The government has expressed a willingness to cooperate with
other governments in the investigation and prosecution of
trafficking cases, but requests are handled on an ad hoc basis.
There were no known requests from other governments for cooperation
in the reporting period. The GOM, through the Ministry of Home
Affairs and Internal Security, is a member of INTERPOL and SADC's
Defense and Security Organization which deals with trafficking.


I. GOM officials indicate that persons charged with trafficking in
other countries could be extradited in cases where such action would
be appropriate but would be evaluated on a case by case basis.
Malawian nationals would likely only be extradited in situations
were the national could not be tried for the crime in Malawi. The
GOM was not presented with such a case during the reporting period.



J. There is no evidence of government involvement in or tolerance
of trafficking, on a local or institutional level.


K. The Anti-Corruption Bureau received two complaints of government
corruption relating to trafficking during the reporting period.
Both are currently under investigation. Some NGOs have raised
concerns about the lack of regulations for international adoptions
and its potential for abuse with regard to trafficking.


L. The Malawi Defense Force indicated it had no reports of
Malawians participating in peacekeeping or similar missions who
engaged in or facilitated severe forms of trafficking or who
exploited victims of trafficking.


M. Past claims of child sex tourism at the lakeshore resurfaced,
but with no additional evidence, in a research paper released by the
Malawi Law Commission during its consultative workshop on the
development of anti-trafficking in persons legislation. The report
echoed previous anecdotal reports that indicate there may be sex
tourism occurring in Malawi, primarily along the lakeshore area of
Lake Malawi. However the report did not indicate the presence of an
actual "industry." Unconfirmed reports indicate that teenage boys
and girls have, in the past, provided sexual services for visiting
European tourists. Additionally, a report by ECPAT International
claimed that child prostitution is abundant in urban areas at hotels
and outside night clubs and that more than 40% of sex workers were
girls below the age of 18.

During the reporting year, the GOM was not presented with the
opportunity to prosecute any cases related to foreign pedophiles,
though officials consistently prosecute pedophiles under a variety
of laws. Since homosexuality is illegal and remains generally
socially unacceptable in Malawi, prosecutions for this type of
prostitution and solicitation could include charges of homosexual
acts.

Anecdotal reports suggest sex tourists come from Europe but this is
mainly speculation. The country's child sexual abuse laws still
reside in the Malawi penal code and do not likely have
extraterritorial coverage.


5. Paragraph 29. Protection and Assistance to Victims:


A. Foreign trafficking victims often come from neighboring
Mozambique and Zambia and can speak the local language. Many will
claim they are Malawian under the belief that they will be deported
and it is not until after counseling or at the time of relocation
that it is revealed the victim is actually from a foreign country.
Officials said in most cases foreign victims would likely be granted
temporary residency. The government has limited funds to deport
foreign victims and in practice does not do so.


B. Malawi has two rehabilitation centers for children in conflict
with the law (Blantyre, Zomba),one social rehabilitation drop-in
center (Lilongwe) for TIP and gender-based violence victims. All
offer counseling and rehabilitation services and some legal
assistance through the NGO, Legal Aid. Medical cases are referred
to government hospitals. The government of Malawi funds these three
centers with total contributions of approximately 100,000 USD per
year. In addition, the Salvation Army operates a child labor victim
shelter in Mchinji which offers rehabilitation and training. The
NGO Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO) operates a rehabilitation
center in Zomba and the NGO Active Youth Initiative for Social
Enhancement (AYISE) operates a center in Blantyre. The Chisomo
Children's Center in Lilongwe provides rehabilitation services to
street children, many of whom were trafficked previously. The
Police operate 34 victim support units which specialize in handling
trafficking and gender-based violence crimes and provide limited
forms of counseling and temporary safety. In general, foreign
victims have the same access to care as domestic victims.


C. The government provides support to international and domestic
NGOs providing services to trafficking victims. Nearly all funding
comes from international organizations such as UNICEF and ILO but
the GOM provides technical and coordination assistance and helps set
project guidelines. The GOM works with NGOs to connect their local
programs with labor inspectors, child protection officers, district
social welfare officers, the police, and district child protection
committees to help facilitate projects.

D. Law enforcement, immigration, and social services personnel have
been trained to identify victims of trafficking but there is no
formal system to proactively identify victims of trafficking among
high-risk person they come in contact. The government does have a
referral process to transfer victims detained by law-enforcement
authorities through its victim support units.


E. The government does not have a mechanism for screening for
trafficking victims among persons involved in the commercial sex
trade.


F. The rights of victims are generally respected. There are no
reports of victims treated as criminals. Trafficking victims may be
initially detained for short durations during initial investigation.



G. The GOM uses evidence gained from victims to investigate and
prosecute TIP-related cases. Victims are permitted to file civil
suits against perpetrators, and civil society and NGOs many times
offer pro-bono legal services to victims involved in civil and
criminal cases. Labor inspectors and child protection officers are
trained to advocate for fair remuneration to employees, especially
children, in labor disputes and court cases. Victims may obtain
restitution although in practice sums have typically been set at the
minimum rural wage in the case of forced and child labor. There
were no reported statistics for the number of victims who assisted
in investigations or prosecutions during the reporting period.


H. Police protection is afforded to witnesses in any court case, as
appropriate. The GOM provides some funding, commensurate with its
resources and capacity to do so. The 34 police victim support units
can provide short-term shelter for abused and exploited women and
children. Most victims are repatriated to their home village by the
government or through an NGO. There were no reported statistics for
the number of victims assisted or receiving shelter by government or

the NGO community.


I. The GOM has trained 520 community child protection workers
(CCPW) and placed them in each of the 29 districts of the country.
Of the 520, 160 were recruited and trained during the reporting
period. The GOM has set a target of 800 CCPW by the end of 2008.
Training is funded by the National AIDS Commission through a Global
Fund grant. These workers are specially trained to recognize child
victims of all forms of exploitation, including trafficking, but
currently work on a voluntary basis. CCPW receive only 1500
MK/month (10.7 USD) for expenses and transportation. The Ministry
of Women and Child Development and UNICEF have drafted a report on
the work of CCPWs which cites large territories, lack of networking
coordination, and inadequate reporting structures as problems. The
Ministry of Women and Child Development is advocating conversion of
all CCPW to civil servants to add legitimacy and motivate workers to
produce better results.

The Ministry of Labor also has approximately 120 district labor
inspectors trained in Malawi labor law who can identify trafficked
children.

During the reporting period, the GOM along with NGO partners
continued sensitization efforts to educate child protection
officers, social welfare workers, law enforcement, immigration
officers, prosecutors, and judges on how best to combat TIP and
effectively prosecute cases using existing laws. Repatriation to a
victim's home district in cases of domestic labor trafficking is
usually accomplished through interministerial cooperation and
includes some element of community-based assistance in
reintegration.

Malawian Embassies abroad actively encourage Malawian expatriates to
register with the consular section but do not receive training on
protections and assistance. Malawian embassies do work with IOs and
NGOs that bring trafficking cases to their attention. There were
reports of trafficking victims assisted by the embassies abroad
during the reporting period.


J. Repatriated victims of trans-national trafficking generally
arrive from South Africa and the GOM provides some assistance,
commensurate with resources, to victims. In most cases, the GOM
does not have finances to provide adequate assistance and pay for
repatriation, depending on cooperation from IOs like IOM and NGOs
for repatriation.


K. Some of the international organizations and NGOs working with
trafficking victims include UNICEF, NORAD, ILO, the Salvation Army,
PLAN International, World Vision, local and international NGOs,
church groups, and informal community-based volunteer groups. Many
international organizations provide funding, training, and technical
assistance to the GOM and local NGOs and do not receive funding from
the GOM. Funding, personnel, and training constraints render the
GOM incapable of providing all assistance to victims of trafficking.
As such, the GOM works with IOs and NGOs to assist identified TIP
victims in areas with projects.


6. Paragraph 30. Prevention:


A. The GOM acknowledges that TIP is a problem in the country.


B. The GOM and UNICEF began an extensive child rights information
campaign called "Lekani" (Stop in the local language of Chichewa)
that includes anti-trafficking information in June 2007. The
campaign includes billboards, bumper stickers, and newspaper ads
with a distinctive handprint on a red background that provide
messages against trafficking, early marriage, child labor,
trafficking, and sexual exploitation. The campaign also includes a
radio program broadcast on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (the
national public broadcaster) on child rights and primary school
educational materials in the local languages about child rights that
are distributed to all primary schools. The campaign is national
and targets both potential victims and the demand for trafficking.


During the reporting period, the GOM and local NGOs also conducted
awareness campaigns to address a variety of TIP's root causes,
including child abuse, inadequate orphan care and life-skills, child
labor, female illiteracy and low education rates, and gender-based
violence and discrimination. NGO programs also raise awareness
among village headmen, traditional authorities, and other local
leaders about trafficking in persons.


C. The relationship between the GOM and NGOs, donors, and civil
society in the context of human trafficking is strong. Due to very
limited resources, the GOM must often delegate to NGOs and rely on
partnerships with such groups in order to implement initiatives.
The GOM does not place unreasonable bureaucratic requirements on
groups wishing to implement assistance and development programs.
GOM officials are routinely made available to help publicize and
oversee civil society initiatives.

The GOM works with NGOs and civil society through the National
Technical Working Group on Child Protection and the National
Technical Working Group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children to advise
the National Steering Committees and the district assemblies,
coordinate among stakeholders, monitor child protection programs,
and facilitate reviews of policy related documents.


D. The exit-entry system is entirely paper based with limited
storage and retention. There is no active analysis done to
determine immigration or emigration patterns. All immigration
officers receive basic training which includes identification of
trafficking situations.


E. As stated in 3C, there are two national steering committees
which include representatives from all major government ministries
that combat trafficking. Additionally, there are working groups and
district level structures that also facilitate communication between
various government ministries, NGOs, and IOs. Although there is not
a trafficking in persons working group, The GOM works with NGOs and
civil society through the National Technical Working Group on Child
Protection and the National Technical Working Group on Orphans and
Vulnerable Children both deal in trafficking related issues. The
government has an Anti-Corruption Bureau to investigate and
prosecute corruption cases as well as a National Implementation
Steering Committee responsible for drafting a National
Anti-Corruption Strategy.


F. The GOM is still developing a national plan of action to address
child trafficking. A national plan of action on child labor is
still in draft form and has not been released. A national plan of
action for orphans and vulnerable children was created and is being
implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Labor, Ministry
of Education, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Home Security are involved in drafting the national plans. IOs
and NGOs have been consulted and are active in the development
process.


G. The GOM-UNICEF "Lekani" campaign includes messages against
sexual exploitation and commercial sex. It also has community based
activities that discourage the practice. The National AIDS
Commission's National Action Framework on HIV/AIDS prevention
includes language on the reduction of transactional sex in Malawi
and reducing both supply and demand is part of the current HIV
prevention plan. Information campaigns including Abstinence, Be
Faithful, and Use Condoms (ABC) messages are part of an expanding
national response that targets high risk populations including
commercial sex workers and their clients. The GOM has recently
requested assistance from HIV prevention partners to help formulate
an interdisciplinary prevention strategy that will also target these
high risk groups.


H. Not Applicable


I. The Malawi Defense Force currently provides training to its
nationals deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping mission on human
rights, child protection, and gender issues that touch on forms of
trafficking or trafficking victim exploitation. Additionally, the
U.S. government's African Contingency Operations and Training
Assistance (ACOTA) provided training 50 officers selected to go on
peacekeeping missions that included instruction in human rights,
gender respect, elimination of sexual exploitation, and child
protection.


7. Post POC for TIP issues is Political Officer John Letvin, phone
265-1-773-166 x. 3463, IVG 835-3463, fax 265-1-772-316. Time spent
on TIP report: principal drafting, Pol Officer, 40 hours; Clearance:
RSO, 1 hour; DCM, 1 hour; AMB, 1 hour.

EASTHAM