http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=608678

[LILONGWE, 9 November 2007] - A major new study has been launched in Malawi to determine the scale of child trafficking in the impoverished southern African country, UNICEF said.

“We don’t have any data on child trafficking in Malawi and so we want to carry out a research to provide an indication on the magnitude of the problem,” Linda Kabwila-Kalenga, UNICEF’s child protection officer in Malawi, told AFP.

Kalenga said she wanted the study to be used to build up the case for a comprehensive child protection legislation.

“We have been improvising on child laws but now we want to advocate for the child care protection bill to pass,” she said.

The study is being supported by a coalition of 40 non-governmental organisations as well as the police and state-funded commissions on Law and Human Rights.

ILO’s national programme officer for Malawi, Chimwenje Simwaka, said there was “a lot of child trafficking for sex and labour in Malawi which we don’t see."

According to a recent report by the United Nations Organisation for Migration (IOM), southern Africa is a “fertile ground” for human trafficking.

The report identifies Mozambique, Malawi and Lesotho as “key source countries for women and children trafficked to South Africa."

Further information

• Kenya: US charity probed for alleged child trafficking (6 November 2007)
• Chad-Sudan: Legal framework a hindrance in ‘child-trafficking’ case (5 November 2007)
• Europe: Trafficking convention gets the green light (24 October 2007)

Organisation Contact Details:

AFP - Agence France Presse

Last updated 09/11/2007 04:49:22