Phalombe First Grade Magistrate, Damson Banda, has expressed concern over the increase of rape and sexual abuse cases in the district saying men are raping babies less than two years old.
Banda said this during the commemorations of this year’s 16 days of activism against GBV in the district on Tuesday afternoon at Bona Primary School ground organised by Oxfam in Malawi office in the district.
In his speech, the magistrate said most of the civil and criminal cases which are reported to his office and the police are to do with gender based violence.
He asked stakeholders to join hands so as to reduce the cases in the district.
“Here in Phalombe these cases are too high and there is a problem as most people hide cases to do with GBV and it’s my plea that we should be revealing these cases so that the perpetrators should be facing the law,” he said.
Banda added by urging people that they should stick to right age of going into marriage as most children in the district are getting married prematurely.
On his part, district social welfare officer Sydrick Saukira said many men are facing different cases of violence in their houses but they do not report to relevant authorities due to shyness.
“Ladies and gentlemen let me say that cases which I receive in my offices are just too many but to my surprise many men aren’t reporting violence which they face, only 10 out of 52 cases which I have received this year men are the ones who reported,” said Saukira.
Field Manager for Oxfam in Malawi office in Phalombe district, Samuel Meya, said his office will continue helping in eradicating the GBV cases in the district through different interventions.
“Based on the records which we have, here at traditional authority Jenala is where there are more cases of GBV and that is why we thought of having this event here. And as Oxfam we will continue supporting initiatives to do with eradicating issues of GBV,” said Meya.
This year’s 16 days of activism against GBV started on 25th November and ended on 10th December under the theme “Generation equality stands against rape”
