It has been established that Malawi as a country is struggling to address child and sex trafficking due to issues like weak law enforcement, insufficient funding, and low community awareness, according to government and advocacy leaders.
This has been noted during a recent event, where Braize Kaise, Chair of the Education Committee in Parliament, highlighted budget limitations as a major obstacle, saying they hinder the government’s ability to effectively fight trafficking.
“We are not doing well in budgeting for trafficking cases,” and added that poor oversight limits parliament’s ability to investigate trafficking incidents,” he said.
He also emphasized that lack of public awareness in communities makes prevention difficult.
Caleb Ng’ombo, Executive Director of People Saving Girls at Risk (PSGR), pointed out corruption and neglect by some officials as significant barriers and called for stronger law enforcement.
Ng’ombo also suggested the need for government-run shelters to provide stable support for trafficking survivors.
Tsitsi Matekaire, Global Lead on Ending Sex Trafficking at Equality Now, stressed that trafficking especially harms women and girls, who are more vulnerable due to gender inequality and poverty.
She urged Malawi and other governments to strengthen anti-trafficking laws and meet international commitments to protect these vulnerable groups.
