Can you imagine a victim of human trafficking who run away to a police station for safety is mixed with criminals in a police cell or prison having already suffered sexual assault by forced clients in a brothel, a victim who is under extreme stress reactions, trauma, depression, and multiple medical problems including Anxiety, Chronic pain, or sometimes complications from unsafe abortion, Contusions, Depression, Fractures, Gastrointestinal problems, Oral health problems, Pelvic pain, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Sexually transmitted infections, Suicidal ideation, Unhealthy weight loss, Unwanted pregnancy, and Vaginal pain just to mention a few problems. Beth Israel Safe Home in Lilongwe, Malawi is looking for support to adequately care and rehabilitate the ever-increasing number of women and children who are victims of human trafficking in Malawi. Since its establishment in June 2020 the Safe Home has provided protection, care, accommodation and rehabilitate 169 victims from Malawi, Uganda, Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe trafficked into Malawi for commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, organ removal and some as carries of illicit drugs. The Safe Home was established as a direct response to the request made by the Ministry of Homeland Security and stakeholders in Malawi for urgent need and assistance towards care and safe accommodation for victims of human trafficking especially women and children and reports by the United States of America, Department of States on trafficking in Persons that continue to express concern over the conduct of law enforcement agencies in Malawi who mix victims of human trafficking with offenders and convicts due to shortage of Safe Homes. Background:
Malawi, like other developing countries, continues to face a growing problem of trafficking in Persons. The full extent of trafficking in Malawi is not widely known, but in recent years increasing awareness has resulted in better reporting and understanding of the problem. Reports of human trafficking by the media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government departments such as the Police, Social Welfare and Labour have been increasing in recent years. The problem hence, has been gaining attention in the country over the past few years. Consequently, there has been increasing political awareness regarding this phenomenon as illustrated by the adoption of international standards as well as local commitments in responce. There are at least three broad trafficking scenarios in Malawi, these include; victims trafficked from Asian and European countries to African countries including Malawi, trafficking of persons locally and trafficking to other countries with Malawi as a source or transit country.Most trafficking victims are exploited within the country, generally transported from southern part of the country to the central and northern regions for forced labour in agriculture (tobacco farming, goat and cattle herding) and brick making. Many cases of child labour external to the family involve fraudulent recruitment and physical or sexual abuse, indicative of forced labour (Malawi Law Commission, 2011). Traffickers entice victims from their families in rural areas under the guise of employment opportunities, clothing, or lodging for which they are sometimes charged exorbitant fees, resulting in prostitution coerced through debts. Traffickers subject teenage boys to forced labour on farms and young girls to sexual exploitation in nightclubs or bars. Children are also subjected to forced labour in begging, small businesses, and potentially in fishing industry. Adult tenant farmers are also vulnerable to exploitation, as they incur debts to landowners and may not receive payment during poor harvests. Victims are often from poor backgrounds and with low education. Women tend to be unmarried, separated, divorced, abandoned or widowed. Child victims are mostly school drop-outs, orphans, or children lacking proper parental care. However, a small percentage of those trafficked outside the country have some formal education that enables them to communicate in English. The push factors for TIP include ignorance, exposure to “outside world” and poverty while pull factors include demand for cheap labour and demand for commercial sexual exploitation. An International Labour Organisation International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC, 2008) study reported that push factors that influence child trafficking in Malawi include poverty (25%) seen as the main contributing factor, lack of parental support (18.8%) and low wages for labour (15.6%). These drivers were also confirmed by a study commissioned by NCA in 2007 which found that the main causes of trafficking in women and children are both demand and supply related. Traffickers target women and children mostly from poor households. The poor victims look for opportunities to meet their basic needs and are therefore easier to entice. On demand side, traffickers are driven by lust for quick and easy money they can make from the crime of TIP (NCA, 2007). Malawi ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two protocols; the Trafficking Protocol and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air on 17th March, 2005. In particular, the Trafficking Protocol, aims at preventing and combating trafficking of persons, specifically women and children; protecting and assisting the victims of such trafficking; and promotion of cooperation among States in order to meet these objectives. The United Nations Trafficking Protocol also encourages member States to develop and promulgate specific legislation in order to combat trafficking in persons. The Trafficking in Persons Act, 2015 therefore comes to fulfill Malawi’s commitment and undertaking as a member to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols. Malawi enacted its first Law on trafficking in 2015. The Act provides a comprehensive legislative framework for combating and preventing trafficking in persons using a human rights approach. It further provides for the establishment of an institutional framework for effective regulation and coordination of trafficking in persons and related matters. The Act also takes a multi-dimensional approach by providing for, among other things, issues of protection of victims of trafficking in persons, prevention of trafficking in persons and specific offences and penalties for offenders. In addition, this Act also increases the participation of individuals, communities and institutions in the fight against trafficking in persons. It provides for the creation of shelters where victims of trafficking in persons will be cared for. It also provides for the establishment of a Committee to oversee the implementation of the legislation. The Act also creates a Fund whose money will be used to care and support victims of trafficking in persons. Beth Israel Safe Home:
Trafficking cycle cannot be broken if proper care, assistance and protection is not afforded to victims of trafficking. It has also been rightly noted that insufficient protection and support reinforces victimization and subjects victims to further victimization. Any care provided must be compatible with human rights. Provision of shelters is at the core of the care, protection and assistance mechanism for victims and witnesses of TIP. The Malawi Government considered Safe Homefor victims and witnesses as the most urgent need since any other form of assistance and support could only be adequately provided if the victims were properly housed. It also highlighted the need for the Government either independently or in partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to establish shelters flexible enough to adapt to needs of different target groups such as men, women, and children, and meet individual needs. To address the need for shelters, TIPA provides for creation of shelters for the care of victims of TIP. The establishment of Beth Israel Safe Home by the family of His Excellency Nir Gess who is the Consulate of Malawi in the State of Israel with technical support of Mr. Maxwell Matewere who was recently recognised by the United States of America, Department of State as Trafficking in Persons Report Hero for his proven anti-trafficking in persons activism, trustworthy and leadership in the subject matter and two decades work that has shaped and advanced Malawi’s anti-trafficking movement and as a proponent of trafficking in persons survivors and their families, who in his personal capacity engaged with many of them to understand their needs and ensuring each survivor he encounters is able to connect to and receive the necessary services.
