Malawi

The report from Malawi is rather short and deals only superficially with many points. Important and more profound are the points about children with albinism and sexual exploitation, both socially deeply rooted topics and very harmful for the affected children.

The Committee expresses its grave concern about the high incidence of sexual violence, including rape and defilement in all settings, including in the family and in schools, and the targeting of girls in vulnerable situations, such as girls with mental disabilities. There is also limited access to justice by child victims, particularly of girls, due to the legal requirement for corroboration of evidence of a child victim before the court. To improve the situation, the Committee urges Malawi to scale up services for child victims of sexual violence, such as psychosocial medical support and access to post-rape health services as well as to revise the requirement for corroboration in sexual offences and modify it to ensure that child victims are not denied justice.

The Committee urges the State party to adopt a human rights-based approach to disability, set up a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities and ensure that children with disabilities have access to inclusive early childhood care and education, early development programs, healthcare and other services. In addition to that, Malawi should establish national mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on disability, with particular focus on children with disabilities and also adopt measures towards fully inclusive education.

The Committee recommends that the State party scale up immunization and address root causes to identify gaps in immunization, address chronic malnutrition and stunting, and reduce child mortality due to malaria, neonatal conditions and preventable diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrhoea. The State party should also improve the drug and health system management, particularly at the local level, with special attention to remote areas, to address the shortage of drugs, medical supplies, food and medical staff and poor infrastructure.

Concerning adolescent health, the Committee is concerned at a high number of teenage pregnancies and the lack of comprehensive age-appropriate education on sexual and
reproductive health rights and family planning services, as well as the limited access to modern contraceptives. The Committee recommends to improve adolescent girls’ access to reproductive healthcare and related services and increase support for reproductive health and family planning services and access to affordable contraceptives and contraceptive methods. In addition to that, Malawi should adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents and ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum both in public and private schools with special attention on preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure its disaster risk management policy is disseminated and implemented with sufficient budget. Malawi should also document and register the persons affected, particularly vulnerable
groups such as children, as part of the disaster response, to ensure that they receive appropriate and timely health, protection and other services. Also, children’s awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters should be increased, by incorporating it into the school curriculum and teacher training programs.

The Committee recommends to allocate sufficient human, technical and financial resources for labour inspection in order to fully, regularly and effectively implement the laws and policies on child labour, particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors, and prosecute any perpetrators of violations relating to child labour.

The Committee urges the State party to bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with the Convention and other relevant standards and recommends to ensure that juveniles who are deprived of liberty are detained separately from adults and males separately from females. Also, Malawi should improve the conditions in pretrial and post-trial detention and juvenile justice facilities and rehabilitation and integration programs for children in conflict with the law.

While welcoming the measures taken by the State party to protect children with albinism, the Committee is seriously concerned at the significant number of cases of abduction, ritual killings and exhumation of remains of children with albinism and the high rate of school drop outs among children with albinism, due to fear of attacks, poor vision, prohibition from wearing appropriate sun protection clothing, unavailability of specific sun protection tools and insufficient skilled staff trained to meet their needs and ensure their inclusive education. To improve the situation for children with albinism, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that the protection of children with albinism is included in its national policies and that children with albinism can exercise their rights without any discrimination.