by Tiwonge Loga
Introduction
Child trafficking remains pervasive around the world, as children are continuously recruited and transported at alarming rates for exploitation. Efforts to prevent and combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) are being prioritized by national governments and regional bodies in line with the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. However, such efforts require a detailed understanding of trafficking in different contexts, patterns and risk factors to the phenomenon, available strategies to minimize the occurrence and collaboration by individuals, communities, institutions and government actors. Malawi is considered as one of the countries in Africa with high risk of trafficking. According to the US Department of State (2022), the country does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so [1]. To add onto the understanding of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Malawi, this paper discusses the concept of TIP, data and frameworks of for managing TIP in Malawi. The paper also examines trafficking minors starting from a wider exploration of the country narrowing it down to the Mzimba district.
Concept of Trafficking in Persons
The definition of TIP/Human Trafficking under international treaty law can be found in the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which is contained in the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime[2]. The protocol is also referred to as the 2000 Palermo Protocol and has been ratified by 180 countries as of 2022. Human trafficking is defined in Article 3(a) of the protocol as having 3 key components namely action, means and purpose[3]:
● “Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons; ACTION
● By means of the threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments, or benefits; MEANS
● To achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; CONSENT
● For purposes of exploitation”. PURPOSE
Operationally, consent of any person (adult or minor) being trafficked is irrelevant under law, where any of the above means have been utilized, as it denotes lack of free will – Art 3(b)[4]. International customary law has a different definition for human trafficking of minors (under 18 years of age). In their case, the “means” parameter is also irrelevant. One only needs to establish that there was an action and that the action was for purposes of exploitation. This simplifies the definition of TIP of minors to the following:
● Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons; ACTION
● For purposes of exploitation”. PURPOSE
A key characteristic of TIP that differentiates it from other acts, such as human smuggling, is its lack of consent and exploitative nature. At its most literal, the term “exploitation” means “the action or fact of treating someone unfairly for the benefit another.”[5] TIP therefore involves deprivation/disadvantage of some type on the part of the victim and an advantage/benefit on the part of the end user. There are many ways in which humans are traded including for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, domestic servitude, forced marriage, forced criminality and organ harvesting[6]. Sexual exploitation is where someone is deceived, coerced, or forced to take part in sexual activity. Labour exploitation is where someone is coerced to work for little or no remuneration, often under threat of punishment. Domestic employment becomes exploitative where there are restrictions on the worker’s movements, long working hours for little pay, lack of days off or annual leave, and presence of physical and sexual abuse. Forced marriages is when a person is married off to another against their will, through various coercive means. Forced criminal activity is where people are compelled to engage in crime through force and coercion. Exploitation is also done through organ harvesting, where victims are forced to give up their organs for money or under duress.
According to United Nations Human Rights Office-OHCHR, TIP involves all people, men, women, and children[7]. Furthermore, human trafficking can occur within borders and across borders. However, it does not always require physical movement of the victim. One can find themselves “maintained” in a human trafficked situation[8]. For example, living with a relative who over time turns one into a domestic worker, toiling long hours and with no pay, under threat of losing livelihood support. Finally, TIP should not be confused with migrant smuggling, which is the illicit movement of migrants across borders for profit and not for exploitation purposes. It should be noted however that there are cases where migrants can be smuggled across borders for profit (with their consent) and then subsequently exploited, which then becomes a dual crime[9].
According to the UN, there are many factors that promote TIP globally, and these include inequalities within and across countries, restrictive immigration policies, growing demand for cheap labour, high levels of poverty, violence, and discrimination[10].
TIP is a violation of human rights as stated specifically in Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women – CEDAW (Article 6)[11] and Convention of Rights of the Child – CRS (Article 35)[12]. Beyond these conventions, there is universal recognition under international law that TIP and its associated practices violate right to liberty and security; right not to be submitted to slavery, servitude, forced labour and bonded labour; right not to be subjected to torture and/or cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment; right to be free from gender violence; and right of children to special protection.[13] As such, States have the obligation to prevent human trafficking in the first place. Furthermore, they have the obligation to identify, protect (remove from harm) and support victims of human trafficking. And finally, States have the obligation to prosecute and hold accountable perpetrators of human trafficking[14].
Human Trafficking Data for Malawi
Malawi is a country in South-East Africa, landlocked by Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania. Malawi is a documented source and transit route for human trafficking[15]. Men, women, and children are trafficked within the country, across the border to neighbouring countries and further afield including to South Africa, Kuwait, and Oman[16]. The country also serves as a transit route for trafficked persons from northern African countries such as Ethiopia to further south, including South Africa. An additional dimension of Malawi’s trafficking pattern is the recent discovery of human trafficking networks operating within refugee camps[17].
According to the US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report for Malawi, the government identified a total of 145 victims of human trafficking in 2021[18]. In 2022, the number of trafficked people included 81 victims domestically and 80 victims that were repatriated from abroad[19]. An additional 50 trafficked females were identified in Oman where they encountered all the exploitative consequences of the “kafala system.”[20] Unfortunately, government was only able to repatriate 3 of those victims due to a request by Oman for repayment of debts associated with the recruitment processes of the said women.[21] Furthermore, police in collaboration with NGOs, intercepted more than 446 potential victims of trafficking through increased vigilance at airports and border crossings[22].
Of the total identified human trafficking victims in 2021 and 2022, 137 were being trafficked from within Dzaleka Refugee Camp, which houses the country’s refugees and asylum seekers.[23] According to UNHCR, most of the trafficked victims were males between 18 and 30 years old from Ethiopia and females between 12-24 years old from Ethiopia, Burundi, and DRC.[24] The men were exploited within and outside the camp for manual labour, while the women were exploited for sex-related work and domestic work.[25]
Generally, data suggest that TIP in Malawi follows distinct patterns based on gender, age and whether the movement is intra-country, or across border. For cross-border human trafficking, the main exploitation purposes for women are domestic servitude and sex trade[26]. And for men, the cross-border human trafficking is primarily for farm labour, animal herding, and fishing[27].
Within Malawi, the trafficking of people is predominantly from the southern region of the country to the central and northern parts for purposes of cheap labour on farms[28]. This is because Malawi is a significant producer and exporter of tobacco, with the large farms located in the central and northern parts of the country. Other reasons for TIP within borders are for sex trade and domestic labour among women; and animal herding and brick laying among men. However, nuances of these intra and cross-border patterns may exist, depending on specific districts of the country[29]. For example, whether a given district is a border town, a fishing town, urban or rural[30]. The discovery of trafficking networks within refugee camps in 2021 is also a new development for Malawi. Nonetheless, as with trafficking patterns domestically, trafficking emanating from refugee camps was still for purposes of manual labour among men, and sex and domestic work for the women[31].
Factors specific to Malawi that promote TIP include high poverty levels, significant food insecurity and cultural practices that put girls at risk for trafficking. These cultural practices include child marriages, selling girls to offset debt, offering girls in exchange for dowry and designating girls towards domestic work[32].
Despite research into TIP in Malawi being limited, several organizations have done work in the area including Plan International, Norwegian Church Aid and International Organization of Migration (IOM). The Ministry of Homeland Security also has a desk office that compiles data on TIP in Malawi. It should be mentioned that such studies and their associated data are not readily accessible in the public domain, but through official requests to the respective organizations.
Malawi frameworks for managing human trafficking
At international level, Malawi is a signatory to conventions against TIP including CEDAW and CRC. It is also a signatory to the 2000 Palermo Protocol, which has been incorporated into the Malawi Trafficking in Persons Act of 2015. The local act criminalizes human trafficking, with maximum custodial sentence of 14 years for anyone trafficking an adult – Art 14(1)[33] and 21 years for anyone trafficking a minor – Art 15(1)[34]. There is also a National Action Plan 2017-2022 that maps out national goals and interventions and a Malawi Network Against Trafficking in Persons, which aims to coordinate the work of around 230 stakeholders addressing trafficking issues in the country.
Despite legislation that criminalizes human trafficking, challenges remain in terms of enforcement. According to the US State Department 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report for Malawi, in 2022, Malawi investigated 81 human trafficking cases, prosecuted 46 suspects, and only convicted 24 suspects (52% conviction rate).[35] Among those prosecuted were 8 labour recruiters who facilitated the trafficking of women to Oman for domestic servitude.[36] Furthermore, 19 of the suspects investigated and 17 of those convicted were directly related to trafficking offences within Dzaleka Refugee Camp.[37]
According to the same US report, ongoing challenges to successful prosecution include lack of evidence, failure by the police to certify victim status at point of identifying the victim, victims withdrawing their testimonies out of fear and erroneously prosecuting migrant smuggling under anti-trafficking laws[38]. Lack of resources also hampers ability of police to properly investigate cases, while court backlogs contribute to delay of cases and justice for the victims[39]. Lastly, there is substantial corruption across responsible institutions that promotes impunity among traffickers. For example, those convicted in 2020 were given sentences averaging 6 years when the anti-trafficking statute calls for a minimum of 14 years for trafficking adults and 21 years for trafficking children, without the possibility of a fine.[40] And while there is goodwill by government to coordinate enforcement activities, the efforts are neither sufficient, nor effective[41].
Trafficking of minors in Malawi
While official data showing extent of TIP of minors in Malawi is sparse, there is some evidence to support its existence. The 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report for Malawi states that in 2022, an NGO-operated hotline registered 14 cases related to trafficking of minors.[42] Trafficking of minors in Malawi is mainly for labour exploitation[43]. To best analyse TIP of minors in the country, there is need to understand its link with child labour. ILO defines child labour as “all work done by minors that 1) deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity and 2) is harmful to their physical and mental development” [44]. According to ILO, child labour refers to work that: a) is mentally, physically, socially, morally, and harmful to the child and/or b) interferes with their schooling (e.g. not attending school, leaving school prematurely, combining school attendance with long and heavy work).[45] Child labour can be under any category of exploitation including sexual, criminal, domestic and general labour. An important factor to note is that work that qualifies as child labour is considered as abuse and violation of child rights (intended or not), and States have the obligation to recognize the right to protect children from labour exploitation as per Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child[46].
On the contrary, participation of minors in work that does not deprive them of their childhood nor is harmful to their physical and mental development is not considered as child labour under ILO standards[47]. An example could be regular chores around the home or working for pocket money during school holidays. However, determining the threshold for child labour based on the ILO definition involves some level of subjectivity. Furthermore, the cultural and local context also comes into play. For example, determining at which point farm work during planting season becomes child labour is not as straightforward in a society where this is done annually by many households. Or how to assess a situation where a minor child is paid the going rate as a domestic worker, but only after school hours. ILO recognizes this challenge and suggests that determining that threshold between child labour and normal work “depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed and objectives/laws/sectors within individual countries” [48].
Despite practical challenges that may potentially exist in defining when work done by a child is considered child labour, ILO definitively recognizes trafficking of minors as child labour[49]. TIP of minors is considered among the “worst forms of child labour” under the 1999 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182. According to Article 3 of the convention “the term worst forms of child labour comprise of all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour…”[50].
Trafficking of minors, therefore, combines child labour with the exploitative nature of human trafficking. An operational definition of trafficking of minors would therefore combine both the ILO and Palermo Protocol parameters to encompass “deprivation of one’s childhood and physical/mental developmental harm (denoting child labour) PLUS action and exploitation (denoting trafficking in persons)”.
It is difficult to ascertain what proportion of data on child labour in Malawi includes TIP. But in 2011, about 1.3million children under 14 years of age were estimated to be engaged as child labourers on tobacco farms,[51] a number likely to be much higher in 2024. This is exacerbated by the practice of “tenancy farming” where commercial farmers recruit workers from distant districts to grow tobacco for them on their estates. Tenant families are provided with monthly food and accommodation, plus a cut of the sales earnings after the tobacco season, based on quality and amount of crop that they produce[52]. This leads to desperate families augmenting labour with their own minor children and others, to increase output. Data also show that 66% of all children aged between 5 and 17 years old engaged in child labour work in agriculture, forestry, hunting, herding, and fishing[53]. An additional 28% of child labourers are engaged in domestic work.[54]
Specific to trafficking of minors, agricultural labour is the main reason for trafficking both domestically and across borders[55]. This is followed by cattle and goat herding for cross border trafficking[56]. ILO indicates that parents are paid between 40-60,000 kwacha per year per child to go and herd livestock in Zambia and Mozambique[57]. This is equivalent of $35 to $50 per year per child. The monies are paid directly to the parents and the children work the full duration paid, under extremely harsh conditions.[58] The preferred age group for this livestock herding is between 8 and 15 years old.[59]
Another reason for cross border trafficking of minors in the northern region is for fishing labour. Cross border traffickers move experienced children from the Lake Malawi region to fish around Lake Rukwa and Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, where they are known to work long hours for very little pay and are not allowed to leave[60].
There are additional purposes for trafficking of minors domestically, including illegal cyber activity.[61] In 2022, a Chinese national was arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated for manipulating village children into making endless videos depicting abject poverty, with racist undertones and selling the videos as “poverty porn” on social media[62]. This after one of the videos made its way into the Malawi social media scene, resulting in extensive public outcry.
Much of the trafficking of minors within Malawi and across borders is facilitated by people known to the children, such as parents and guardians. But in some cases, neither the victim, nor the guardians are aware that they are involved in human trafficking processes.
Trafficking of minors specific to Mzimba district
Mzimba is a district located in the northern region of Malawi. According to the 2018 national census, the population of Mzimba was 940,184[63] and is projected to be 1,010,701 in 2023[64]. Approximately 42% of the population is between 9 years and 19 years, the age group mostly vulnerable to exploitation for child trafficking[65]. 95% of the population is rural, with a small population residing in the urban city of Mzuzu (26,096)[66]. Most people living in the rural areas survive on crop and animal farming, creating a need for cheap labour [67]. There is one predominant tribe in Mzimba and that is Tumbuka, comprising 78% [68].
Mzimba is one of the districts with the highest prevalence of irregular migration in Malawi, both as a destination and a departure point.[69] According to the Malawi Network Against Trafficking in Persons, in 2020, 688 cases of irregular migration were registered in Malawi and Mzimba district topped the list.[70] This data on irregular migration included human trafficking victims. According to the Mzimba Labour Office, much of the human trafficking involved women being transported to South Africa for sexual exploitation and domestic work.[71] With regards to Mzimba being a transit route, in October 2022, police exhumed the bodies of 29 Ethiopians, suspected to have suffocated in a truck while enroute to South Africa via Malawi and then buried in mass graves in a forest[72] [73].
Interventions to raise awareness about human traffic challenges are being implemented in Mzimba district, albeit on a limited scale, including a 2-year USAID funded project from 2021 called “Tigwiranemanja Counter Trafficking in Persons”[74]. The project is being implemented by an NGO called Global Hope Mobilization Organization (Glohomo). Furthermore, there is a Heritage Foundation linked to the Ngoni Chief of Mzimba which conducts anti-trafficking awareness activities[75].
There is however very limited data on prevalence of trafficking of minors in the district, both as a destination and a source of trafficked minors. Based on the general TIP patterns of Malawi, Mzimba might have some significant level of child trafficking. For one, Mzimba district has many tobacco farms which would potentially encourage recruitment of child labour from the southern parts of the country, as is the general pattern in Malawi. In addition, Mzimba has a literacy level of 76%, which is above the national average of 68% as per the 2018 national census[76]. This could suggest increased emphasis on formal education resulting in importation of child labour from other regions, as opposed to utilizing child labour from within. This is however speculative and research work is needed to determine actual trafficking patterns of minors within the district.
Conclusion
There is a continuous need to examine the patterns and of child trafficking in Malawi and around the world. This is important in the development of strategies, advocacy actions and interventions to prevent the child trafficking crisis. As stated, despite Mzimba being among the districts topping the number of irregular migration cases in Malawi, a more detailed picture of TIP of minors in the district is currently lacking in literature, including the risk factors and facilitators for child trafficking. Therefore, there is need for primary research to ascertain the specific patterns and risk factors for child trafficking in Mzimba district. Knowledge building around movement of minors within and across borders, as input into policy making and advocacy work for prevention and mitigation of trafficking of minors in Mzimba district, Malawi and elsewhere.
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