Scotland’s First Minister Jack McConnell today (22nd March) heard a first-hand account of how a Malawian organisation is helping to protect children at risk from modern-day human trafficking, in the week of the two-hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade (25th March).
Mr McConnell met Nelson Mkandawire, Director of Tearfund partner organisation, Chisomo Children’s Club. Mr Mkandawire asked Mr McConnell for Scotland’s support in the global fight against child trafficking and exploitation and thanked him for the Scottish Executive’s support for Chisomo’s work. The work of Chisomo contributes to the fight against Malawian children being trafficked and abused, within Malawi and beyond its borders.
Addressing Jack McConnell soon after First Minister’s questions, Nelson Mkandawire said, "Much as there have been great achievements in Malawi, there is another form of slavery emerging in our society - that of human trafficking. The buying and selling of human beings is a fast growing business. Children are taken from our local communities under the pretext of jobs in the cities. To their amazement, and indeed ours, they end up in brothels in the cities of Malawi, but largely in the developed countries.
"In the face of HIV and AIDS which is killing millions of people today, and for the sake of respect for all humanity, I asked the First Minister to join us, speak for the voiceless to condemn and call to an end acts of human trafficking globally and call for stiffer penalties to tackle the trade in children."
People trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into modern-day slavery. In 1807 there were 4 million slaves yet today there are more than 12 million slaves. Some 1.2 million children are trafficked each year, 80% of whom are women and girls. Human trafficking 3rd biggest source of organised crime (after arms and drugs).
Many Malawian children are today at risk of sexual exploitation because of extreme poverty, particularly when they are forced to travel to the cities to find work. Children, as young as seven live on the streets whilst they look for work. It is here that they are often abused and sold into prostitution or other forms of exploitative work.
Pete Chirnside, Manager of Tearfund Scotland, based in Glasgow, says, “Chisomo are doing an incredible work with the street children of Lilongwe and their families. Nelson himself follows in the line of great Scots from the past like David Livingstone, who have given their lives to help bring to an end the poverty and exploitation of Malawians. Today we continue to be faced with modern-day slavery in the form of human trafficking, as well as extreme poverty – itself a form of slavery. We should do all we can to support organisations like Chisomo and to stand with Malawians in their efforts to bring hope and a future to the people they work with.”
Chisomo use professionally-trained social workers in cities like Lilongwe to build relationships with street children and ultimately reunite them with their families, and thus reduce the risk of their sexual exploitation. They also advocate to the local Malawian authorities and government to introduce policies which will protect children in Malawi from sexual exploitation and trafficking within and beyond Malawi.
On Friday morning, Nelson will meet with church leaders from the Glasgow area at the David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre, to share how Chisomo's Children's Club are building on Livingstone's legacy of poverty alleviation in Malawi.