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Child Rights Information & Documentation Centre (CRIDOC)Msandula Building (Behind Immigration Department),

Plot No: 4/234, Off Paul Kagame Road,

P. O. Box 607,

Lilon we Malawi

Tel: +265111731646

Cell: +265888643668

E-mail: info@cridoc.net

Website: www.cridoc.net

For Immediate Release

THE FORTHCOMING SITTING OF PARLIAMENT:Another Opportunity to Consolidate a Child-Friendly Legislative Environment

09 May 2012 With about two weeks to the next sitting of Parliament, the Child Rights Information &

Documentation Centre (CRDOC) would like to appeal to the Members of Parliament (MPs) to prioritise the

tabling, debate and/or enactment of long-awaited Bills that affect the physical and emotional development as

well as the overall welfare of children and young people in Malawi.

CRIDOC was established to contribute towards the promotion and protection of rights and development of

children and young people through information exchange, information documentation and information

dissemination. The centre subscribes to the principle of the Best Interest of the Child as enshrined in the

international Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which Malawi signed and ratified. We believe that the

survival, protection and development of children are integral to human progress as well as to the countrysrealisation of Millennium Development Goals (MDG). We reckon that the Legislative Arm of Government plays

a critical role in creating a protective environment for children and young people.

CRIDOC recalls that while in the past the civil society organisations intensified campaigns to enact a number of

important Bills that may have direct impact and relevance on the welfare and development of children and

young people, most Parliamentarians continued to show disinterest, and instead prioritized laws includingSection 46, Injunctions Act, Police Act, Local Courts Act, just to mention a few that were only calculated to

advance their own political whims, as they were passed without much resistance or exhaustive deliberations.

While the Centre unequivocally welcomes the widely-held opinion on the need for Parliament to review and/or

repeal some of the laws aforementioned (most of which focus largely on civil and political rights!), we would

however like to make a strong appeal that the general approach should not necessarily be at the expense ofBills that have been left unattended to for a long time, but whose potential impact especially on children andother vulnerable groups has been overlooked. We note that this is simply because, in our considered view,

society tends to perceive the latter as designed to address the rather less-fancied second generation rightsas compared to the more favoured first generation rights. Some of the key pieces of legislation that urgently

require either enactment or thorough debate by our Parliament include:

(1) Trafficking In Persons (TIP) BillAlthough the Child Care, Protection and Justice Act (2010) is the first legislation to define child trafficking in

Malawi, imposing a penalty of life imprisonment for convicted traffickers, we still need the enactment of a

specific law that can address all issues pertaining to trafficking in a more holistic or comprehensive manner.

The enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Bill, which prohibits all forms of human trafficking islong overdue, having already taken quite a rigorous consultative process of review and advocacy since it was

first drafted in 2004.

(2) Tobacco Tenancy BillThe enactment of the Tobacco Tenancy Bill which was first drafted way back in 1995 and is still at Cabinetlevel will demonstrate Malawis positive commitment against child labour, considering that the country is a

signatory to a number of relevant international conventions, including the 1989 UN Convention on the Rightsof the Child (CRC); the 1973 ILO Convention 138 (setting a minimum working age of 18); and the 1999 ILO

Convention 182 (outlawing child labour). The fact that the tenancy law will protect an estimated 200, 000Malawians working as tenants in tobacco estates, should be enough motivation for the August House to

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ensure that the draft law is operational as soon as possible by enacting it. The law will set a new minimum

age limit of employment at 18 years, and institute punitive measures of imprisonment and a hefty fine of up

to one million Kwacha for estate owners using child workers, among other things.

(3) Disability BillParliament should seriously take cue from the recent State Presidents pledge to have yet another long-

awaited Bill, which is technically known as Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Bill

pursued and enacted without further delay. Despite the Child Care, Protection and Justice Act attempting to

modernize the Child Justice System in Malawi and consolidating various provisions relating to children

which were spread out in various pieces of legislations prior to June 2010 the law is still lacking in

addressing some of the emerging issues affecting the rights of children, and disability is one of them. We

would like to put it on record that many buildings still do not have ramps to enhance accessibility for persons

with disabilities, including in public schools. Primary education is facing high enrolment rates and studies

reveal that numbers of children with physical and other forms of disabilities in mainstream schools isgrowing thereby resulting in the increased need for special needs education. The tabling and passing of the

Bill, which has taken almost eight years now, will therefore mark a paradigm shift in the way persons withdisabilities are treated.

(4) Access to Information BillSociety and other practitioners tend to forget that children also have the right to enjoy not only the right toinformation for their psychological development, but should also be protected from certain information that

could be deemed harmful for their own development as they exercise their right. Yet the Access toInformation Bill, in its present state, does not make any attempt to define what sort of information should

or should not be accessed by children either through the media or otherwise. Parliamentarians should start

making follow ups on the progress of the Bill, (which still awaits a policy), and should begin deliberating and

incorporating substantive issues into the Bill, as it is almost nine years since it was first drafted.

(5) The Education ActThe failure by Parliament to deliberate on the review of the archaic Education Act has been another

shortcoming as regards the attainment of the right to education by many children in country. The currentlaw, officially known as the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act, has some flaws which, if addressed,will promote delivery of quality education services at all levels in the country. The existing Act was enacted in

1962, and review for the new one begun in 2009. It is outdated and does not embrace the democraticdispensation. Even private schools, for example, have not been accommodated in the law.

The list of laws requiring urgent attention may definitely be longer than what CRIDOC has outlined above, butwe would like to reiterate the need for Parliamentarians to play their critical part in helping to create a

protective and caring environment, where girls and boys are free from violence, exploitation, and unnecessaryseparation from family; and where laws, services, behaviours and practices minimize childrens vulnerability,

address known risk factors, and strengthen childrens own resilience. In addition, it is the responsibility ofParliament to introduce new (or tighten up existing) laws related to cultural traditions that impinge on the

rights of children, such as early marriages, initiation ceremonies, witchcraft, etc.

In conclusion, all that we are demanding is that the Parliamentarians should cease the opportunity during the

forthcoming sitting to begin deliberating and aligning various national laws with the Convention on the Rights

of the Child (CRC) and other international legal frameworks, and making the laws child-friendly.

Signed:

George Mwika Kayange

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR