Malawi launches National Action Plan against human trafficking crimes
Malawi government has launched the first ever National Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons which targets a 50-percent reduction rate in human trafficking crime by 2022.
Home Affairs and National Security Minister Grace Chiumia, who presided over the launching ceremony on Tuesday, described this blueprint against human trafficking as an ideal supplement to the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Act.
She, however, called for practical implementation of the plan saying it risks becoming another useless document if its success ended on paper.
Chiumia said: “You are aware that most good plans fail if the issue of resource mobilisation and sustainability are not addressed.
“I am happy to see the presence of our developing partners and international NGOs who have shown interest in this area and invested resources to get us where we are. It is my hope that this partnership will be strengthened even more as we embark on this agenda in a more coordinated and structured way.”
Among the priority areas, the five-year plan focuses on the support and protection of victims under which relevant stakeholders will be trained on how to identify victims, facilitate their safe return home and ensure their social wellbeing.
Regional representative for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Zhuldyz Akisheva hailed the plan saying it directly address a key issue on human trafficking crimes where most victims are not identified for support.
She disclosed that children, more especially the orphaned, constituted the majority of the victims and that that her organization is ready to support Malawi in the successful implementation of the plan.
Development and implementation of the document has been effected through collaboration between government, civil society organisations and local and international nongovernmental organizations with technical and financial support from the Norwegian Church Aid and UNODC.
