Malawi police calls for release of children from initiation camps before school opens

Child Protection Officer for Balaka Police Station Sergeant Elias Sungani has asked Traditional leaders and initiation counselors to see to it that children are out of initiation camps come Monday next week.

Sungani has made the call amid reports that some children are still in initiation camps two days before school opens.

He said random interviews in the district have shown that children are still in initiation camps.

“We are therefore calling for the release of these children because keeping them in initiation camps after school has opened is an infringement to their right to education as stipulated in the Republican Constitution,” he said.

Last year, children were kept in initiation camps a week after school opened in Balaka district and it took the courage of some duty bearers to force them out.

The police have also commended the traditional leaders and Initiation counselors for not forcing children into initiation camps.

This year police in the district did not register any case to do with forced circumcision unlike last year when the district registered five cases of forced circumcision.