By Richard Kagunda

Kasungu, June 4, Mana: Malawi Law Commission Chief Civic Education Officer, Gills Msiska, says the increasing cases of child neglect in the country expose children to violence.

He made the remarks in Kasungu on Tuesday during a training of Area Civic Education Coordinators (ACECs) who are part of the National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust volunteer structure.

Msiska said the commission has observed a knowledge gap on child and gender related laws among the communities which negatively impacts on child education hence embarked on the trainings to bridge the gap.

“In 2022 we partnered NICE Trust to conduct legal literacy sessions in schools and communities to raise awareness on child rights and protection issues.

“This time we are continuing with capacity building for the ACECs who are the people on the ground, updating them on laws that have changed in regard to child protection so that they should also help in raising awareness on the same,” he said.

Msiska said the country still lags behind in enhancing child protection hence called for collaborated efforts among stakeholders to curb the vice.

He said: “As a country we still have a lot of work to do in dealing with violence against children. That is why we are raising awareness on laws regarding child protection to ensure that every one is aware of child protection matters.”

NICE Trust Programmes Officer for Kasungu, Pilirani Chaguza thanked the Law Commission for organising the training which he said will help to reduce cases of child abuse in the communities.

“Like our case in Kasungu, we have many cases of child marriages, child labour and now cases of child trafficking are also becoming rampant. So the training has come at the right time.

“We have a large community of volunteers who will help to take the messages to every corner of the district so that we collectively deal with violence against children,” Chaguza said.

According to a recent ‘Violence Against Children and Young Women’ survey report, at least 40 percent of girls and 64 percent of boys suffer physical abuse during childhood.

The Malawi Law Commission in partnership with NICE Trust are implementing the legal literacy activities with financial support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).