Defilement cases up by 7%
Malawi has registered a steady increase in cases of defilement and gender-based violence (GBV) inspite of combined efforts by the Malawi Police Service and stakeholders to curb the vice.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Administration), John Nyondo, said Monday that the country has registered a seven percent increase in defilement cases in the first half of 2018, up from 5.5 percent in 2016 and 2017.
Nyondo said this in Lilongwe when he opened a two-week training of the trainers course targeting child protection and victim support unit officers.
The training has been organised with technical and financial support from the Scottish Police and aims at imparting knowledge in law enforcers so that they can prevent, report and respond to cases of violence against children and women.
“The course has come at a right time when Malawi registered seven percent increase in cases of defilement between 2016 and 2017. We anticipate that new skills, knowledge and ability will be attained from this training to help reduce the cases,” Nyondo said.
Head of the Victim Support Unit (VSU) in the Malawi Police Service, Patricia Njawiri, attributed the surge in defilement cases to cultural and traditional beliefs.
Njawiri said some Malawians believe that having sex with children is a cure for untreatable diseases such as Aids.
Scottish Police College Business Development Manager, Gordon Thomson, said the training would offer child protection and VSU officers skills that would help them combat crimes, including that bordering on violence against children and women.
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