R 121458Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0225
DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
USMISSION GENEVA

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000019 
 
 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB TINA MCCARTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI - CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ACT 
 
REF: A) 08 STATE 127448 
 
¶1.  Summary: The child labor situation in Malawi remains largely 
unchanged from last year.  No new laws concerning child labor, child 
rights, or trafficking were passed.  Violations largely resulted in 
fines rather than custodial sentences.  Approximately 150 labor 
inspectors are trained to identify and investigate child labor. 
Social programs with both NGO and GOM support educate the public 
about child labor and remove children from agricultural and domestic 
labor situations.  To date, programs have removed or prevented over 
7000 children from engaging in child labor.  Outreach and 
investigations have reduced child labor on commercial tea and 
tobacco farms, but it remains a problem in smallholder agriculture 
and domestic work.  The lack of a national identity, birth records, 
and statistical data makes it difficult to determine the scope and 
magnitude of the problem and can hinder investigations.  Child 
trafficking continues to take place both internally and across 
porous borders with Zambia and Mozambique. 
 
Laws and Regulations 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. The Employment Act of 2000 remains the primary law governing 
labor in Malawi.  The act sets the minimum working age at 14. 
Children under 14 are allowed to work inside the home or as part of 
a vocational technical education program. The act prohibits children 
between 14-18 from engaging in work that is harmful to health, 
safety, education, morals, or development, but a list of harmful 
occupations has yet to be approved and amended to the Employment 
Act.  The Employment Act also prohibits forced labor.  There is 
currently no law prohibiting trafficking specifically, but 
trafficking is prosecuted using other parts of the Malawi penal 
code.  The penal code can also be used to prosecute child 
prostitution and pornography.  Penalties range from misdemeanors 
(fine or up to two year prison sentence) for running a brothel or 
procuring females under 21 with intent to prostitute to felonies (up 
to 14 years in prison) for defiling a girl 13 years of age or less. 
The minimum age for military recruitment is 18.  Malawi has ratified 
Convention 182 but has not yet finalized a list of occupations 
considered to be worst forms of child labor. 
 
Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3. The Employment Act specifies a maximum fine of 20,000 MWK (140 
USD) or five years imprisonment for child labor violations.  Forced 
labor is punishable by a maximum fine of 10,000 MWK (70 USD) or two 
years imprisonment.  Violations are almost always addressed with 
fines.  Current fine levels are inadequate to deter violations and 
are being reviewed by the government.  Court orders and injunctions 
have not been used to combat employers using child labor.  In 
practice, labor inspectors who encounter child labor warn the 
employer the first time and only pursue the issue if child labor is 
encountered on a second inspection.  Labor inspectors do not have 
law enforcement capabilities under the law and must cooperate with 
police to pursue violations.  The lack of national identity cards 
and accurate birth records complicates investigations. 
 
¶4. According to the Ministry of Labor (MOL), all complaints are 
investigated, but labor investigators must cover all aspects of 
employment law.  Child labor complaints or tips brought to the labor 
inspector's attention are routinely investigated.  There are 
currently 31 district labor offices and an estimated 150 labor 
inspectors in Malawi.  Police victim support unit officers also 
assist in child labor cases on occasion.  In 2008, there was one 
child labor conviction which resulted in a 13000 MK (92 USD) fine. 
Additionally, 13 other investigations resulted in out of court 
settlements where the violator agreed to pay all back wages plus the 
cost of repatriation of the victims.  At the end of 2008, eight 
child labor investigations were still pending and two cases remained 
in the courts.  There were no reports of convictions resulting in 
prison sentences. 
 
Resources and Training 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. The Ministry of Labor's budget for combating child labor was 351 
million MWK (2.472 million USD) for 2008/2009.  The Ministry of 
Labor engages in a multi-faceted program to combat child labor 
consisting of labor inspections, community sensitization, family 
support, cash and agricultural input transfers, and education 
reintegration to put kids back into schools.  The MOL continues to 
provide child labor law enforcement courses to labor officers at the 
district level.  Child labor training also was provided to social 
welfare officers, police, and magistrates. ILO-IPEC and local NGOs 
also offer further child labor training to inspectors in some 
districts.  The Ministry of Labor said that all labor inspectors 
have received child labor training. 
 
Social Programs 
--------------- 
 
¶6. UNICEF, in partnership with the Ministry of Labor has continued 
the highly successful Lekani (Stop in Chichewa, the local language) 
program to bring awareness to child issues including child labor. 
The overall awareness program includes bumper stickers, billboards, 
and educational books for primary school children, and radio 
programs.  The Ministry of Women and Child Development also has a 
program that provides cash transfers to low-income families in 
high-risk districts to enable children to stay in school.  The GOM 
completed a 2.1 million USD, three-year ILO-IPEC project that has 
removed or prevented over 7000 children from engaging in agriculture 
and domestic work.  The Ministry of Women and Child Development runs 
a shelter for children in Lilongwe that takes in trafficked and 
street children.  Finally, the GOM works with the World Food Program 
to provide school feeding programs. 
 
Education and Comprehensive Policy 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7. Malawi does not currently have a comprehensive policy or national 
program of action on child labor.  The GOM recognizes that poverty 
is the root cause of child labor and specifically lists fighting 
child labor as a line item in the Malawi Development and Growth 
Strategy (MDGS) for 2006-2011 under Theme 2 Social Protection, 
Sub-theme 1 Protecting the Vulnerable.  The MDGS also allocated 25 
million MWK (176,056 USD) for activities of the Child Labor Control 
Unit for 2008.  The MGDS does not specifically state activities to 
fight child labor or link child labor to other activities in the 
strategy.  Primary education in Malawi is free in law although 
school materials must often be purchased by the student.  Secondary 
education is fee-supported.  Education is not compulsory by law. 
 
Progress 
-------- 
 
¶8. The final version of the 2006 UNICEF/Malawi National Statistics 
Office Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), released in 2008, 
is the most recent statistical survey with data on child labor and 
trafficking.  ILO also released a study on Child Trafficking in 
Malawi in September, 2008.  The 2002 ILO/Malawi National Statistics 
Office Malawi Child Labor Report is the most recent comprehensive 
data set on child labor.  The MICS indicated 25.7 percent of 
children aged 5-14 are involved in child labor activities.  Child 
labor was twice as prevalent in rural areas as compared to urban. 
Both boys and girls engage in child labor equally.  Child labor is 
still predominant in the agriculture and domestic sectors.  Local 
NGOs and the Ministry of Labor indicated child labor for goat and 
cattle herding remained high.  Many boys participated in vending and 
girls as domestic labor in urban areas.  The MOL said continued 
education and inspection of commercial farms has reduced child labor 
in the tea and tobacco industries, but child labor continues in 
smallholder agriculture.  Without reliable statistics, it is 
difficult to ascertain if child labor declined this year. 
 
¶9.  Anecdotal evidence from NGOs suggests that practices such as 
debt bondage and forced labor exist, but statistics are unavailable. 
 Trafficking occurs both internally and across borders.  Malawi is 
usually a source for cross-border trafficking, although Zambian 
children have been found on plantations in Malawi.  Malawi's porous 
borders with Zambia and Mozambique, combined with the common 
language of Chichewa, enable cross-border trafficking of children 
for agricultural work between the three nations.  Tanzanian women 
are trafficked to Karonga, in Northern Malawi, for commercial sex; 
some are likely underage. Mwanza, Phalombe, Machinga, Zomba, 
Karonga, Ntchisi, Chikwawa, Salima, and Mzimba had the highest 
prevalence of child labor according to the MICS survey. 
 
BODDE