May 14, 2021 Watipaso Mzungu-Nyasa Times 1 Comment
Refugees and asylum seekers residing at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa are ‘cooking up’ sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) cases against fellow refugees to claim insecurity in Malawi.
Police in Dowa have disclosed that the refugees and asylum seekers use police reports arising from false SGBV claims to justify their application for resettlement in Canada and other Western countries.
Dowa Police Station Criminal Investigations Officer, Assistant Superintendent Chance Sibale, made the revelation during a daylong engagement for magistrates and the police from Dowa and Ntchisi districts.
Kamundi Phiri (sitting second from left) poses for a photo with magistrates and police officers
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe (CCJP Lilongwe) has challenged local leaders to start questioning and changing patriarchal and cultural practices that have, for decades, given women and girls lower status in Dowa and Ntchisi districts.
Authorities blame patriarchal and cultural for contributing significantly to the incidences of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in the two districts.
With funding from UN Women through Spotlight Initiative, CCJP Lilongwe is implementing a project designed to empower women and girls so that they can challenge drivers of violence against women and girls both in private and public spheres.