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Misanet / The Chronicle, 26 February - Emmie Chanika, Executive Chairperson for the Civil Liberties Committee (CILIC), an organisation that monitors violations and advocates for basic rights, in a telephone interview with The Chronicle has said there still exists the possibility of child abuse in Malawi prisons, especially in Zomba which could put juveniles at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The Chronicle was following up on a letter received from a concerned activist in Ireland that intimated that the practice of the violation of young offenders was on the increase in Zomba Prison. Chanika in her response indicated that she fears that the blanket of silence over the issue does not augur well for the wellbeing of juvenile offenders. - When I went to enquire on what was happening at the prisons and asked one of the officers in charge, I got an extremely aggressive response, she said. "They said that they would beat me up and leave me in a gutter somewhere if I continued to demand answers," she said adding, "but I know for sure that they are keeping some sort of Mafia type secret, so this effectively proves that this child abuse issue is still there and is probably on the rise." Amnesty International (AI), the international human rights watchdog who continualy keeping an eye on the prison situation in Malawi had petitioned the Attorney General, Peter Fachi about the dangers to young offenders, singling out the Zomba Prison. The laws that protect the rights of the child compel states to hold child offenders separately from their adult counterparts. Juvenile offenders therefore are generally kept separate from the adult "hard core" criminals for their own protection. The juveniles in Zomba Prison are kept separated from the adults but, through the clinic the adult and the juvenile interact causing some juveniles to be smuggled for an exchange of money. The children in these prisons are alleged to be abused physically and are also not given proper health care, causing the spread of infections. Chanika contends: "The children are abused by being beaten and raped. They are also bribed for small sums of money to engage in intercourse with prisoners. Indeed we have found that these sorts of prisons are fertile soil for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and AIDS, especially because of homosexual acts." - Also, it must be remembered that studies of records indicate that in 1997, 40% of all prison deaths were as a result of Aids. Further studies indicate that 49% of all prisoners were suffering from acute cases of STDs. AI say that this is a form of torture and young offenders of the country should not have to go through the possibility of being coerced and molested in any way. In 1999 prisoners between the years of 12 and 18 had to be released because there is no legal premise that allows for long term imprisonment for juveniles. 40 boys were released and a high percentage of them had contracted HIV, the disease that leads to Aids. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons in Zomba, the children are treated "humanely". He indicated that the facts which are generally released are; "bad and wrong information which tries to make the prison officials and the government look bad". - The information, he said, "is only partly correct because out of all the prisoners who have been screened here, only 3 or 4 of them have aids," he said without indicating the number of offenders who volunteer for testing. He blamed some younger offenders as well as some older offenders saying they are allowed to work within the premises of the prison for some remuneration.
"When they get paid they are able to accumulate enough money to bribe the guards and they slip out of bounds," he admitted. By Sameer Khan, The Chronicle (Lilongwe, Malawi)
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