By Vincent Gunde
An organisation advocating for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Malawi- Inua Advocacy, has promised to work with government to end human trafficking which is being reported to have taken centre stage inside the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district.
In the week, Malawi Defense Force ( MDF) soldiers invaded the Dzaleka Camp particularly Zone Karonga which is located inside the camp hunting for suspected human traffickers.
Several gunshots were heard reminding many refugees and asylum seekers of Rwanda, Burundi and DRC that they were caught up in another war in Malawi.
High on the target of suspected human traffickers, are Ethiopians who many enter this country through unchartered routes and are being aided by Malawian citizens to use Malawi as a transit country to connect them to South Africa and Australia.
During the operation conducted by MDF soldiers, a number of individuals were arrested, including some people who had been trafficked as well as individuals suspected of being involved in trafficking activities. At the same time, other refugees and asylum seekers who had no connection to trafficking were also detained. Reports indicate that some of those arrested had their mobile phones and money confiscated. 71 individuals have since been transferred from Kamuzu Barracks to Maula Prison. The women and children who were among those arrested were later released.
There are also concerns that some of the children taken during the operation may have been victims of trafficking. Many of the Ethiopians arriving at Dzaleka Refugee Camp are young and often travel with significant sums of money, sometimes around one thousand US dollars, which can make them particularly vulnerable to exploitation. These circumstances raise serious questions about the identification of victims and the protection measures that were in place during and after the arrests.
Inua Advocacy’s Executive Director Innocent Magambi, said it is the wish of all good thinking refugees and asylum seekers to strongly wanting the human trafficking activities in the Dzaleka Camp to end.
Magambi said many of these refugees and asylum seekers are and have been providing information to his organization in a quest to end human trafficking in the Dzaleka Camp saying this information has led to some of them been arrested by police.
” Our intention is to work with the government to put to an end these human trafficking activities but this should be done in a manner that does not involve excessive force which further harms people who are already traumatized,” said Magambi.
