Culture of secrecy fuelling child abuse—IG
Inspector General of Police Lot Dzonzi has said that child abuse cases are on the increase in the country because of “a culture of secrecy”.
Speaking on Tuesday in Lilongwe when police received stationery from Unicef, Dzonzi said incidents of child abuse that get reported to police are just a “tip of the iceberg”.
Said Dzonzi: “There are a lot of child abuse cases happening in the country. Most of the times those who abuse children are normally close relatives.
“With the culture of secrecy in the country, most cases remain unreported to police because some families fear of losing breadwinners.”
The IG said there is need for enhanced civic education to make people realise the importance of reporting child abuse to police.
“The police service is trying its best to take care of children through the victim support unit [VSU], but Malawians must be courageous enough to report all the cases of child abuse,” he said.
On the donation, Dzonzi said it has come at the right time as it will help officers do their work easily because they record many crime statements every day.
Unicef Malawi country director Mahimbo Mdoe said they decided to donate stationery because police do a lot of recordings manually.
Mdoe, who has been to Sierra Leone and Central Africa Republic, described the Malawi Police Service as vibrant in terms of combating cases of child abuse.
