Prostitution in Malawi is legal and prevalent around hotels and bars in urban and tourist areas. Living off the proceeds of

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

is illegal. In 2015, it was estimated there were 20,000 sex workers in

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

and

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

are problems in the country.

Overview

Whilst some

street prostitution Street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a prostitute solicitation, solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as ...

occurs, because of police harassment its extent is limited. Most prostitution occurs in bars and hotels. "Bar girls" are employed by the owners on very low wages; they make up their money by prostitution. Although prostitutes in bars are mostly employed by the bar owners, there are some freelance girls who will try to attract customers by moving from bar to bar. Food handling hygiene rules require all staff employed in bars to have monthly health checks, but this is not always enforced. Often the bar girls are from rural areas, moving to the towns and cities in search of lucrative employment. Sex workers and

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s report harassment and abuse from the police, including violence, theft and forced sex. They also report that police take no action if abuse or violence by clients is reported to them by sex workers. Prostitution also occurs around the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks The prostitutes work from small shacks around the villages in the forests. In previous years many women from Malawi went to work in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

copperfields ''Copperfields'' is the fifth album by American band the Dillards. Further distancing themselves from traditional bluegrass music, the album draws from bluegrass, rock, folk and country music, with prominent orchestra and increased use of drums ...

prostitutes Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...

. The road leading towards Zambia came to be known as ''mtengamahule'' (conveyor of prostitutes). The border was subsequently closed to "unmarried women".

Legal situation

Section 146 of the Malawi Penal Code prohibits living off the earnings of prostitution. This has been interpreted by the courts to include a sex worker's own earnings, effectively making prostitution illegal. Section 184(c) of the Penal Code makes an offence of: "every person in or upon or near any premises or in any road or highway or any place adjacent thereto or in any public place at such time and under such circumstances as to lead to the conclusion that such person is there for an illegal or disorderly purpose, is deemed a rogue and vagabond". (This law is based on the British

Vagrancy Act 1824 The Vagrancy Act 1824 ( 5 Geo. 4. c. 83) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that makes it an offence to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales. The legislation was passed in Georgian England to combat the increasing number o ...

). This legislation was used to target sex workers. Eleven sex workers were arrested in 2009 in the southern city of

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,104,521 and a population of 3,699,872 in the region ...

. They were taken to a hospital and forcibly given HIV tests. The positive results of the tests were later read out in open court. The sex workers later sued the Malawi government for "damages as compensation for violation of their constitutional rights and trauma suffered as a result of actions of the police and a hospital”. High Court judge,

Dorothy Kamanga Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga (born 6 October, 1970) became a Malawian supreme court judge in 2022. Life Kamanga was born in 1970. She entered private practice after she graduated in law from the University of Malawi in 1995 and two years later took ...

, ruled that the sex workers should be compensated, and that the actions of the police and health workers were "irrational, unjust, unfair and unreasonable." In September 2016, the Zomba High Court ruled that Section 146 of the Penal Code was meant to protect sex workers against exploitation, not criminalise sex workers. The court overturned the conviction of the 19 sex workers that had appealed against conviction by a magistrates court. In January 2017, three judges of the Malawi High Court declared section 184(1)(c) of the Penal Code unconstitutional and invalid.

HIV

Like other

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

countries, HIV is a major problem in Malawi. In 2016 the adult prevalence rate was 9.2%. Sex workers are a high risk group with a 24.9% prevalence rate in 2016. The reluctance of clients to use

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...

s, and lack of access to health services for sex workers are contributory causes. Clients may offer up to 4 times the usual rate for sex without a condom. Condoms are also in short supply in some areas of the country.

Sex trafficking

is a source country for women, and children subjected to

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

. To a lesser extent, it is a destination country for men, women, and children from Zambia,

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...

region, and the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

who are subjected to sex trafficking, and a transit country for people from these countries exploited in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Traffickers, primarily facilitators or brothel owners, typically lure children from their families in rural areas under pretences of employment opportunities, clothing, or lodging for which they are sometimes charged exorbitant fees, resulting in prostitution coerced through debts. Traffickers subject young girls to sexual exploitation in nightclubs or bars. Malawian victims of sex trafficking have been identified in Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Some young girls are drugged, gang-raped, and exploited in commercial sex. Some girls recruited for domestic service are instead forced to marry and subsequently subjected to child sex trafficking by their “husbands”. Fraudulent employment agencies lure women and girls to Gulf states where they are exploited in sex trafficking. The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internation ...

ranks Malawi as a Tier 2 country.

References

{{Africa in topic, Prostitution in

Society of Malawi

Women's rights in Malawi Social issues in Malawi

Overview

Legal situation

HIV

Sex trafficking

See also

References