Dear Readers, June is a protection month as we start with Child Labor Day on 13 June 2026 and the Day of the African Child on 18 June 2026. As we reflect on these important events, we must examine the operation of Child Protection Systems and assess the effectiveness of the current initiatives. Reports consistently indicate a rise in child abuse and harassment, with increasing rates of child marriages and a backlog of unresolved abuse cases within our court system. Child justice is under threat, prompting us, as actors in child development, we need to seriously question our intervention.
The national commemoration event for the International Day of the Family was held on 30 May 2026 in Lunzu, Blantyre where Senior Chief Kapeni raised two serious concerns regarding child protection management in Malawi. Firstly, he highlighted the plight of a key child protection stakeholder: the elderly. Historically, the aged have continued to play a crucial role in providing the much-needed care and protection for children. The chief raised a concern that suddenly, these providers are increasingly becoming victims of abuse and violence. While we might argue that these are no longer children, their victimization has profound physical and psychological impacts on child development. The children are exposed to the suffering experienced by elderly women, who are often accused of witchcraft. We urge Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the various government agencies to address this issue urgently.
Secondly, the Senior Chief and the Member of Parliament for the area drew attention to another critical aspect of child development: the engagement of children in sexual exploitation and abuse through public entertainment, specifically child prostitution. This is a grave concern, especially given the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OPSC), which entered into force on 18 January 2002.
The issues raised by these two local leaders during the event present a serious challenge to child development workers in Malawi. We must find urgent solutions, exploring preventive, management, and corrective or supportive actions to address these problems. On the other hand, during the same event, we remembered the children connected to the street. This is an area where both CSOs and government actors continue to provide lip service. We have a strategy that has remained in development for the last five years, yet we now know we have over 4,000 children connected to the street. We have always argued (along with other development actors) that this is not within their remit, even though children are their priority. What we have seen more of is tokenism, and the government needs to be serious.
Our call is that the government should expedite the revisions to the strategy on street-connected children. This contravenes the report by the Office of the Ombudsman of March 2019, entitled “Abandoned on the Street,” whose recommendations have never been implemented. We need serious reflection on how we will engage with these aspects. As a country, we need to start looking at what we must do to ensure that children are protected. Ensuring universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene for every child in Africa is the theme for the Day of the African Child 2026. This comes at no better time, especially as WASH is heavily impacted by climate change events. Schools and communities in both rural and urban settings lack access to clean water and have poor and inadequate sanitation facilities, with limited knowledge and awareness regarding water and sanitation facilities. Hygiene practices are far from the expected standards due to inadequate education programmes.
More fundamentally, WASH interventions should form part of foundational learning and the learning curve. As we commemorate actions on WASH, we need to seriously rethink how we will sustain the momentum and hype. Malawi commemorates the day against drug and substance abuse, observed globally on 26 June 2026, amid increasing cases of young people being admitted to mental hospitals.
UNDOC’s theme for 2026 revolves around: “World Drug Problem: Persistent Issues, New Challenges and Innovative Responses.” There are new technologies, such as those helping people enter virtual spaces, and one wonders if these are contributing to the increasing addiction among young people. The theme calls for actors to revisit the persistent issues in drug and substance abuse, identify emerging challenges that we have not previously managed, and consider how we intend to support the system. While this is the case, could we reflect on whether our policies and laws are consistent with each other in the context of drug control and management?
Wishing you a wonderful June 2026
