Blantyre, 08 October, 2023 / 11:26 am (ACI Africa).
Officials of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Commission (CCJP) in Malawi have condemned the “government's treatment” of refugees in the Southern African nation, and decried the “appalling” conditions at Dzaleka Refugee Camp, where they are being forced to relocate.
On March 27, the Malawian government issued a directive to enforce its encampment policy, requiring that all refugees and asylum seekers living in urban and rural areas in the country either voluntarily return to the Dzaleka refugee camp in just over a fortnight, or be forcibly relocated to the camp.
“Reports that children have been among those caught up in the sweeps and forcibly taken to Maula Central Prison, a maximum-security prison in Lilongwe, are of grave concern,” Reliefweb stated in a June 5 report that referenced Human Rights Watch, adding that under international human rights standards, “Children should not be detained for immigration reasons, and should never be held in adult prisons.”
According to Aljazeera, the Malawi military has been used to force the refugees back into the overcrowded camp that is located in the Dowa district, some 41 km away from the country’s capital city, Lilongwe.
In a Tuesday, October 3 statement, CCJP Coordinators at the national and Diocesan levels in Malawi say, “Refugees and asylum seekers in the country have not been treated with dignity in light of the refugee relocation exercise.”
