The Tribune (Blantyre)
Madalitso Kateta
30 December 2008
Women in Malawi continue to be exposed to the risk of HIV infection as the country does not have laws criminalizing social or cultural practices that negatively impinge their rights basing on their sex.
A paper titled ‘Prohibition of Harmful Practices’ presented by commissioner Esnath Kalyati at a gender conference in Blantyre recently reveals that while the country has enacted legislations that protect the rights of women, a lot of women were facing the HIV and AIDS blunt as the country still lucked special legislations that criminalizes practices that abuse women rights.
“The commission has discovered that the absence of legislations that criminalize practices that impinge on the rights of women has been exposing them to the risk of HIV and AIDS infection,” said Kalyati.
She said women are often times forced to participate in cultural practices without their consent and are usually negatively affected in the process.
She said that most of the cultural practices that negatively affect women also increased their vulnerability to STI and HIV infection.
“With the advent of HIV and AIDS it is imperative to eliminate social and cultural practices which facilitate the spread of HIV as recommended in the national HIV and AIDS policy.
It was also observed at the same conference that there is sexual and reproductive health rights are a fundamental to their empowerment.
Commissioner Gertrude Chipungu said that international gender instruments emphasize sexual and reproductive health rights of women.
Among the international and regional instruments that Malawi adopted to protect women rights are the Convention on the Elimination of all forms Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),the African Chapter on the Protection of the rights of women the SADC declaration on gender and the Beijing Declaration on women rights.
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