Malawi: Attitudes to child labour changing
Despite laws forbidding the use of child labour - often viewed as the norm and an important source of income - enforcement has been anything but strict in Malawi, until recently.
Since March 2007 up to 480 children have been 'rescued' from tobacco estates in the district of Mangochi, once an important centre of slave trading on the southern banks of Lake Malawi.
"Child labour is growing at an alarming rate, mainly in the tobacco industry," said Gracious Ndalama, Child Protection Officer for the Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that targets young people in Malawi.
