Police for mass awareness on homosexuality issues

Malawi Police Service (MPS) has called for the need for the public to be sensitised about homosexuality issues as a human right if the battle of violence against the minority rights is to be won in the country.

Inspector General (IG) of Police Lexten Kachama, speaking on Thursday on the sidelines of a workshop organised by Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) to share lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues, said cases of violation of minority rights would reduce with such sensitisation.

He said: “If the police are going to be very conversant with these issues but we leave out the public, we don’t make them understand and accept them [minority rights] as a human right, we will continue having problems of violations of rights of the LGBTI individuals. As such, I urge organisations such as Cedep to seriously consider sensitising the public on the same.”

Cedep deputy board chairperson Mcdonald Sembereka said the workshop was organised under a newly launched programme called Finish Project on Access to Justice targeting justice delivery stakeholders such as the Judiciary and the police.

Sembereka said Cedep has other projects targeting the public, but this particular one is targeting the justice delivery system to address gaps.

Kachama welcomed the project as positive development which will improve the officers’ understanding of issues of LGBTI.

Besides Kachama, other delegates to the workshop included police commissioners from across the country, representatives of Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare and taxpayer-funded Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) as well as Cedep officials. n