By Chisomo Phiri
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has bemoaned lack of capacity to handle sexual harassment cases in respect of the Gender Equality Act of 2013 among some public and private sector institutions in the country.
Speaking to the members of the press on Monday, MHRC Deputy Director for gender and women’s rights Deborah Tambulasi Banda, said this has now affected reporting and dispute resolution mechanisms within institutions, with many victims failing to report cases for fear of reprisals.
” There is still lack of seriousness among some private and public sector institutions in the way they can handle asexual harassment cases.
“This is affecting the way how we can combat this problem,” said Banda.
On his part, chairperson for Gender Coordination Network( GCR) Barbra Banda concurred with MHRC and urged institutions to train their personnel for them to be able to handle gender related issues.
” Let us have individuals who are well trained to deal with gender related issues in our several institutions ,” urged Banda.
In the law, Section 7 of the Gender Equality Act of 2013, encourages institutions to develop sexual harassment policies and create conducive environment for the employees, while section 6, prohibits all acts of sexual harassment in institutions both private and public.
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