By Francis Maingaila
LUSAKA
Gender-based violence – such as rape, child defilement and spouse beating – is on the rise in Zambia.
"From January to June, 2014, a total of 15,701 cases of gender-based violence were reported to various police stations countrywide," Police Inspector-General Stella Libongani told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
"Of this figure, 6,139 cases are before the courts of law for determination," she said.
Libongani noted that 14,097 cases were reported last year, out of which 3,410 had ended in conviction, 203 in acquittal, 5,481 were withdrawn, while the rest remain in court.
"From this figure, we can safely say that the number of [cases of] gender-based violence has increased from that of the previous year," she told AA.
"We expect to see the number go higher by December," added the police inspector.
She noted that the most common form of gender-based violence experienced by women in Zambia today was physical violence – including sexual abuse – inflicted by their spouses.
"Violence against women is not confined to a specific culture; rather, its roots lie historically in unequal power relations between men and women and persistent discrimination against women," the police inspector asserted.
"[Violence] takes many forms ranging from rape, physical beatings, murder and sexual harassment," she added.
Libongani noted that two in three Zambian women were beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by a partner in the course of her lifetime.
"Women aged 13 to 40 are more at risk, not only from sexual abuse and defilement, but domestic violence – more than from any other cause," she said.
She asserted that violence of any kind was an "affront to society" and an unacceptable "abomination."
"As police, we recognize gender-based violence as a crime," the police inspector said.
She urged international aid agencies to step up efforts to help Zambia combat the plague of gender violence.
"Unless we have fully equipped security personnel, human rights violations against women and children will continue," Libongani told AA.
www.aa.com.tr/en
