Zambia sees rise in gender-based violence cases in first quarter

LUSAKA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Zambia saw a slight increase in gender-based violence cases during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, the police said on Wednesday.

The southern African nation recorded 5,940 cases of gender-based violence during the first quarter of 2018 compared to 5,464 recorded during the same period in 2017, representing an increase of 0.8 percent, according to police spokesperson Esther Mwaata-Katongo.

According to the spokesperson, 2,748 cases were withdrawn at police stations while 2,432 were still under investigations.

She expressed concern that there were still a lot of cases being withdrawn which could be a contributing factor on the rise in gender-based violence cases as perpetrators were left to go unpunished.

She further said the country recorded 645 cases of child defilement during the same period, with 642 cases being against girls while three cases were against boys.

The number of defilement cases represented a rise by 18 cases when compared to the same period last year, she added. Enditem