“I want a world where survivors are believed, validated and supported” Ayanna Pressley

If every Zambian woman and girl who has ever been sexually assaulted were asked to line the roads of Zambia, there wouldn't be enough roads to accommodate us. If we took turns to share our experiences, it would take years until we were all heard. Every single day, Zambian women wake up to stories of how children are raped and how another woman was gang raped and killed. With every story published we sit hoping our elected officials will take a stand to fight for the safety of women and yet we hear nothing. What we see is more fathers raping their children, teachers preying on school kids, and more women getting raped. For Zambian women, it is no longer a question of ‘If I get raped’, but of ‘When I get raped’. In a country seemingly determined to ignore the violence we face, it is becoming more evident with each day that this country does not care if we are all raped and killed.

 

The chances of a victim of Sexual Assault in Zambia being protected by the system, from the police to the courts, are slim to none. It is easier to get away with rape in Zambia than to get justice for being raped. The system has actively failed to protect women which has led to fewer women coming forward to report their abuse. Two examples of how the Zambian system fails women  are Diana and Bupe's cases.

In 2018, Bupe was sexually assaulted by a school mate and did everything possible to ensure that she got justice. Unfortunately, the police declined to investigate her case, blamed her for her own assault, and would not arrest the perpetrator despite her providing sufficient evidence of being sexually assaulted. To date, she has never heard back from the police and the prosecutor assigned to her case in 2019 never got back to her. In turn, what she experienced is bullying, stalking from the perpetrator and no support from her school and the system.

Diana was sexually assaulted in her own home by a friend in 2020. The perpetrator chose to take   advantage and raped her while she was asleep. She sustained multiple injuries after the assault and reported the matter to the police. When she did so, the police could not take up the case as an act of ‘rape’ because the perpetrator sexually assaulted her anally.  This was so because Zambian law does not consider anal rape as rape but classifies it as an act of unnatural order. Her case has not been given the priority it needs. She was moved to a fast track court, initially created to help victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and have cases heard within 25 days. It has been 5 months now and her trial is still ongoing.

Victims of sexual violence have been silenced, mocked, humiliated and dismissed for centuries. We are the change we want to see.

We will no longer be silent.

According to the UN Women, Zambia has one of the highest rates of sexual and gender based violence in the world, with 43% of women and girls aged between 15-49 having experienced some form of sexual violence.  In 2020, Save The Children Foundation reported that every 3 hours, a girl is raped in Zambia.

This petition is a call to the newly elected Zambian Government and all its arms to defend and protect victims of sexual violence through the following measures:

1)     Followed Through Justice for Victims of Sexual AssaultJ

"ustice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”

Despite the prevalence of rape and sexual assault, many offenders are neither arrested nor prosecuted. We ask for the re-evaluation of the Gender Equality and Equity Bill and The Sexual Assault Act, for there to be concise and proper action towards fighting sexual assault.

We further ask that there be a complete change in how cases of sexual assault are handled by the police, hospitals, courts and communities; and for increased funding and urgency to be directed towards ensuring victims are treated with care and the utmost priority.

This entails the creation and funding of psychological centers and programmes for victims of sexual assault and training for first responders in trauma-informed interviewing techniques.  Science has shown that the trauma that often accompanies sexual assault can leave a victim’s memory impaired and their account can seem fragmented, but with new trauma-informed interviewing techniques, law enforcement and other first responders can interact more effectively with victims. 

 

2)     Resuscitate the Victim Support Unit

“I came here . . . to be a part of creating a new, more just world, to promulgate the living legacy of great Black women who’ve traveled this road before me and write a new chapter in Black feminism that makes it explicit that Black women can be unified, are powerful beyond measure, and they can work to turn this world right side up again.”

The Victim Support Unit (VSU) was established to ensure effective prevention, investigation and excellent service delivery when dealing with cases of gender based violence, femicide in particular, property grabbing, spouse battering and sexual abuse of girl children.

The VSU was established through the Zambia Police Amendment Act No. 14 of 1999 and yet in the last 22 years, the unit has almost disappeared, with very few centres and officers around the country. We ask that this unit be resuscitated and provided with sufficient funding to train and hire efficient staff. Every police station must have an equivalent of 5 or more VSU officers.

The VSU must be provided with sufficient material and adequate funding to be able to carry out their duties. The police often attribute their inability to save women and children from sexual assault when called to no transportation, fuel allowances, in-access to internet and airtime credit. Victims are often forced to provide officers with money in order to be saved. We demand that enough funding be provided to the VSU to ensure they carry out their work and help communities they are stationed in.

3)     Establishment of More One Stop Centers for Victims Around the Country

“I've always thought that under rape in the dictionary it should tell the truth. It is not just forcible intercourse; rape means to inhabit and destroy everything.”

In order to report Sexual Assault in Zambia, one has to first get a signed police medical report at the police station the assault happened, then they can seek medical and legal help. The One Stop Centres were created to help victims attain all these services at one center and yet these centers do not function as they should.

The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) has one of the best one stop centers in the country that offers its services to children under the age of 15. It has VSU officers dressed in civilian clothes to make children comfortable to report, and trained nurses, doctors, social workers and psychologists that help children have access to physical, mental and social help. We recommend that there be one stop centres in all 156 constituencies in the country, that are adequately funded and mirror the model at UTH pediatric one stop centers. This will aid victims attain help in safe and efficient environments that have trained staff.

The centres must work with shelters and children's homes, to help provide a refuge for victims who can no longer return to their homes, for their safety.

 

4)     Creation of a Sex Offenders List

“I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?”

Sexual assault is the most recurring crime worldwide. Perpetrators often commit the crime multiple times even after conviction. Perpetrators of sexual violence should be recorded and made known to people in their residential areas. Furthermore, the sex offender list would protect children from harm as paedophiles would be banned from working at schools and any other place that children dominate.

The requests made in this petition are an outline of what this new government can do to show its citizens that the world does not only belong to men and that the safety promised does not exclude women. Society cannot be said to be a safe place when the most vulnerable live in fear everyday of sexual assault in the streets, at work and at home.

We will no longer be silent.