By The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) has decried the high GBV, early child marriages and high rates of new HIV infections in mining communities
In a statement commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence, WCoZ said child marriages are still problematic in a country which seems to have made significant legal strides.
“Whilst Zimbabwe has made significant strides since then in promoting gender equality through progressive laws and policies such as the Zimbabwe National Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (2023-2030), systemic gaps in accountability and protection mechanisms continue to perpetuate violence, hinder justice and compromise the safety of survivors of GBV.
“Child marriage remains an issue of concern in Zimbabwe despite progressive legal frameworks such as Section 3 of the Marriages Act due to weak enforcement mechanisms,” said WCoZ.
WCoZ, an organization of over 3000 women activists also notes with concern how the mining sector has the most cases.
“We are also concerned by the increase in GBV cases in extractive communities which has seen women and girls face disproportionately high GBV rates, including child marriages, increased HIV infections, etc. As part of the women’s movement, we are concerned about the extractive sector’s growth in Zimbabwe, which has led to high rates of gender-based violence (GBV),” added the organization.
With the high usage of online media tools, women human rights defenders have fallen pray to cyber-bullying and WCoZ is calling for law enforcement to be heightened against perpetrators.
“Women Human Rights Defenders remain critical yet vulnerable actors in GBV advocacy and continue to face intimidation and both physical and online violence.
“There is a need for strengthening legal protections, safe spaces for women and girls, and greater engagement of law enforcement to safeguard their safety and security,” added WCoZ.
Meanwhile, with the Anti Domestic Violence Council (ADVC) defunct due to funding constraints, WCoZ called for the revamping of this organization.
“Further, the dysfunction of the Anti-Domestic Violence Council, caused by inadequate funding and poor oversight limits its capacity to implement its mandate and further weakens protection mechanisms.
“We therefore call upon: Government of Zimbabwe to ensure the immediate resourcing and operationalization of the Anti-Domestic Violence Council through the 2025 National Budget,” said WCoZ.
This year, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence are running under the theme “Towards 30 Years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Unite to End Violence Against Women”.
