Will a sex offender register help?
By Etona Ekole (UNICEF) and Loveness Makonese (UN WOMEN) When a child, woman and member of a vulnerable group experiences sexual abuse, the harm extends far beyond the moment the crime occurs. It can leave lifelong emotional, psychological and social scars. While laws are essential in holding perpetrators to account, justice alone cannot undo the
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Zimbabwe’s Abortion Law After Rape: What Changed, What Didn’t and What Survivors Need to Know
Zimbabwe’s Abortion Law After Rape: What Changed, What Didn’t and What Survivors Need to Know By Michael Gwarisa Early in 2026, Zimbabwe’s abortion debate moved from the margins into Parliament. At the centre of the controversy was Clause 11 of the Medical Services Amendment Bill, a provision that ignited intense debate among lawmakers, health professionals,
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She Survived Rape. Now She Is Pregnant. Should Tariro Get to Decide What Happens Next?
By Michael Gwarisa Tariro is only 19. A few weeks ago, she was on cloud nine. She had just been accepted into university to study law. After years of hard work, good grades and determination, the future seemed to be falling into place. She had plans, the kind that belong to a young woman her
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Termination of Pregnancy after Rape: A Matter of Law, Health, Compassion and Justice
By Marceline Mukwamba In Zimbabwe, conversations about termination of pregnancy often begin and end with moral discomfort. Too often, they are shaped by silence, fear, misinformation and stigma rather than by the law, medical evidence, constitutional values and compassion for survivors. Yet for a woman or girl who becomes pregnant as a result of rape,
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Zimbabwe Launches New Sexual Violence Care Guidelines to Protect All Survivors, Including Men and Boys
By Michael Gwarisa Zimbabwe has launched revised Clinical Guidelines on the Care and Management of Survivors of Sexual Violence, strengthening the country’s response to sexual violence and equipping healthcare workers with updated tools to provide comprehensive care in an evolving social environment. The revised guidelines, unveiled by Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Douglas
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The Mental Health Toll of Forced Pregnancy in Child Survivors of Rape
By Maceline M. Mukwamba In Zimbabwe and across many parts of the world, a quiet crisis continues to unfold behind closed doors, within families, schools, and communities. It is the story of children, girls often between the ages of 10 and 17, who survive rape only to face a second, prolonged trauma of being forced
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Women Frustrated by Delays in Identifying Rapist of Grade 7 Pupil at Rank
By Michael Gwarisa Women’s organisations have expressed frustration over the failure to identify and bring to justice the tout reportedly responsible for raping a minor in a parked commuter omnibus at the Rezende bus rank. To voice their concerns, members of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) converged on Friday at a Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV)
Read MoreWomen Frustrated by Delays in Identifying Rapist of Grade 7 Pupil at Rank
By Michael Gwarisa Women’s organisations have expressed frustration over the failure to identify and bring to justice the tout reportedly responsible for raping a minor in a parked commuter omnibus at the Rezende bus rank. To voice their concerns, members of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) converged on Friday at a Sexual Gender-Based Violence
Read MoreLove Shouldn’t Hurt Walk/Run sends strong message against GBV and Child Sexual Abuse
WITH the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) commemorations drawing near, the Population Solutions for Health (PSH), has kick started the campaign with a Walk/Run as a way of raising awareness against GBV and all forms of violence against women and girls. By Michael Gwarisa The Walk/Run also observed Child Marriages which
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Low levels of reporting on sexual violence causing severe health consequences – MSF
Low levels of awareness about medical impact of sexual violence is causing severe health consequences, the international medical humanitarian organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today. HealthTimes Reporter Of the 7,400 survivors of sexual violence who received free, confidential medical treatment and psycho-social support from MSF at the Edith Opperman clinic in
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