According to the police, gender-based assault crimes in Zambia decreased by 22.1 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.
According to the Zambia Police Victim Support Unit, the southern African country registered 20,540 occurrences of gender-based violence in 2021, down from 5,830 cases in 2020.
In 2021, there were 17,568 criminal reports and 2,972 non-criminal reports.
Last year, a total of 5,301 youngsters were assaulted, accounting for 25.8% of all victims of gender-based violence, with 4,115 girls and 1,186 males among them.
In Zambia, more than a third of all women and girls have experienced physical violence, with 17% of women having experienced sexual abuse.
The country is confronted with some of the highest rate of gender base violence in the world.