WUNRN
Zambia
- Schoolgirls Face Rampant Sexual Violence - Report
A new report points to the extensive violence experienced by girls attending school in Zambia. But victims rarely speak up about the abuse, and a lack of clear policies fuel the cycle of violence.
Zambian
Girl - By Neets & Dre (Andre & Anita Nieuwland) on Flickr, under
Creative Commons (cc BY-NC-SA 2.0)
(WOMENSENEWS)—In
Zambia, sexual harassment and violence is rampant among schoolgirls, affecting
adolescent girls at all levels of schooling, in all school settings and of all
ages.
Those
are the main findings of a report released today, "They are Destroying Our
Futures" by Cornell Law School’s Avon Center for Women and Justice, which
clearly outlines the extensive sexual violence against Zambian girls attending
school.
“The
report sheds light on a really serious international rights abuse happening in
Zambia,” said Elizabeth Brundige, Avon Global Center for Women and Justice’s
executive director and lead researcher and author of the report
For
the report, researchers interviewed 105 girls in Zambia’s Lusaka Province, ages
12-22. Fifty-seven students (54 percent of the students interviewed) said they
had personally experienced some form of sexual violence or harassment by a
teacher, classmate or men they encountered while traveling to and from school.
When
questioned about their peers, 88 students (84 percent of students interviewed)
reported that they had personally experienced such abuse or knew of classmates
who had experienced it.
“Education
is crucial to the growth of girls and families and the violence hinders girls
from being able to go to school,” said Sital Kalantry, director of the Avon
Global Center for Women and Justice. “It is extremely detrimental to people
trying to rise up from their current situation.”
Many
of the victims rarely report such abuse, according to the report, fearing
stigma, blame, retaliation or unresponsiveness on the part of school
authorities. When the girls do report abuse, they face serious obstacles,
including schools failing to recognize or respond effectively to harassment and
violence, reluctance to fire teachers, school officials not bringing sexual
abuse to the attention of the police and the absence of child-friendly court
procedures.
“It
is a cycle of violence,” said Brundige. “Girls felt like if they reported [the
incident] nothing would happen and the perpetrators wouldn’t be punished.
Therefore they didn’t report it and their cases never came to light. That was
an important finding of the study -- the continuation of the problem because of
an inadequate response system.”
One
of the interviewees, Brundige added, said, “How can they turn their eyes when
sexual violence happens -- that jeopardizes our futures.”
The
poor response system is mainly due to the absence of any clear policies or
procedures for dealing with reports of violence, the study found.
“A
lot needs to be done with crafting and implementing procedures that allow
schools to respond to sexual violence when it occurs, such as anonymous
reporting methods and terminating teachers who are offenders,” said Brundige.
Although
the Ministry of Education is currently drafting a National Child Protection
Policy for Schools, which will establish guidelines for preventing and
responding to sexual violence in schools, Brundige believes this is only the
first step. Since sexual violence has been so normalized, she said, it's
crucial to also implement programs in schools that teach students about the
effects of sexual violence, educate them on sex and teach them how to prevent
sexual violence, along with providing resources and counseling for the girls
who are already victims.
But
sexual violence in schools isn't just a concern in Zambia, it's a worldwide
problem.
“The
global nature of the problem is something we really tried to emphasize in the
report,” said Brundige. “The recent celebration of the first annual
International Day of the Girl Child really reminded us to make sure girls'
human rights are protected. Our report is hopefully working towards combating
violence in Zambia, but also reminding us that [sexual violence and abuse] is
also an issue in our own backyard.”
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Direct Link to Full 68-Page Report:
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Cornell Law School and Women and Law in Southern Africa Report that Schoolgirls in Zambia Confront Widespread Sexual Abuse
ITHACA, N.Y. — Adolescent girls in Zambia face frequent sexual violence and harassment at school, researchers from Cornell Law School’s Avon Global Center for Women and Justice, the Cornell International Human Rights Clinic, and Women and Law in Southern Africa-Zambia said in a report released today. The report was released today via a video conference linking Cornell Law School with the United States Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia.
The report, “They are Destroying Our Futures: Sexual Violence Against Girls in Zambia’s Schools,” is based on interviews conducted in Lusaka Province, Zambia with students at seven public schools, teachers, school administrators, magistrates, police officers, representatives of civil society organizations and others. Of the 105 girls who were interviewed for the report, 54 percent said that they had personally experienced sexual violence or harassment by a teacher, student, or man they encountered while travelling to or from school, while 84 percent reported that they had experienced or knew of classmates who had experienced such abuse.
“Children in Zambia and throughout the world deserve a chance to grow up and pursue an education free from the threat of sexual violence. Sexual violence against girls in schools is a devastating human rights problem globally, as recent debates over sexual abuse in U.S. schools make clear,” says Elizabeth Brundige, executive director of Cornell’s Avon Global Center.
Most cases of sexual violence at school never come to light because of the multiple obstacles to redress that girls confront.
The report calls on the Zambian government to strengthen its prevention and response efforts in order to protect girls from sexual violence in schools and provide them with a meaningful remedy where it occurs. According to Maimbo Ziela, National Coordinator for WLSA-Zambia, “Inadequate responses at many levels have contributed to a culture of silence where girls do not report, perpetrators act with impunity, and the cycle of violence continues. The Zambian government has recently taken some promising measures to break this cycle, and we hope that our report and the recommendations it offers will contribute to these efforts.”