A Judicial Service Commission (JSC) survey has revealed that thousands of girls below the age of 18 in Zimbabwe have been r_ped in the past 12 months.
While launching the revised protocol on multi-sectoral management of s_xual abuse and violence in Zimbabwe on Thursday, Judicial Services Commission (JSC) secretary Walter Chikwanha urged men to stand up against s_xual violence towards women. He said:
The number of women and children suffering from sexual and gender-based violence in the country remains high. I challenge all men to stand up and be counted in fighting against this barbarism.
There are 1 776 334 adolescent girls aged between 10 and 19 in Zimbabwe, according to the latest United Nations Population Fund’s population census projection report.
According to the National Baseline Survey on the life experiences of adolescents, 9 per cent of the girls aged between 13 and 17 have been r_ped since November 2018.