Zambia Police Service Report Fall in GBV Cases

This week the Zambia Police Service released the latest crime statistics for the first quarter of 2024. The figures show a 10.2% reduction in cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) compared with the first quarter of 2023, dropping from 10,797 to 9,700. From the 9,700 cases reported 6,966 were recorded as criminal cases and 2,734 were non-criminal. 29 murder cases were recorded during the same period.

Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of GBV criminal cases at 2,278, with Western Province the next highest at 988. 26.1% of all victims were children, with the majority of these being girls (74.3%).

As part of efforts to provide professional counselling to victims of crime and offenders the Victim Support Unit (VSU) counselled a total of 5,648 individuals.

Zambia continues to face on high rates of GBV and it is thought that many incidents of GBV still go unreported despite recent efforts to encourage victims to come forward.