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A total of 11,177 Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases were reported countrywide in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 15.2 percent increase compared to the 9,700 cases recorded during the same period in 2024.
According to a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday by Police Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga, 7,170 cases (64 percent) were classified as criminal, while 4,007 (36 percent) were non-criminal in nature.
The quarter also saw 29 GBV-related murder cases, the same number as recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
Out of the total cases, 2,474 (22.1 percent) involved children, and 85.8 percent of these were criminal. Of the child victims, girls accounted for 73.4 percent, reflecting their heightened vulnerability to GBV.
Adults made up 8,703 (77.8 percent) of the cases, with women constituting 82.6 percent (7,185 cases) and men 17.4 percent (1,518 cases), underscoring the disproportionate impact of GBV on women.
“Physical abuse remained the most common form of GBV, with 3,881 cases, or 34.7 percent of the total, reported,” Hamoonga said.
Of those, 3,271 (84.3 percent) were cases of Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm (OABH), up 7.6 percent from 3,041 cases in the first quarter of 2024. Women made up 86.2 percent (2,821) of the OABH victims, while men accounted for 13.8 percent (450).
The period also recorded four cases of Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH), involving three women and one boy.
Additionally, there was one case of attempted murder, a 50 percent reduction from the two cases reported in the same period last year.
A total of 2,029 cases (28.3 percent) of economic abuse were recorded.
Among these, 935 cases (46.1 percent) involved failure to provide necessities of life, and 817 cases (42.3 percent) were related to neglect.
The quarter also recorded 941 sexual offenses, a slight decline from the 972 cases reported during the same period in 2024.
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