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Gender and Child Development Acting Permanent Secretary John Zulu has observed that drug and alcohol abuse are the major drive of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the country.
Mr Zulu said the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey show that women whose husbands are often drunk are more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse.
He noted that it is for this reason that the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has been identified as one of the key partners in implementing the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) and the United Nations (UN) joint programme on GVB as a direct link to clients.
Mr Zulu was speaking in Lusaka today when he officiated at a five day workshop on the implementation of GRZ – UN joint programme on gender based violence.
He said the programme is aimed at empowering GBV survivors to promote a mind-set change amongst women and girls and make them realize that empowerment comes from within them.
And DEC Commissioner Lottie Mpundu said the commission has continued to record an increase in the number of women and children being used in male dominated drug cartels.
Commissioner Mpundu noted that it was evident that a number of women have lost their lives at the hands of their partners or spouses who were under the influence of alcohol and drugs among other substances.
He further emphasized the need to promote economic and social empowerment in enterprise development to drug dependant persons as they fear to approach the commission in fear of being arrested.
Mr Mpundu said the commission is targeting to train 600 GBV survivors from drug and alcohol abuse in Chipata, Lusaka and Livingstone in financial and literacy skills for a period of three years so as to keep them away from substance abuse.
The five day UN sponsored workshop has attracted over a hundred participants who are GBV survivors, coming from Makeni and surrounding areas.
