Gender minister Inonge Wina says cases of bestiality are increasing especially among boys herding livestock.
In an interview, Wina said she was saddened that cases of boys having sex with animals were rising.
“We are extremely saddened that cases of boys having sex with animals and things like that are also on the increase and we are trying to determine how far this has gone in urban and rural areas and what is causing people to resort to this kind of behaviour,” she said.
Wina added that such were issues society needed to be concerned with as they were unusual.
She emphasized the need to eradicate such vices as they were abnormal.
And Wina said her ministry had introduced a programme aimed at enhancing sensitization for men to enable them realise that abusing girls and women was a violation of their rights.
“We are targeting boys and men in the community and the women themselves so that they report the cases of GBV and should not conceal any defilement case involving any child because they are ruining the future of the child,” Wina said.
She said the government was also looking at ways to improve the protection of gender-based violence survivors.
“Let me just say it is a full basket of programmes the government is carrying out,” Wina added.
Meanwhile, Wina said the government remained committed towards providing an enabling environment for the church to operate.
In a speech read on her behalf by gender permanent secretary Daisy Ng’ambi during the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Zambian Catholic Women’s League in Lusaka on Friday, Wina said the government would continue to work with the church to uplift the living standards of the Zambian people.
“The Ministry of Gender which I preside over stands ready to work with you to ensure empowerment of women. Government appreciates the role that you have continued playing as the church and specifically what the women have been doing in the community,” she said.
And Wina expressed worry at the continued rise in gender based violence cases in Zambia, despite massive sensitization, adding that the scourge was taking all manner of forms, including death.
“Our own husbands, children, brothers and sisters as well as neighbors are involved,” she added.
Wina also observed that cases of early child pregnancies and marriages involving especially school girls were also on the increase.
She urged the Catholic Women’s League to use its ecclesiastical platform to assist children, especially the youth, to refrain from indulging in immorality and other life threatening vices.
“The future of our children, especially the girl child is under serious threat. I implore you to work hard and ensure that you impart them with Christian values,” said Wina.
And speaking earlier, Catholic Women’s League Zambia national chairperson, Emma Chundu, urged Zambian women to say no to all forms of violence if the country was to remain peaceful.
“I want to urge all the women in the CWL to continue doing their charity work of looking after the sick, providing for the needy, the orphans and the street kids,” said Chundu.
Eleven Catholic dioceses, including one from Zimbabwe, took part in commemorating the Jubilee celebrations of the Catholic Women’s League held at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus in Lusaka on Friday.