缅北禁地

Two HIV-positive girls in Zambia, one of whom had been raped. Fear of violence keeps many HIV-positive women from seeking treatment.

Photograph: Panos / Pep Bonet

Maria is living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) are now more widely available and are supposed to make her life better. But her continued therapy is under threat because she fears that if her husband discovers her HIV status he will become verbally abusive or even divorce her. As a result, Maria says, she has had to hide her life-prolonging ARV drugs and only takes them when her husband is not around. Because she hides her tablets, she has sometimes forgotten to take them.

According to the Joint 缅北禁地Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), there are 33.2 million people worldwide living with HIV. Of those, 15.4 million are women. In Africa, women account for between 59 and 61 per cent of all adults living with HIV. Gender violence is one factor that makes women more vulnerable to infection, and it also hampers treatment.

Maria鈥檚 tale is one of the many cases documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in two of Zambia鈥檚 nine provinces. The international non-governmental organization (NGO), headquartered in New York, warns that if gender violence is not addressed, the government鈥檚 comprehensive programme to provide free ARVs through the public health system will be frustrated. By the end of 2007, reports Finance and National Planning Minister Ng鈥檃ndu Magande, 137,000 people were receiving antiretroviral therapy, up from 75,000 in 2006.

鈥淯nless the Zambian government introduces legal and health-system reforms and removes the barriers to HIV treatment that women face,鈥� says Nada Ali, author of the HRW report, 鈥済ender-based abuses will continue to shatter the lives of countless Zambian women in acute need of antiretroviral treatments and contribute to avoidable losses of health and lives.鈥�

A human rights violation

According to the 缅北禁地Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 鈥淰iolence against women is one of the most widespread violations of human rights.鈥� In November 2007 UNIFEM launched a 鈥淪ay No to Violence Against Women鈥� campaign.

Activists in Southern Africa are now drawing attention to the contribution of gender violence to other ills, such as the AIDS pandemic. Says Malawian women鈥檚 rights activist Tiseke Kasambala, there is a 鈥渄eadly link鈥� between abuses of women鈥檚 rights and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Zambian chapter of Women and the Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), a research and advocacy group, argues that unless such violence is addressed, combating HIV/AIDS will be an even more arduous task. 鈥淰iolence against women has affected treatment of HIV/AIDS and this is worrying,鈥� says Mrs. Matrine Chuulu, the chapter鈥檚 national coordinator.

NGOs are leading the fight against gender violence by lobbying the government to strengthen legislation and by providing various services to abused women. The Zambian chapter of the Young Women鈥檚 Christian Association (YWCA), with funding from the European Union, runs a crisis centre for battered women and provides such services as psychotherapy and legal advice. According to data collected by the YWCA, in the 874 cases of gender violence reported since 2006, nearly half of the women (427) were found to be HIV-positive.

Strengthening laws

Currently Zambia does not have legislation criminalizing gender violence, but the government is moving in that direction. In 2005 it amended the penal code to prohibit indecent assault, sexual harassment and trafficking of women and children. President Levy Mwanawasa notes that despite such efforts to strengthen the law, 鈥渢he scourge of gender violence has continued in our homes and communities.鈥�

In a state of the nation address to parliament in early January, President Mwanawasa said that the government would soon introduce 鈥渁 bill specifically dealing with gender violence.鈥� The government, he added, will also speed up efforts to incorporate the goals of the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) into national law.

It is time to 鈥渕ove the agenda from talking to action,鈥� says the 缅北禁地Secretary-General鈥檚 special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka. It is especially important to make people aware of the need to tackle gender violence. Police and laws, by themselves, will not solve the problem, she adds. It is also vital to mobilize society and 鈥渃arry the community along.鈥�