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V. ABUSES RELATED TO RISK OF HIV TRANSMISSION: VOICES OF GIRLS
Sexual Abuse Within the Family
My uncle used to beat me with electricity wires. Before I went to live with my uncle and auntie, I stayed with my big sister's mother, and my brother used to take me in the bush. Then he raped me. I was eight or nine. I was scared. He said "I'm going to beat you if you ever tell anyone."
-Melanie Y.,57 twelve, Messiah Orphanage, Lusaka, May 19, 2002
An alarming and apparently increasing number of abuses against girls comes from members of their own families. Given the high HIV prevalence in the Zambian population, sexual abuse carries a high risk of HIV transmission. Nevertheless, the family, the broader community, and the law enforcement agencies are often complicit in attempting to hide the abuse. Effective protection mechanisms targeted at abuse against girls in the family are virtually nonexistent.
Those knowledgeable about the sexual abuse of girls, and the girls themselves, repeatedly described to Human Rights Watch abuses by uncles, stepfathers, fathers, cousins, and brothers. However, these abuses by relatives are often hidden by the family, and girls are widely silenced; some do not even attempt to disclose what is being done to them. In particular, orphans being cared for by relatives are acutely aware of their dependency, and fear loss of support and rejection if they reveal that they are being abused. Other girls who try to tell another adult family member about abuse they are suffering are often silenced and told not to bring shame upon the family. In some cases, girls are threatened with physical abuse if they tell anyone. Shame and stigma upon themselves that some girls associate with sexual violence is also a serious constraint to reporting, including the stigma associated with possible HIV infection.
Shame associated with rape and incest also discourages the families from revealing what is happening. Far too often, the girl herself is blamed for instigating the abuse. According to Mary Silavwe Mulenga of the YWCA: "Society blames you and then the legal system isn't there to protect you. If a girl is defiled by a relative, they want to hush it up. Culture teaches us to keep quiet about all these things. There's no support to come out." 58 According to Priscilla Chileshe of Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), "Abuse in the family is the most difficult to actually bring out. The family sits on it. The abusers are often the economic providers. They use their power to get everyone to shut up, so it's difficult to penetrate. Even the police are frustrated."59
Despite the obvious dimensions of the problem, the reporting of sexual abuse against girls within families is a relatively recent phenomenon. Constance Lewanika of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), noted, "This is just emerging now as a crime . . . in the last three years or so, it's becoming more and more prominent."60
This apparent increase in cases of abuse by family members has in turn been linked in part to the massive problem of orphans and vulnerable children, which is stretching the traditional extended family structures to the breaking point. The problem of caring for these children permeates all sectors of society. Throughout the country, families are either taking in children who have lost one or both parents, often due to HIV/AIDS, or are supporting them in other ways, such as paying school fees. Brenda Yamba of SCOPE-OVC, described the particular burden that falls on girls: "Most vulnerable families are made more vulnerable by new orphans being brought in, so they all become vulnerable. They lack adequate shelter, so they send some children away. Or they share a room with adults, and some may be molested. The burden on girls is always greater."61
Many social workers, lawyers and medical professionals who work with girls and have seen the extent of this problem are trying to speak out. Dr. Cheswa Vwalika, a doctor involved in adolescent health services, explained her efforts to shed light on the problem:
It's important to talk about it. I even say it in churches. Incest exists. Then you see heads looking down, but maybe you put fear in the abusers. We need to talk to children too, in simple language, to tell them "don't let anyone take your underwear off, or touch your wee-wee, and if someone does, tell your mother or teacher."62
These points were echoed by Dr. Gordon Bolla, director general of the National AIDS Council: "We must be very frank with ourselves-it does happen, there's a lot of incest, and girls are taken advantage of."63 But he noted that it is very difficult to protect these girls.
Despite girls' frequent reluctance to disclose the abuse they suffered, with the assistance of counselors, social workers, medical professionals, children's rights and women's rights activists, lawyers, police and others, Human Rights Watch was able to document numerous cases of sexual abuse against girls by family members. Some abused girls described abuses against friends or relatives more readily than their own experiences.
Patricia M. is a vivacious and articulate sixteen-year-old. Her father died reportedly of cerebral malaria in 1996;64 her mother died of tuberculosis in 2000. Counselors working with her told Human Rights Watch that she was sexually abused by her uncle after her mother died. Because the uncle became sick, the managers of her training program were trying to encourage her to get an HIV test. As Patricia M. told it:
After my mother died, I went to my mother's mother. In 2001, she died, so I stopped school, because I had no more sponsor. My brother was six, and also had to stop. Then we went to my auntie, my mom's younger sister. . . . Most girls find that they start keeping up with [having sex with] stepfathers or uncles. Most are raped. They have no say. They think if you bring them to the police, there will be no one to keep me. So they keep quiet. Older men give a lot of money-girls think they'll have what they need, because of all the poverty. A friend of mine, Mildred, went with this big man. He gave her a lot of money, she started looking nice, not like she was an orphan from a poor family. After he left her, she went for an HIV test, and it was positive. Now she has a baby girl. She was fifteen or sixteen at the time. The man was old enough to be her grandfather. Other friends have been raped by their uncles-they fear their aunties will chase them out. . . . Most girls stop going to school after the death of their parents. There's nobody to sponsor them. Some decide to go to the streets. . . . God willing, I'll be what I wanted to be [before my parents died]. After the deaths of my parents, it seemed life was finished, but now I see lots of opportunities and open doors.65
Melissa B. is fifteen years old, in grade six of primary school, and was brought to an orphanage by the Department of Social Welfare.
My mother and father died, I don't know how. They were sick for a long time. I went to live with my auntie; I was in grade six, and stayed in school. Auntie [actually a stepsister] wasn't married, but she had two children. . . . Stepbrother was older, like a father. He raped me. He said if I tell some people, he'd kill me. My teacher at school, she told me she'd help me find a place to stay. She took me to the hospital to check me. I was bleeding from the vagina for three days. I told the stepsister-she wanted to hit me. She said her husband wants to kill me. She said "go find your own place." That's when I told the teacher. The teacher, Mrs. Changai, brought me here.66
Mary W. is twelve years old, with colorful barrettes and a lovely smile. Her parents both died, and her brothers and sisters were split up between an aunt and their grandfather. Mary W. told Human Rights Watch she was sexually abused by her uncle and eventually ran away to a neighbor's house. The neighbor contacted the orphanage and explained what was happening, and the director of the orphanage took her in. Since the uncle was feared to be HIV-positive, the orphanage had Mary W. tested. Her test came out negative.67
Anne P. is fifteen years old. After her father died, her mother remarried and she lived with her mother and stepfather. Her mother died, and she went to live with her aunt. She told Human Rights Watch:
Auntie mistreated me-she didn't give me food or send me to school. After some time I ran away from auntie's place and stayed with auntie's friend, who was married to a Tanzanian man. But he didn't like me, so I'd hide under the bed when he came home. . . . When your parents die, sometimes the uncle will tell the girl that she has to sleep with him for school fees.68
According to counselors working with her, Anne P. was abused by an HIV-positive uncle, and she ran away. The orphanage found her sleeping in ditches beside the road.69
Some girls described their fears of reporting sexual abuse, and the threats made against them by the abusers. For instance, Catherine R. is seventeen years old, in grade nine, and with a direct gaze. She told Human Rights Watch:
When I was eight, my parents both died. First my mother got sick, then father died a year later. My auntie came to pick me. I stayed with her, but then my uncle started sexually abusing me. He was about thirty-four. He threatened he'd kill me if I told anyone about it. Last year, I saw a program about the YWCA and came here and reported it. I'm scared to go for an HIV test. Cecilia [the counselor] talked to my auntie, but she got so mad. Another auntie came to pick me. I'm scared. Sometime he [the uncle] hurt me-he slapped me, threatened me. I want to go for a test to see if I'm OK or not. I feel if it can happen to me, it can also happen to other girls my age. People like that are so cruel-they should be locked behind bars. I only told my closest friend and aunties. We need to teach girls about what is abuse, and about sex.70
Melanie Y. is a thin twelve-year-old girl who spoke just above a whisper. She explained to Human Rights Watch what followed the death of her parents:
I went to live with my uncle and aunt-they used to mistreat me. I had to fetch water from long distances, and I didn't used to eat most of the day. I used to get sick, and nobody looked after me. My uncle used to beat me with electricity wires. Before I went to live with my uncle and auntie, I stayed with my big sister's mom and my brother used to take me in the bush, then he raped me. I was eight or nine. I was scared-he said, "I'm going to beat you if you ever tell anyone." He was fourteen or fifteen. 71
A social worker at a youth-friendly clinic in Lusaka described to Human Rights Watch a case involving Joan S., now sixteen, who was abused since the age of nine by her stepfather. By the time she was eleven, she realized that he was abusing her. Because she was afraid to tell her mother, she told her aunt, who in turn told her mother. The mother's reaction was to chase the girl out of the house. The girl was suffering from STDs. But the case was never reported to the police. "They kept it within the family," the social worker noted.72
Silvia M. was sixteen years old when she was reportedly raped by a relative living in her house. He was about thirty years old. Silvia M.'s mother had gone to a funeral and had left the children for three days. When she returned and learned what had happened, she chased him out of the house. However, the family suspected that he was sick, and he died in December 2001. Silvia M.'s mother still does not want her to have an HIV test.73
A family may also seek compensation: where feasible, for some the solution is to demand that the abuser take the girl as a wife; others seek monetary compensation. A girl's family may be willing to confront the abuser but may not want to involve the police.
There are also situations where the family is aware of the abuse, and decides to do nothing, or worse, even encourages the abuse, as in the case of Sharon R., who at age sixteen was living with her father and her cousin. She was raped by her cousin and now has a three-year-old boy. She told her family, but since he was a relative, they did not pursue the matter.74 Even worse are cases where the family actually encourages the abuse. The social worker at the Lusaka clinic mentioned above described to Human Rights Watch a case of Mildred E., a fourteen-year-old girl, who was being sexually abused by her two brothers. By the time Mildred E. told her mother, she was already aware of what was happening, and said that she thought it was safer for the boys to have sex in the family. The clinic reported the case to the Victim Support Unit (VSU-see below), and it is apparently being investigated.75
Relatively few cases are ever reported to the authorities, however, and of those that are, many are apparently reported too late for action to be taken. Eugene Sibote, a spokesperson for the VSU office at the Zambian police service headquarters in Lusaka, described the case of an eight-year-old child who had been infected with HIV by her father. The abuse continued until the girl was eleven years old, when it was discovered after the father became sick. He died in prison in September 2001, apparently having been jailed for the abuse. The girl's family refused to take responsibility for her when she fell sick and brought her to the VSU. They said they knew she was sick and that she would die. She died on December 14, 2001.76
Sexual Violence and Coercion by Non-Family Perpetrators
Girls are at greater risk than boys for HIV because the man only has the power.
-Beth S., seventeen, a person living with HIV/AIDS, Lusaka, June 1, 2002
Many counselors and activists interviewed by Human Rights Watch described the breakdown in social values that has contributed to the rise in sexual violence and coercion faced by Zambian girls. They pointed to the strains of economic deprivation, urbanization, and the lack of social safety nets for children. Meanwhile, the fear of reporting abuse and the imperative to keep quiet about what happens to girls is widespread. "The culture of silence is the biggest problem in this country," according to Daphne Chimuka of the Forum for African Women Educationalists, Zambia National Chapter (FAWEZA). "Girls suffer abuse in silence; it's taboo to say a teacher or a man did this to me."77
Girls from all social strata are vulnerable to sexual abuse and coercion. Danger factors include men's targeting for sex younger and younger girls who are assumed to be HIV-negative, or based on the myth that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. In Zambia, it is a criminal offense to "carnally know" any girl under the age of sixteen. Although the Penal Code stipulates such a crime as a felony with sentences up to life in prison, that provision is rarely enforced.78 Girls are at risk of abuse and HIV transmission in various settings: selling vegetables or other goods in markets or by the roadsides, they are subject to abuse by male customers; simply playing on the streets in their communities, at school, even at church they can face risks. Human Rights Watch received testimonies about cases of sexual abuse of girls in many environments outside the home (and even in the home) by strangers or by acquaintances, by boys as well as men.
Brenda K. is seventeen years old. She told Human Rights Watch that she was raped in early 2002:
I had a problem. I used to go to church, and I was raped by the priest. I used to be in the youth group, and did things for church, like sweeping and other things. The priest used to be a good man. I thought I could rely on him, but after what happened. . . . I went to work, he called me to his office, telling me what work we [she and the other girls] should do. He started undressing me, and said if I screamed, he'd shoot me and my parents. I never told my parents what happened. . . . I told a friend, and she told me to come to the YWCA. People here are very good, and I'm being counseled. I hope when I tell my parents they'll believe me and understand. I think there are other girls too. What can stop this from happening? I'm scared to tell the police; they won't believe me because he's a priest. I might have HIV/AIDS or STDs. It happened three months ago. I haven't had a period since then. I'm so scared. I've stopped going to church, I stay away from men. We need education for girls. We need to talk to young girls, tell them these things are real. Girls need to learn to speak out and reach out to other people. I feel ashamed. Others think you wanted it to happen.79
A doctor working with adolescents described one of her cases to Human Rights Watch involving a five-year-old girl with STDs, apparently sexually abused by a babysitter. The girl's mother brought her to the clinic because the child was crying every time she urinated. The doctor told her the child had vaginal warts, a common symptom of sexually transmitted disease.80
The director of the Nissi Care Centre in Ndola told Human Rights Watch about the case of Maureen C., who was ten years old and HIV-positive when she died in 2000. After her mother died, she stayed with her father and older siblings. Then the father died, and the older children went out to look for food. Maureen C. was left at home and was reportedly abused by a neighbor. She was sickly when she was brought to an orphanage in 1999, and she tested positive for HIV at a clinic.81
Molly K., sixteen years old, lost her mother and went to live with her grandmother but was reportedly being sexually abused by a neighbor. Others in the community ultimately reported her case, and she was sent to an orphanage. The orphanage was concerned because she was always sick, and they had her tested for HIV. The test was positive, but, according to counselors working with Molly K. now, the orphanage staff did not tell the girl.82
Like Brenda K., quoted above, in most cases encountered by Human Rights Watch the girls were afraid to report their abuse to the police or other authorities, albeit cases were still identified where the police had become involved. In mid-May, for example, the YWCA received a case of an eight- or nine-year-old girl who had reportedly been raped in 2001 by a boy on her street. She had been playing near her home when the boy called her over and raped her. The doctor who treated her did an HIV test, and it was positive. The doctor did not tell the mother the results but wrote a note to the YWCA, which notified the police. The boy was arrested.83
Some doctors report that girls who are tested for HIV after being sexually assaulted often do not come back for the results and counseling.84 Melinda O., for example, is seventeen years old and was reportedly raped in May 2002 in Kafue, a town outside Lusaka. She had gone to do some shopping when men in a cab kidnapped her, raped her, and then dumped her at a police station. Since her father died in January 2002, her sister is her guardian. The sister and a policeman took her to be tested for HIV, but at the time of the interview, they had not gone back for the results.85 Until very recently, this tendency not to follow up on testing was exacerbated by the costs associated with treatment and medical reports. However, in early 2002 the Central Board of Health published a circular notifying clinics and hospitals that rape victims were no longer required to pay for health services.86
The phenomenon of "sugar daddies"-that is, older men who entrap young girls by offering gifts, treats, food, clothes, or money in exchange for sex-is reportedly widespread and puts girls at serious risk of HIV infection. The HIV epidemic seems to be pushing these men to seek increasingly young girls on the assumption that, other things equal, younger girls are less likely to be HIV-infected. This predation forces girls to become sexually active at very young ages with obvious HIV risks. According to Ken Ofosu-Barko of UNAIDS in Zambia: "mobile men with money-MMM-is a huge part of the problem."87 Moreover, as the director of an orphanage in Ndola put it:
Well-to-do men with the disease think that by going to young girls, they'll be innocent and won't suspect [that the men have] the disease. This is selfishness on the part of our men. . . . Girls are not made aware of their rights and where they can run in case of such problems. There the blame should be on us adults.88
In cases of rape or sexual abuse by acquaintances, as with abuse within the family, sometimes the girl's family seeks monetary compensation from the perpetrator rather than criminal penalties. John Zulu at the Ministry of Sport, Youth, and Child Development, noted that this tendency was widespread: "When there are abuses, by police and teachers even, then he agrees to pay-in dollars, it would only be cents. And the abuse goes on."89
The case of Margaret T., a fifteen-year-old girl with a one-month-old baby, illustrates a family's efforts to obtain some measure of redress from the perpetrator. As she told Human Rights Watch:
I was employed at Arakan barracks, a military camp, where I worked as maid for an officer. One day, he sent to me to a pub for something, and I met other officers. A certain captain followed me and took me to his house. He took me to his house six times last year in June [2001]. . . . He told me "if you tell anyone, I'll beat you." I was too scared to tell. I was fourteen at the time, and only had had one period. But I got pregnant. I didn't know I was pregnant; my stepmother said I was pregnant, and my father was told by my stepmother. My father followed up.90
According to her father, his wife and his sister asked why Margaret T. was getting fat. When they realized she was pregnant, the father made the two-hour trip to the barracks to find the captain who they thought was responsible. But each time he went to the military camp, he was told that the captain wasn't there. After the baby was born in March, the father returned to the camp and was told that the captain had been transferred. The father was so upset that he went straight to the VSU, and VSU officers accompanied him back to the barracks, where the same story was repeated. The VSU agreed to issue a summons to the captain and his sister, who happened to be a former vice-president's wife. No one appeared for the meeting. The father says that he is just seeking payments for child support.91
Sex for Survival and Sex Work
When someone is playing injustice on you, what can you do? Go to the street and sell yourself. Now you're your own enemy.
-Clemire Karamira, MAPODE (Movement of Community Action for the Prevention and Protection of Young People Against Poverty, Destitution, Diseases and Exploitation), May 20, 2002
My stepmother treated me like an animal-and Daddy said "you're just a liar." He said there was no money for school (I was in grade three), so I started selling fritters for neighbors. Then I met a group of people-prostitutes. They all stayed in a one-room house. They said they'd buy all my fritters if I would cook and clean for them. Then [they] said [I] should join them. So I ran away, and started with them. They brought me men to sleep with. . . . They bought me clothes and shoes so I could go to the street. I went looking for men. I'd come back at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. Sometimes I met some savages. They grabbed my money and ran away, or they'd hit me and take me to the bush far away and leave me there. The queen mother was twenty-one-us, we were young, about ten or twelve. The youngest one was nine. One day I got pregnant, and didn't know who the father was. The queen said I have to abort it. She took a stick and entered me until I aborted. I got sick with STDs. I was tested at the clinic. The doctor there insulted me. The queen brought me herbs-traditional medicine. Even though I was sick, she said I have to work. When I asked men to use condoms, they refused. Sometimes, sex with condoms was cheaper.
One night, I was in a nightclub with a friend, and we met two men. They said they'd give us 200,000 [U.S.$46.50] each. We went to the bush, and they said they were going to kill us. I started crying. So the man felt pity, and he told me to run away. I ran until I reached the road, and I got into a car that brought me home. I told the queen mother what happened. Then my friend came back, crawling. The man had taken a stick, pushed it inside her, and left the stick in. We took her to the hospital, but she died. She was ten years old. We didn't know where her parents were. The queen said we have to go to work to buy a coffin. That day, I started thinking-what next? Maybe I'll die.
-Agatha T., former sex worker, now eighteen92
Girls who are orphaned, often taking care of younger siblings, or who have fled their homes due to abuse, neglect, or poverty reported finding themselves having to trade sex to survive, having nothing else to trade, and in some cases engaging in more regular sex work. This puts them at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and suffering a range other abuses. Increasing poverty in Zambia has contributed to a rise in the sexual exploitation of girls. The National AIDS Council summarized the situation as follows: "In order to cope, households pull their children, particularly girls, from school, reduce their food intake and in some cases [they] resort to begging. In these circumstances, some women and girls are forced to engage in sex for money to meet their household expenses."93
Joe Kaunda, the news editor of The Post, an independent Zambian newspaper, described to Human Rights Watch the burdens placed on girls and young women:
They have no access to money to start their own business or whatever. They need to make money to support their siblings. Some go to the streets, where older men, most who are infected, offer them more money if they don't use a condom. These men prefer young ones, and they'll pay much more without a condom. Look at the suffering she's going through and the responsibilities she has to bear, and she ends up giving in.94
Child prostitution is banned under international law, as is "inducement or coercion" leading to sexual exploitation of children.95
Sex for Survival
Although the line is sometimes blurred, there are distinctions between young women who sell sex at various times and those who are sex workers. Girls and young women may trade sex as a currency in exchange for food, money or protection but may not consider themselves to be sex workers. According to the 1999 report by the Ministry of Health/Central Board of Health, this is a "frequent occurrence": "Exchange of sex for money or gifts is a coping strategy for dealing with poverty and may not be perceived as commercial sex work."96
Sara A., twenty, interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Kafue outside Lusaka, lost her father when she was a girl, and five of her siblings also died, three apparently from tuberculosis. Sara A. was unable to continue in secondary school because of financial pressures on the family. "I was seventeen when I left school. I wanted to be a journalist in Lusaka. That didn't work, but I wanted to start working and find a job, even to be a maid. But if you look here, you can't find any work," she said. She eventually found work serving drinks in a bar where, she said, the main money-making opportunities for girls were in trading sex.
Polly A. is sixteen. After her mother died, there was no one to take care of her and her siblings. "Our relatives refused to help us; they said we should take care of ourselves," she said. "I was eight; my sisters were ten and thirteen. My elder brother took us, and we went to Livingstone. He stopped school and went looking for piece work, carrying heavy things. My sister started prostitution."97
Sex Work
The Zambian government's report on the implementation of CEDAW recognized the stigma associated with prostitution in Zambian society:
Prostitution generally refers to a woman or man who engages in sexual activity for payment. However, in the Zambian context, men are not associated with prostitution due to cultural values that permit and encourage male promiscuity. The case for women is very different in that any woman who has a sexual relationship with a man who is not her husband, whether for economic gain or not, is considered a prostitute. Zambian society does not condone prostitution and a known prostitute is stigmatized.98
HIV prevalence is extremely high among sex workers, estimated in 1998 at over 68 percent.99 Counselors who work with sex workers note their general disinclination to be tested for HIV. One counselor explained it succinctly: "What's the likelihood of being negative?"100
Recruitment into sex work is often subtle. Street girls are easy targets for recruitment, since they sometimes beg in public as they try to scrape by on their own. Orphans suffering physical and psychological abuse are sometimes drawn in by sex workers who offer some form of assistance or protection. And girls may be approached while simply sitting together at a local market or mall, or are brought into the trade by their relatives.101
A number of cases encountered by Human Rights Watch show some of the abusive situations that lead girls to sex work. Often they come from broken homes where they were abused and from which they fled. Some providers of services to sex workers say some were drawn to sex work by peer pressure, but their dismal economic situation and the corresponding desperation are often key determinants.102
For example, Beatrice S. is fourteen years old. Her mother married a man who did not want Beatrice S. around, so she was sent to live with an aunt. Although her mother sent money to the aunt to provide for the daughter, the aunt kept the money and compelled Beatrice S. to earn money by selling fritters on the street; she was told not to come home until she sold all the fritters. She worked near a tavern, and the women who worked as prostitutes in the tavern began buying all her fritters so she could go home. At the start, these women protected her from the men in the tavern. The women asked Beatrice S. to go to where they lived and do cooking and washing for them in exchange for buying all her fritters. Eventually, she was recruited to work with them.103
Areas where minors are at particular risk of being drawn into prostitution are border towns and trucking routes. Chirundu is on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, and trucks are often stuck there for days waiting to cross. There are no facilities for showers, so girls and women carry jugs of water several kilometers to sell to the drivers. Karen Doll Manda of Family Health International, who directs a project with sex workers and truckers in Chirundu, described the situation: "There's no water in Chirundu, so rural girls carry twenty-liter containers and sell them for 500 kwacha [U.S.$0.12]. You can do that two or three times a day, or you can get 10,000 kwacha [U.S.$2.30] for an hour's [sex] work. Once they end up at the border, it's almost too late."104
Dr. Kwasi Nimo of World Vision, which oversees the Chirundu project, said the truckers call these girls "village chickens."
They come from near-by villages, and sell bananas, oranges, muffins, and then get entangled. The truckers tell them to climb up to the trucks and get extra money. The truckers say `you buy chickens from the villages cheaper than from supermarkets.'105
Even though prostitution is not illegal under Zambian law, it is illegal to solicit customers or to live off the earnings of someone engaged in sex work,106 and it is difficult for sex workers who suffer physical or sexual violence to report it to the police. Societal attitudes against sex workers and the stigma associated with them further discourage reporting. Police conduct round-ups of sex workers and charge them with loitering or indecent exposure. Usually, the women pay 10,000 kwacha (U.S.$2.30) and are freed in the morning;107 other times, the police take the women's money or demand sexual services as payment.108 In April 2002, a group of sex workers publicly complained about abuses by Zambian police officers who they said had repeatedly arrested them and abused them sexually.109
Two Zambian NGOs providing services to sex workers are Tasintha, which means "we have changed" in the Nyanga language, and MAPODE or Movement of Community Action for the Prevention and Protection of Young People Against Poverty, Destitution, Diseases and Exploitation. These groups describe a life of violence and deprivation among sex workers: "Girls die in a very short time-that's the bottom line. STDs, HIV/AIDS, violence, mental abuse, physical abuse. They don't have time to make money," said Clemire Karamira of MAPODE. She noted that the majority of prostitutes she has worked with are twelve to eighteen years old, "They are dramatically young-that's one aspect of vulnerability."110 Professor Nkandu Luo, founder of Tasintha, former Minister of Health and professor of microbiology and immunology, told Human Rights Watch: "There have been so many deaths [among sex workers]-we've lost a lot. That's one of the biggest tragedies. The majority are from HIV-associated deaths."111
Emily Joy Sikazwe, a women's rights activist, recounted some of her dealings with young girls who had become sex workers: "A girl told me: `HIV is not a monster, it's not a lion. What I see is hunger. I'm fourteen-my siblings are crying for food, so I sell my body. I use condoms sometimes; otherwise, it's raw sex. I need to buy mealie meal112 and relish for the children. Yes, I know I'll die. But my brothers and sisters are crying.'"113
Abuses Against Street Children
The child on the street should be your concern. I am a child in need. . .
-Poem written and performed by former street children and orphans at FLAME Orphanage, May 24, 2002
There is a growing problem of street children in Zambia, with numbers estimated at more than 75,000, according to a 1998 Zambia Human Development Report.114 The majority of street children are boys. Counselors who work with street children report that girls go to the streets at ages four or five, but fewer girls are on the street after about age thirteen. At that point, adolescent street girls tend to be either married off, selling at the market, or involved in sex work.
Those who work with street children emphasize the difference between those "in the streets" and those "on the streets." "On the streets" means that the children go there, try to beg or otherwise make money, but go home at night. "In the streets" implies that the children actually live there and sleep there, with the street being their home. A rapid assessment of street children in Lusaka published by several Zambian NGOs in 2002 reported that over 70 percent were on the streets during the day while only a quarter spent both days and nights on the streets. The report cited a number of factors that render street children at high risk for contracting STDs or HIV: "lack of parental guidance and supervision, low levels of education, exposure to sexual abuse, and economic pressures that can lead to selling sex."115
Children end up on the streets for various reasons. Some go to the streets after the breadwinner dies or are pushed out of the house by relatives; some are simply abandoned (Human Rights Watch met a set of four-year-old girl triplets who had been abandoned by an uncle at Soweto market in Lusaka after their mother died). Street children try to make a living: the NGOs' assessment report noted the wide differentials in earnings, ranging from 100 to 100,000 kwacha (U.S.$0.02 to $23.25) per day, with the higher range resulting from prostitution.116 Ultimately, the report provided a grim forecast on the likely increase in street children:
The number of street children is likely to increase even more because of the growing numbers of children being orphaned due to parents dying of AIDS. As the number of orphaned children swells, a severe strain is being put on the extended family which has traditionally taken care of orphans. Living under conditions of virtual starvation and unable to attend school because of the high cost of education, more children will have little option but to fend for themselves on the streets.117
Many of those interviewed in the rapid assessment had lost one or both parents and had no one to take care of them; others had been sexually abused and run away; others simply fled poverty. Cosmas Musumali, health policy advisor for the Zambian Integrated Health Program (ZIHP), described children going to the street as a coping mechanism:
They've got nowhere to go. They've run away from poverty, hunger, being beaten or raped or insulted or discriminated against by the family. . . . Girls use their charm, cry for pity, sell something on behalf of someone else or get a commission. Or they sell themselves for money, which exposes them to abuses.118
Children may end up on the street or leave their homes due to abusive situations.
Gwendolyn P. is fifteen. She told Human Rights Watch her mother died "long ago"; her father is in Ndola and remarried. She continued:
She [my stepmother] stopped paying [my] school fees. Father gave her money for school fees, but she bought flour for fritters, and sent me to sell them. If all the fritters weren't sold, she wouldn't let me eat-I went to sleep hungry. I told my father, but he did nothing. So I went to mother's mother. My uncle died, he was paying some school fees-then went to grandmother in Lusaka. Once, I was about to be abused by my uncle-he said he wanted sex, I don't know what. He wanted to remove my clothes. I started crying. In the morning, I ran away. 119
Girls living in the streets are particularly vulnerable, both physically and economically. The NGO rapid assessment report described that a higher percentage of girls than boys reported fear of physical and sexual harassment and sexual abuse.120 Human Rights Watch learned that in Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, street girls were encouraged by security guards to sleep upstairs in a commercial building in the business district called Marbel House. The guards then reportedly sexually abused them. When this incident came to light, the building management apparently got rid of some of the guards, but no investigation was conducted or charges filed.121 Girls living in the streets are also exposed to risky consensual sexual relationships.
Ellie S. is fourteen years old. Her father died when she was two. As she told Human Rights Watch:
I lived with my mother, but she died when I was six. Then my mother's sister kept me, but not very well. She didn't support me in school, so I left school in 2001. There was no one to care after me. When I'm sick, she didn't care after me. I was twelve when I ran away. I went to Quick Save at the market. When people wanted water, I'd fetch twenty liters. That's how I got money for food. I also sold vegetables, and I'd bring the money back to the person for food. I slept at flats. Boys liked to chase us-they'd beat us-big boys. They beat me and my friends. Once, big boys were drunk, and we were sitting at the flat. We said just go; we don't want to fight. They chased us-one man and one big boy caught my friend and beat her. My friend was hurt badly. My friends were sick.122
Human Rights Watch encountered Priscilla N., age nine, with dirty clothes and no shoes. She said her parents were blind, and they begged at City Market. She didn't go to school. She said friends her age sell groundnuts for money, and they also sleep with boyfriends. "My friends have boyfriends because they're given 500 kwacha (U.S.$0.12) [to sleep with them]. When it gets dark, they sleep with them and then go home. I don't do it. I don't want it, don't like it."123
Girls also risk sexual abuse at homes for street children. Human Rights Watch learned of a fifteen-year-old street girl named Cecilia R., who had been abused in her home in Lusaka and ran away, ultimately to Kitwe. She was abused by one of the guardians at the street children's home and became pregnant. The guardian lost his job, but again, there is no indication that any further actions were taken against him.124 The NGO rapid assessment also indicated that one of the main reasons given by girls for not staying in centers for street children involved fear of sexual abuse.125
Risk Factors Related to Schooling
If we don't get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, there will be no girls left to educate.
-Daphne Chimuka, FAWEZA, Lusaka, May 31, 2002
Discrimination in Access to Education
Most of the girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch focused on the need to provide girls with education as a way to address the AIDS crisis, but the HIV epidemic has produced new impediments to girls' access to education and accentuated old ones. While the government has stated its commitment to eliminating gender imbalances and discrimination in education, much remains to be done.
The link between education and protection against HIV infection has been widely discussed. School completion rates for girls in Zambia are 10 to 15 percent lower than for boys,126 and data suggest that staying in school can help protect girls from HIV infection. A new World Bank report on education and HIV/AIDS in Africa states:
For boys and girls, education has been proven to provide protection against HIV infection. A general basic education itself has an important preventive impact: it can inform children and youth and equip them to make decisions concerning their own lives; bring about long-term behavioral change; and give them the opportunity for economic independence-all fundamental to prevention and, therefore, hope. . . . There is strong evidence that education is itself protective against HIV. Data for the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the HIV/AIDS pandemic was just emerging, mostly showed a positive correlation between level of education and rates of infection. . . . A study in Zambia, for example, found a marked decline in HIV prevalence rates in 15-19 year old boys and girls with medium to higher level education, and an increase among those with lower educational levels.127
The report goes on to note that education-girls' education in particular-can slow or reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by "contributing to poverty reduction, gender equality, female empowerment, and awareness of human rights."128 This analysis supports the vital importance of girls having access to education as a way to inform and protect themselves against HIV infection. The trend, however, goes in the opposite direction, with girls being far more likely to drop out or to be pulled out of school to care for sick family members or to provide financial support for their families.
In May 2002, President Mwanawasa announced that the government was abolishing school fees for primary education.129 This was an important and welcome initiative, but it was unclear in the early days of the new policy how long its implementation would take. It is essential to ensure that this new commitment from the government is enforced and that the education budget adequately provides for the increased demand for resources so schools can compensate for the loss of school fees.
Several observers told Human Rights Watch that when a family has limited resources and has to choose between educating the boy or the girl, most choose the boy; the girl drops out. "They drop out of school because the family has to shift resources. As a girl, they usually take care of the parents and the woman takes care of her husband-so the girl takes the role of mother and cares for the home," explained Brenda Yamba of SCOPE-OVC. "They become adults at that point. Our culture expects girls to do chores, cook, take care of kids. The boy will continue at school. When the family must choose, they usually pick the boys."130
The bias against educating girls is exacerbated when one or both parents fall sick, since it usually falls on the girls to take care of the ailing parents and to assume responsibility for the other siblings. When schools are located far away, the mere time required to get there and back makes it unlikely that the girl will continue. The economic pressures on the family, especially if the breadwinner becomes sick or loses his or her job, compels the girls to seek ways to bring in money, frequently in risky relationships or as sex workers.
The number of places in primary and secondary schools in Zambia is limited. There is gender parity in school enrolment in grades one through four, but after grade four, the rate of school drop-out is much higher among girls, becoming quite prominent in secondary school, due partly to early marriages and pregnancies.131 The government acknowledges that girls' enrollment declines after grade four, and that "[t]hese gender disproportions are more obvious in rural areas."132
The pregnancy issue is an indication of discriminatory treatment against girls. The government announced a new re-entry policy in 1997 whereby girls would be allowed back into school one time after having been pregnant but not a second time. There are no sanctions mandated against a boy student who may have impregnated her, although some school administrations suspend the boy temporarily.133 The circular was an improvement over the previous policy, which did not allow girls to return to school at all after becoming pregnant. "The schools turn a blind eye to the boy, especially with the re-entry policy," said Daphne Chimuka of the Forum for African Women Educationalists Zambia National Chapter (FAWEZA). "The policy works more in favor of boys." Chimuka also noted that some schools easily ignore the new policy and keep expelling girls, just as some schools are still resisting the policy on free primary education.
According to the report of a FAWEZA workshop on the re-entry policy, "there were still serious gaps in practices in the implementation at the school level as well as family and community problems that have continued to hinder teen mothers from reclaiming their school places after delivery."134 The report provided an analysis of constraints faced by teen mothers, including resistance by school heads to comply with the policy, hostile school environments, lack of guidelines and information about the policy, negative attitudes of parents and guardians, traditional practices requiring marriage for pregnancy, and lack of a social safety net to support teen mothers.135
The issue of limited school places is likely to become more acute as the teaching profession itself is being ravaged by HIV/AIDS, to the extent that almost as many teachers are dying than are being trained. Even where the teachers have not died, many are sick, and significant absenteeism also results from attending funerals.136 The Zambian National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) describes HIV/AIDS as a major threat to the population of teachers. The director for research of ZNUT was quoted as saying that of the required 52,000 teachers, Zambia has only 41,000; only 1,500 are graduating from colleges annually, and 1,000 are dying annually.137
Although exact figures are impossible to gather, conservative estimates indicate that Zambia will continue to lose at least 1.7 percent of its teachers annually for the foreseeable future, assuming that teacher mortality from AIDS generally tracks adult mortality.138 In fact, it appears likely that HIV prevalence rates for teachers are higher due to their higher socio-economic status, enabling them to purchase sexual services or influence local girls with gifts and status, and greater mobility, and that assignments away from their home areas may lead to more sexual contacts and greater risk of infection.139 The government is seeking ways to cut down the training time for teachers in order to fill the void. The shortage of teachers imposes a particular burden on rural areas, since many teachers are reluctant to accept positions far from urban health care facilities.140
Absence of Appropriate HIV/AIDS Education
The lack of an appropriate HIV/AIDS curriculum in the schools is another part of the problem. Despite attempts to integrate an AIDS component into the curriculum in recent years, nothing has materialized, and most information about AIDS is provided by independent, nongovernmental organizations. Ofosu-Barko of UNAIDS was told by the Ministry of Education's curriculum development center that the curriculum is too full to add AIDS: "Can you believe that a country with 20 percent prevalence rates has no HIV/AIDS program in the formal education system?"141 According to the World Bank's ACTafrica:
An urgent need exists to continue to incorporate HIV/AIDS education into the curriculum at all levels so that students are increasingly aware of how HIV is spread, the fatal consequences of the disease, and ways to prevent infection. There is also increasing concern with life-skills education that helps students learn how and why to avoid high-risk sexual behavior and how to cope with social or peer pressure that encourages risky behavior. And many children, because of the epidemic, will never complete their schooling. Many will have to depart to care for sick family members or to replace lost family income. Others will be orphaned and will have to leave school to care for themselves and others. Increasingly, the Zambian school curriculum will be called upon to provide skills and training to help these young people survive on their own.142
Sexual Abuse Risks for Girls at School
FAWEZA has focused considerable attention on the issue of girls' safety and security on their way to and from school. The length of the girls' commute to school is an important factor here, since their risk of sexual abuse by minibus drivers or conductors, if they take transportation, or abuse by others along the road, if they walk, can be significant. In some cases, the long distance to school-often two hours walk or more-makes some girls stay in insecure, unsafe structures nearer to school during the week, which then exposes them to abuses by men who can walk in at will. "It is more urgent now to direct efforts to prevent more girls from getting infected [with HIV/AIDS], so we are focusing now on girls safety and security based on research that girls are more vulnerable than boys," said Chimuka.143
Even school environments are not always safe, with sexual abuse or exploitation all too frequent. Teachers themselves may prey on vulnerable girls, exchanging answers to the tests or higher grades for sex. Most abuses by teachers are not reported, and few teachers are penalized. "The laws are strict, but there's no real attempt to find out what goes on," said Cosmas Musamali of ZIHP.144 The more likely outcome is that a teacher would be cautioned and possibly transferred. In some cases, the parents negotiate for the teacher to marry the girl. Constance Lewanika of WILDAF noted that abuse by teachers at school is "a crime that is emerging. It's not a new crime, it just has come to light and is now being reported."145
Part of the problem in punishing teachers for such conduct lies with the schools, and part lies with the families. Advocates for girls' education have been trying to get stiffer penalties against teachers who abuse students, and to ensure that those found responsible are dismissed. However, the onus is on the girl's parents, not the school, to report the case to the police so that criminal charges can be brought. School administrators sometimes interfere with the process by transferring the teacher elsewhere, which makes it extremely difficult for the case to proceed. In addition, the process of lodging a formal complaint or filing charges is not always clear. "Where do parents go to complain?" said Elizabeth Mataka of Family Health Trust. "Often there's no police within miles, and the Ministry of Education is at the provincial level, so the headmaster is the ultimate authority. . . . Teachers escape ethical sanctions."146
57 The real names of children are not used in this report.
58 Human Rights Watch interview with Mary Silavwe Mulenga, executive director, Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Lusaka, May 17, 2002.
59 Human Rights Watch interview with Priscilla Chileshe, research associate for Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), Lusaka, Zambia, May 29, 2002.
60 Human Rights Watch interview with Constance Lewanika, Country Coordinator for Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), Lusaka, May 21, 2002.
61 Human Rights Watch interview with Brenda Yamba, Project Manager for SCOPE-OVC, Lusaka, May 18, 2002.
62 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Cheswa Vwalika, medical officer with the HIV project of the Lusaka Urban Health Management Team, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
63 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Gordon Bolla, Director General, National HIV/AIDS/STD/TB Council, Lusaka, May 20, 2002.
64 Numerous people reported to Human Rights Watch that children whose parents died of AIDS were often told they died of cerebral malaria.
65 Human Rights Watch interview at Umoyo Training Center, Lusaka, May 22, 2002.
66 Human Rights Watch interview at New Horizon Orphanage, Lusaka, June 1, 2002.
67 Human Rights Watch interviews at Messiah Orphanage, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
68 Human Rights Watch interviews at Messiah Orphanage, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
69 Human Rights Watch interviews at Messiah Orphanage, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
70 Human Rights Watch interview at YWCA, Lusaka, May 22, 2002.
71 Human Rights Watch interview at Messiah Orphanage, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
72 Human Rights Watch interview with Jayne Kunda Mwila, Kalingalinga Health Centre, Lusaka, May 30, 2002.
73 Human Rights Watch interview with Catherine Mbewe, Anti-STD and Youth International (ASAYI), Kitwe, May 26, 2002. This case involved her relatives.
74 Human Rights Watch interview in Kafue, May 29, 2002.
75 Human Rights Watch interview with Jayne Kunda Mwila, Kalingalinga Health Centre, Lusaka, May 30, 2002.
76 Human Rights Watch interview with Eugene Sibote, Community Services department, Zambia Police, Lusaka, May 22, 2002.
77 Human Rights Watch interview with Daphne Chimuka, National Coordinator, Forum for African Women Educationalists, Zambia National Chapter (FAWEZA), Lusaka, May 31, 2002.
78 Zambia Penal Code, Section 138(1). See also Legal Framework, Part VI, below.
79 Human Rights Watch interview at YWCA, Lusaka, May 22, 2002.
80 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Cheswa Vwalika, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
81 Human Rights Watch interview with director of Nissi Care Centre, Ndola, May 28, 2002.
82 Human Rights Watch interview with counselors at Jesus Cares Ministries, Lusaka, May 24, 2002.
83 Human Rights Watch interview with Cecilia Chomba, youth coordinator for YWCA, Lusaka, May 20, 2002. The boy was later released on bail. Subsequent developments in the case are not known.
84 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Cheswa Vwalika, Lusaka, May 19, 2002.
85 Human Rights Watch interview with a peer educator and friend of Melinda O. in Kafue, May 29, 2002.
86 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Bellington Vwalika, gynecologist at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, May 19, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with Jayne Kunda Mwila, Kalingalinga Health Centre, Lusaka, May 30, 2002.
87 Human Rights Watch interview with Ken Ofosu-Barko, Country Program Advisor, UNAIDS, Lusaka, May 18, 2002.
88 Human Rights Watch interview with Elizabeth Kabamba, Nissi Care Centres, Ndola, May 28, 2002.
89 Human Rights Watch interview with John C. Zulu, director, Ministry of Sport, Youth, and Child Development, Child Affairs Department, May 30, 2002.
90 Human Rights Watch interview at YWCA, Lusaka, May 22, 2002
91 Human Rights Watch interview at YWCA, Lusaka, May 22, 2002
92 Human Rights Watch interview at Tasintha, Lusaka, May 23, 2002.
93 National AIDS Council, p. 10.
94 Human Rights Watch interview with Joe Kaunda, news editor, The Post, May 31, 2002.
95 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 34. (See also Legal Framework, Part VI.)
96 Ministry of Health/Central Board of Health, p. 50.
97 Human Rights Watch interview at Anglican Children's Project, Lusaka, May 18, 2002.
98 Republic of Zambia, "United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): Combined Third and Fourth Country Report," p. 22.
99 Global Report 2002, p. 192.
100 Human Rights Watch interview with Caroline Chanda, May 17, 2002.
101 Ibid.
102 Human Rights Watch interview with Prof. Nkandu Luo, May 21, 2002.
103 Human Rights Watch interview with Caroline Chanda, May 17, 2002.
104 Human Rights Watch interview with Karen Doll Manda, Country Director, Family Health International, Lusaka, May 21, 2002.
105 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Kwasi Nimo, World Vision, Lusaka, May 22, 2002.
106 Section 146 (1) of the Zambian Penal Code states: "Every male person who-(a) knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution; or (b) in any public place persistently solicits or importunes for immoral purposes; is guilty of a misdemeanor." And Section 147 states: "Every woman who knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitution of another or who is proved to have, for the purpose of gain, exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of a prostitute in such a manner as to show that she is aiding, abetting or compelling her prostitution with any person, or generally, is guilty of a misdemeanor."
107 Human Rights Watch interview with Eric Ngoma, Tasintha program manager, Lusaka, May 23, 2002.
108 Human Rights Watch interview with Clemire Karamira, MAPODE, Lusaka, May 20, 2002.
109 BBC News, "Sex-workers `raped' by Zambian police," April 23, 2002. Several persons interviewed by Human Rights Watch said this case has simply faded away as the investigations are not being pursued. Also Email communication from Winstone Zulu, director of the Zambia Network of People with HIV/AIDS, to Human Rights Watch, August 31, 2002.
110 Human Rights Watch interview with Clemire Karamira, Movement of Community Action for the Prevention and Protection of Young People Against Poverty, Destitution, Diseases and Exploitation (MAPODE), Lusaka, May 20, 2002.
111 Human Rights Watch interview with Professor Nkandu Luo, Lusaka, May 21, 2002.
112 Mealie meal is a staple food in the region and is made from maize flour.
113 Human Rights Watch interview with Emily Joy Sikazwe, Women for Change, Lusaka, May 31, 2002.
114 Cited in Orphans and Vulnerable Children, p. 19.
115 Project Concern International Zambia and Dr. Musonda Lemba, "Rapid Assessment of Street Children in Lusaka," March 2002, p. 21. The assessment was implemented by Fountain of Hope, FLAME, Jesus Cares Ministries, Lazarus Project, MAPODE, Zambia Red Cross Drop-In Centre, St. Lawrence Home of Hope, and Mthunzi Center.
116 Rapid Assessment, p. 2.
117 Rapid Assessment, p. 5.
118 Human Rights Watch interview with Cosmas Musumali, Health Policy Advisor, Zambian Integrated Health Project (ZIHP), May 16, 2002.
119 Human Rights Watch interview at Fountain of Hope, Lusaka, May 23, 2002.
120 Rapid Assessment, p. 23.
121 Human Rights Watch interviews with Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP) and managers of Salem Children's Village, Kitwe, May 27, 2002.
122 Human Rights Watch interview at FLAME Orphanage, Lusaka, May 24, 2002.
123 Human Rights Watch interview at Family Health Trust, Lusaka, May 21, 2002.
124 Human Rights Watch interviews with CHEP in Kitwe, May 27, 2002.
125 Rapid Assessment, p. 3.
126 National AIDS Council, p. 9. Official estimates of adult literacy are 77.2 percent of total population, which breaks down to 84.6 percent for men and 70.2 percent for women. See summary of 1999 United Nations statistics in Zambia Country Profile, United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) at:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDS/zambia.asp (retrieved October 9, 2002).
127 The World Bank, "Education and HIV/AIDS: A Window of Hope," 2002, p. 4.
128 Ibid., p. 5.
129 Bivan Saluseki, "HIV/AIDS has continued to Rob Lusaka of its People - Levy," The Post, May 10, 2002.
130 Human Rights Watch interview, May 18, 2002.
131 Human Rights Watch interview, May 31, 2002.
132 Initial and First Periodic [CRC] Report, p. 68.
133 Human Rights Watch interview with Chimuka, May 31, 2002.
134 Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia (FAWEZA), "Report on Workshop for Developing Guidelines and a Tracking and Monitoring System for the Re-Entry Policy," Lusaka, February 2002, p. 1.
135 FAWEZA, p. 2.
136 Education and HIV/AIDS, p. 11.
137 Charles Mangwato, "AIDS wiping out teachers, bemoans official," Zambia Daily Mail, May 25, 2002.
138 ACTafrica, p. 20.
139 Education and HIV/AIDS, p. 10.
140 Education and HIV/AIDS, p. 12.
141 Human Rights Watch interview, May 17, 2002.
142 ACTafrica, op. cit., pp. 24-25.
143 Human Rights Watch interview with Daphne Chimuka, National Coordinator of the Forum for African Women Educationalists Zambia National Chapter (FAWEZA), Lusaka, May 31, 2002.
144 Human Rights Watch interview with Musumali, May 16, 2002.
145 Human Rights Watch interview with Lewanika, May 21, 2002.
146 Human Rights Watch interview with Elizabeth Mataka, Family Health Trust, Lusaka, Zambia, May 20, 2002.
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