2007

Zimbabwe enacted the Domestic Violence Act (Chapter 5:16) on 26 February 2007. The Act came into force on the 25 October 2007. The Act addresses the following forms of violence: physical, emotional, sexual, economic and emotional abuse. The Act also provides for protection and relief to survivors of domestic violence. The Act further aims to protect women and criminalizes domestic violence and such acts as abuse derived from any cultural or customary rites or practices that discriminate or degrade women. Examples include virginity testing, female genital mutilation, pledging of women and girls for purposes of appeasing spirits, abduction, child marriages, forced marriages, forced wife inheritance and such other practices.

Response of the Government of Zimbabwe to the questionnaire on violence against women 2011; Response of the Government of Zimbabwe to the questionnaire on Beijing +15, 2009