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AIDS-related rapes on the rise

    JOHANNESBURG

    Zambians on Friday marched in protest against the rising number of men who were sexually assaulting young girls in the belief that the girls could cure them of HIV/AIDS.

    More than 500 protestors converged on Freedom Square in the capital, Lusaka, and handed over a petition to the Zambian vice-president, Nevers Mumba.

    The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency quoted the president of the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ), Joyce Nonde, as saying: "We want the government to enact stiffer laws against child defilers."

    Child rape has become a burning issue in the country since the death last month of an 11-year-old girl from multiple sexually-transmitted infections, contracted after she was raped by her step-brother.

    According to police statistics, more than 400 young girls were raped in the second quarter of 2003 alone.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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