Kitwe | November 21, 2025 – The atmosphere in the Moba Hotel conference hall was charged with anticipation as the learned Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr. Gilbert A. Phiri S.C., took the podium as Guest of Honour at the Intergenerational Forum against Gender-Based Violence. Before an audience that spanned generations – from adolescent students to permanent secretaries, corporate leaders to grassroots activists – the DPP chose this significant platform to announce what may become the most consequential shift in Zambia’s fight against gender-based violence.
The forum, organised by the Gender Division in collaboration with the National Prosecution Authority and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the African Women Leaders Network, brought together precisely the cross-section of Zambian society needed to witness such a game-changing declaration. Against this backdrop of unified purpose, our nation’s Chief Prosecutor revealed that the National Prosecution Authority would lobby to repurpose forfeited criminal assets directly toward funding shelters and strengthening the Anti-Gender Based Violence Fund.
“We stand at a pivotal moment,” DPP Phiri declared, his words carrying the weight of the occasion. “Our asset recovery mechanism will now serve a dual purpose – not only depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains but transforming those resources into safe havens for women and girls.”
The timing of the announcement was strategically significant, coming as Zambia prepares to join the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This year’s theme – ending digital violence against women and girls – found stark relevance in the learned DPP’s warning about technology’s dark side. “The very tools designed to connect us are being weaponised through cyber harassment, online grooming, and sextortion,” he told the assembled guests, who included representatives from ABSA Bank, ZANACO, Stanbic Bank, adolescent girls and boys and various women’s organisations.
In his most definitive statement, the DPP established an uncompromising institutional position: “The NPA has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to GBV. We will ensure no cases are withdrawn from court, eliminating the possibility of cases being dropped under social or familial pressure.”
The revolutionary funding strategy was accompanied by detailed operational reforms already transforming victims’ experience of the justice system. Our DPP outlined the establishment of a specialised department for GBV cases in Fast-Track Courts, a Witness Management Fund covering victim transport and accommodation, and trained Witness Liaison Officers providing comprehensive support.
Even as he addressed the digital threat, DPP Phiri championed technology as part of the solution, advocating for legal reforms to allow remote testimony and calling for “technology to build resilient prevention mechanisms that empower victims while ensuring perpetrator accountability.”
As his address reached its conclusion, the DPP’s voice filled with conviction that seemed to draw energy from the diverse assembly before him. “We cannot call ourselves a peaceful nation while our courts are inundated with GBV cases,” he stated. “This fight demands our sustained commitment – every day, every week, every month – until this scourge is eradicated from our society.”
The setting for this announcement – a forum designed to bridge generational divides in addressing GBV – provided powerful context for a policy that itself bridges the divide between prosecuting crime and preventing its consequences. In this room where young voices mingled with experienced advocates, the DPP’s words landed not as distant policy but as immediate promise – that the legal system would now directly convert the instruments of harm into resources for healing.