EUROPEAN Commission (EU) head of delegation in Zambia, Derek Fee has paid tribute to the Zambian Government for its stance on gender-based violence in the country.

Dr Fee said gender-based violence was an affront to women's human rights and was a serious obstacle to the achievementof equality, development and peace and that there was need to bring it to an end.

The EU envoy who was speaking in an interview in Lusaka, said the EU would continue to stand side by side with the Zambian Government in its fight against gender-based violence in the country.

Dr Fee said that in 2008, the EU adopted guidelines on violence against women and girlsand combating all forms of discrimination against them.

He said the guidelines represent the clear political will on the EU's 27 member-States to treat the issue of violence against women and girls as a priority and take effective action against one of the major human rights violations in the world.