Rwanda National Police

The nationwide campaign against gender based violence launched early this week in the Eastern Province continued in the Northern with a call for all Rwandans to join hands against the crime that is still rated high in communities.

The awareness exercise held in Musanze district on December 24 was organized by the Rwanda National Police Department of Medical Services (DMS) in partnership with the Global Fund.

The campaign targets, mainly, the youth, women, Community Policing Committee, community health workers, local leaders charged with gender-related issues and District Community liaison officers among others.

While speaking to participants drawn from 89 sectors in the region, Aime Bosenibamwe, the Governor of the Northern Province urged them to be catalysts in this campaign in order to identify and combat gender challenges.

“But you should also mind about illicit drugs, narcotics and human trafficking because these are also issues that can be of great ill-effect to communities,” Bosenibamwe said.

He highlighted organs removal, sexual exploitation and forced hard labour as things associated with human trafficking with traffickers masquerading as people with better offers like jobs, education abroad.

He emphasized strengthening the ‘neighbourhood watch’ community night patrols among other policing initiatives, to prevent crimes and improve community harmony, minding about timely information sharing.

Bosenibamwe warned against drugs abuse and the old-fashioned traditional tendencies of early marriages which are still common in the region and largely facilitated by parents, which also contribute to gender violence.

The Governor Bosenibamwe lauded Rwanda National Police for being a people’s and an accountable force, and called upon churches to spread the gospel to followers.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Dr. Wilson Rubanzana, the Coordinator for Isange One Centres and Specialised Medical Programme in RNP, said the force is always on standby for quick intervention.

RNP, ministries of Health, Justice and Gender and Family Promotion make up the steering committee in the campaign to uproot GBV.

The government ‘seven point programme’ partly provides that RNP provides intervention in 30 minutes, and Dr Rubanzana explained that the ongoing scale up of Isange centres in all district hospitals in meant to realize these targets in line with GBV.

So far, Isange, which provides free medical and legal services to GBV victims, is operational in eleven hospitals and the target is to have it established in 23 hospitals by the end of 2015 and it all hospitals by 2017.