Rwanda National Police

Members of the Rwanda Youths Volunteers in Community Policing (RYVCP) in Nyabihu District have made fresh commitment to further implement and ensure the effectiveness of community policing initiatives for safer communities.

The commitment was made during their meeting heads of the youth group in the villages, cells and sectors of Nyabihu, held on Tuesday.

The meeting which took place at Nyabihu headquarters discussed a spectrum of issues including among others; security, hygiene and sanitation and awareness campaign.

At the end of the meeting, members of the youth group resolved to improve modalities of information sharing on key security issues such as; drug abuse and family conflicts, child abuse and corruption.

Jean Baptiste Bunezero, the coordinator of YVCP in Nyabihu said members are “more determined to make communities more peaceful and secure by doing more noticeable roles.”

“We organized this meeting to further discuss on a variety of issues, which are all in line with our mandate or further improve the state of human security; it’s a way to draw new and fresh commitment to subsequently contribute towards a more peaceful and secure communities towards sustainable development,” Bunezero said.

“One of the resolution we adopted is to drive the ongoing nationwide campaign against narcotic drugs and drug abuse in particular,” he added.

“It’s a three-way approach; to identify and report drug dealers to security organs to break chains of supply, identify our fellow youth addicts so that they are rehabilitated and given a better life, and raise awareness to prevent new users and ultimately to kill the local market,” Bunezero said.

“We want to make this part of our activities, and I am confident the information we will avail to security agencies and grassroots authorities concerning these issues will help a great deal to prevent high impact crimes,” he observed.

Currently, there are over 12, 000 members of youth volunteers in Nyabihu with the number set to go up to 20, 000 by the end of this year according to the coordinator.

There are over 250, 000 members of RYVCP across the country with the target to reach one million by the end of 2018.

Theoneste Uwanzwenuwe, the Mayor of Nyabihu District, who presided over the meeting, commended the role they play but urged them to strive for more especially in things that affect youth development like drugs.

The meeting was also attended by members of security organs.