Rwanda National Police

One-hundred Rwanda National Police (RNP) officers including Political and Civic Education officers (PCEOs) and gender focal points from different police units across the country, on Tuesday July 26, held a one-day workshop on preventing Gender based Violence (GBV) and Child abuse, as key shared responsibility.

The workshop held at the RNP General Headquarters in Kacyiru aimed at enhancing the capacities of Police officers and media representatives in prevention and reporting of GBV and Child abuse cases.

It based on three different key aspects; role of RNP in promoting gender equality and protecting children?s rights, management of personnel in relation with gender related issues, and role of media in preventing, reporting of GBV and child abuse cases.

The opening of the workshop at the RNP headquarters in Kacyiru was presided over on behalf of IGP by the Deputy Commissioner for Community Policing Department;

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Teddy Ruyenzi, while opening the workshop on behalf of RNP leadership, urged participants to increase community awareness on prevention of GBV and child abuse.

?Women and children in various areas of our country are still facing physical, spousal, sexual or psychological violence, which means that efforts from various government institutions are still needed to put an end to such acts," ACP Ruyenzi said.

RNP, she added, has been at the forefront in the fight against GBV and child abuse through public awareness and education, establishing anti-GBV clubs, and working with gender focal persons in different areas of the country.

?Combatting gender-based violence and child abuse has been one of the main concerns of the Government of Rwanda for a long time, and significant efforts have been employed to curb this problem by establishing a policy, legal and institutional framework to make sure that the public is conscious of this problem, that perpetrators of GBV and child abuse face the law and that the victim get justice,? ACP Ruyenzi added.

In implementing the gender policy, RNP established mechanisms including the creation of the gender promotion directorate, the anti-GBV desk, and gender focal points in all districts Police Units (DPUs).

She urged participants to take advantage of this opportunity to learn and apply what they will get from the workshop in their daily activities and double efforts in the fight against the vice.