Rwanda National Police

Rwanda National Police on October 13 engaged about 400 students ETO Gatumba in Ngororero District in a discussion to enlighten them about human trafficking and the tricks traffickers use to lure them into this modern-day slavery and ordeal involved.

The students were also told that youth are the main target by traffickers and urged to be on the lookout for anyone who may be offering them jobs abroad or promising a better life far away from home.

Ngororero District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO), Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) Alexandre Minani told the students and teachers that the anti-human trafficking campaign is part of RNP’s outreach programme to keep Rwandans safe.

He explained that some victims are sometimes taken by use of force, threat or abduction while majority are deceived or manipulated due to their vulnerability, to believe that there is a better life where they are headed.

“What happens out there is very brutal, girls and sometimes boys are forced into prostitution, or forced labour. They are stripped of their rights, mistreated and tortured,” Minani told the students.

“How do come to an agreement with a stranger who is offering you a lot that you couldn’t easily get from home, and on top of that asks you not to inform anyone about the deal. Such offers aren’t rosy; whenever you come across such a case report to police immediately.”

“How can someone promise you heaven on earth, and yet refrains you from informing anyone, and tells you to travel to another place or country where you will get travel documents? Better offers are public and known or communicated to family members, friends, and even institutions charged.”

As Part of the crime prevention mechanisms, Minani urged students not to abuse drugs and went on to highlight diverse effect of drug consumption.

The director of ETO Gatumba, Jean d’Amour Ugirinshuti thanked the police for its outreach programme and asked student to take note of the police advices.

“You may have had an idea about human trafficking but you also need to know that anyone can be a target and we all have a responsibility of protecting each other,” he Ugirinshuti.

One of the students, Jolie Uwimana, a senior five electronics student, pointed out that there is a lot she learnt from police lectures and pledged to extend the lectures to other youth in her neighborhood.

RNP has since 2009 handled 36 cases of human trafficking involving over 150 victims, most majority foreigners intercepted in Rwanda while in transit.

About 90 per cent of the victims are females and 82 per cent of them aged between 18 and 35 years.

In 2009, RNP intercepted 51 Bangladeshis in Kigali while in transit to Mozambique. Between 2012 and 2013, ten Rwandan girls were rescued from Uganda and some suspects arrested.

In September last year, Interpol Kigali intercepted a Ugandan girl at Kigali International Airport as she was being trafficked to Dubai.

In January, two Rwandan nationals were arrested in a hotel in Nyabugogo with three females they were allegedly trafficking to Nairobi, Kenya