During the Wednesday discussions with different stakeholders and clerics on measures to address such violence, the president of RICH, Bishop Thaddée Ntihinyurwa said that church leaders have a duty to collaborate with government to seek solutions to gender-based violence highlighting the need to first establish the root cause.
“Research indicated that cultural practices rooted on negative mindsets are among issues fueling the problem. It is necessary to analyze the matter from its roots so that we can find a durable solution,” he said.
The Bishop of Anglican Church in Butare Diocese, Nathan Gasatura observed that some leaders are nowadays concerned with symptoms other than the cause of GBV.
Gasatura attributed the increase of violence to hard life prohibiting parents to stay closer with children to acquaint them with education serving as the basis for humanity.
Bishop Gasatura also reflected on technology enabling children to negatively use social media.
“It looks like the pace of technology, using WhatsApp and Twitter among others, has replaced our children’s food. What a child acquires from these platforms occupies his/her mind and tend to explore how things are done. Such porn films are another form of drugs,” he commented.
Rwanda’s Mufti, Sheikh Hitimana Salim said that Rwandan community can’t be assured of security when violence cases against girls and women persist.
He explained that it is the duty of clerics to seek to solution and highlighted the need to go deeper into root causes of such problems first.
Reports indicate that the National Prosecution received 2,996 defilement cases between July 2017 and June 2018.
It also received 505 cases for violence against women and 1,091 violence cases between spouses in the same period.
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