Mukabalisa calls for tougher action against GBV

Mukabalisa made the remarks on Sunday as the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion launched a 16-day campaign of activism against gender-based violence.

Statistics by the National Public Prosecution Authority indicate that the authority received 2996 cases of defilement between July 2017 and June this year.

This is after 17000 children between 15 and 19 years’ old were impregnated in 2016.
Mukabalisa said the numbers sound horrible which calls for a collective part in the fight against gender-based violence.

“Different reports indicate that the number of unwanted pregnancies among teenagers keeps increasing in both urban and rural districts, which is sad. We should not sleep and feel at ease while our children’s lives are under this threat. If nothing is done, our country would be heading to nowhere. It requires our cooperative hands to fight gender-based violence,” she said.

Mukabalisa added that parents should take part in fighting GBV by talking to them about reproduction.

She, however, criticized the youth who don’t listen to parents’ advice and succumb to peer pressure and irresponsible behaviors including watching pornographic films among others.

The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Solina Nyirahabimana urged parents especially those with children who were defiled never to keep that information to them or trying to resolve that problem by a mutual understanding with suspected defilers.

“Some parents hold private talks with those who violate their children and sometimes want their underage daughters to be married to criminals and keep away from justice. No agreements should be made over such crime committed,” said Minister Nyirahabimana.

The Secretary-General of the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), Col. Jeannot Ruhunga emphasized that a recent survey found some parents to victims of gender-based violence had chosen to resolve the problem in good understanding with the offenders.

Col Ruhunga said that this results in the victim’s trauma and irrigates the culture of impunity which must end.