In a bid to further respond to specific security issues in identified areas, a team of police officers from the Rwanda National Police (RNP) Criminal Investigations Department (CID) reached out to the residents of Nyagatare Sector in Nyagatare District and sensitized them to drive the awareness against crimes.
The team that includes Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hubert Rutaro and Inspector of Police (IP) Viviane Umulisa had accompanied the RNP Mobile Police Station van on May 10, which was stationed in Tubagwe Cell to facilitate residents to file any complaint they may have.
The awareness addressed three issues; gender based violence, child abuse and human trafficking.
While speaking to the residents, CIP Rutaro spoke at length about human trafficking and urged residents to join efforts in ensuring that the emerging threat is fought.
“We need to widen our understanding of how human trafficking is conducted and the consequences involved as means to prevent anyone from falling prey,” CIP Rutaro said.
He noted that some people fall victims because they are neither unaware that they are being trafficked nor know the exploitative work and harassment that awaits them either on the way or on their final destination.
“Normally, traffickers pose as well-wishers who have a lot to offer; at times they take advantage of one’s vulnerability and play around one’s desires to make them believe that they have a lot to offer them,” CIP Rutaro said.
He further pointed out that; “traffickers may not be selective but they mostly target youngsters by luring them into believing that they are to offer them scholarships while graduates are sometimes made to believe that they would get good jobs abroad.”
He instead urged them to report anyone that tries to seduce them with better offers, noting that most of such people are strangers, who try to prevent them from telling anyone, be it relatives, about the offer.
Human trafficking, he said, can manifest in different forms depending on the tricks the traffickers apply including deceit, the most applied method.
Since the beginning of 2015, about 30 Rwandans was either located in countries where they were trafficked and rescued or intercepted before crossing borders. Twenty-three of the victims were girls.
Twenty-five suspected traffickers were also arrested in the same period.
The victims had been trafficked to countries like Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Malaysia, China and United Arab Emirates among others.
On her part, IP Umulisa also told residents about effects of gender based violence and child abuse, saying that GBV seriously affects all aspects of a victim’s health, his or her physical and mental ability to perform certain functions and behavioral health.
“Health consequences of GBV can be both, immediate and acute as well as long lasting and chronic; indeed, negative health consequences may persist long after the violence has stopped, this is why we all have to collectively fight it before it happens,” IP Umulisa said.
It is a crime that constitutes severe and high level of violence,” she added.
“Violence directed to women and children is of great concern that requires concerted efforts and breaking silence to effectively address them,” IP Umulisa, who noted that there are also cases of men abused by their spouses. said
Such violence, she said, can be manifested in varied forms at home, communities and schools where children are also given corporal punishment and subjected to hard labour.
“The biggest challenge is that most of the violence against children remains hidden. Many children are afraid to report incidents of violence they experience. This fear is closely related to the stigma attached to reporting violence, especially in cases of brutal violence. This is the exact reason why everyone should be involved in protection of children rights,” she noted.
IP Umulisa also introduced to them the Child Helpline – 116 and 3512 for Gender Based Violence, which they should utilize to report such incidences.
Residents in the area also seized the opportunity to file several cases to the fully-fledged mobile police station van.
Police officers receive what falls in their jurisdiction and refers others to concerned local authorities and arbitrators among others.
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