There is need for concerted effort to curb human trafficking, gender-based violence and drug abuse, the First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, said yesterday.

 Mrs Kagame was officiating at a high level dialogue called to address the problem of drug trafficking, at Parliament Buildings in Kigali.

 "Dealing with these problems requires concerted effort of the government, civil society and religious leaders. We also need to handle victims of these vices humanely,” Mrs Kagame said.

She also pointed out that the issue of human trafficking was not unique to Rwanda but was a vice that equally affected the rest of the world.

"Rwanda has put in place strong institutions and also set developmental targets under the Vision 2020 and EDPRS that clearly charts the future of the nation’s youth. For us to prepare a brighter future, it is important to clearly understand the problems we face and the effects they pose to our society,” she said.

"In previous years, we strongly took on the fight against drug abuse. We held several conferences and strategised. Today, we should review the progress. The linkage between drug abuse, gender-based violence and human trafficking is the reason we have to fight these crimes concurrently. We are informed that most of the children trafficked are victims of drug abuse,” Mrs Kagame said.

A 2007 Unicef report indicated that, annually, 1.2 million children were trafficked, and according to the First Lady, the practice was increasing in the sub-Saharan region which calls for more attention.

She also advised Rwandans to draw lessons from ancient Rwanda where child upbringing was a responsibility of everyone in society.

"Development without values is the cause of all our problems.Families should take the prime responsibility of how a child is raised,” Mrs Kagame said.

The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana, presented cases of human trafficking thwarted in the country, saying security organs had effectively neutralised the vice.

"After drugs and weapons dealing, human trafficking is the next largest source of income for organised criminals worldwide. Findings indicate that most of the victims are trafficked to Asia, Europe and recently to Australia. In Rwanda, human trafficking has mostly been a result of deception, corruption and ignorance,” he said.

He attributed the increase in drug trafficking to lapses in governance in some countries and advanced technology that has made it easier for the traffickers to operate.

"Although it is not rampant, we realised some of these traffickers want to use Rwanda as a reception centre but we have since stopped them. So far, we have dealt with about five cases, including that of cocaine that involved a Ugandan-born British national, 12 girls being trafficked from Kampala to Dubai through Rwanda, and another case from Burundi,” Gasana said.

In 2010, Police busted a Bangladeshi human trafficking ring after arresting a man who was trafficking 54 people from Bangladeshi to Mozambique through Rwanda.

In a related development, Police discovered 12 houses around Kigali that were being used to sexually exploit young girls.

Justice minister Johnson Busingye expressed concerns over the light punishments handed  down to traffickers and drug abusers.

"Human trafficking is punishable by a sentence of between six months and 15 years and a fine ranging from Rwf 500,000 to 20 million depending on how the crime was committed. Between 2011 and 2014, 24 cases were reported to the prosecution, 10 of them were dropped, nine were tried, while four people were convicted and five acquitted,” the Minister said.

He said one of the challenges in trying human trafficking cases was ignorance by the public about the crime, getting information since the victim sometimes became part of the story, knowing the trafficking routes, and  countries having different stands on the  crime of human trafficking.

"We need to apply some bit of science in these issues; the statistics should guide us when we are drafting the laws. The gravity of the crime towards the society should be a guiding factor in determining the punishment. If the penal code does not deter the crime, then we should make a review. These are human beings at stake,” he said.