President Paul Kagame has said Africa’s security organs must do more to hold perpetrators of Gender Based Violence (GBV) to account since it is in line with their rightful responsibility.

The Head of State made the call yesterday while launching a three-day training exercise against Gender Based Violence in Kigali, which is bringing together officers of the army, police, and correctional services from thirty countries across Africa.

Dubbed ‘Kigali International Conference Declaration Command Post Exercise’ or ‘Africa Unite II’, the training empowers participants with skills needed to prevent GBV and help its victims.

Africa Unite II has also been organised as part of the United Nations Secretary General’s campaign dubbed ‘Unite to end Violence against women and girls’, which was launched by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in February 2008.

President Kagame denounced violence against women and girls, calling for intensive efforts to fight against it and bring about good governance and democracy in Africa.

"Violence against women and girls is a violation of rights; a crime and a threat to progress in Africa and around the world. Our starting point is that this kind of abuse is completely unacceptable. Women are our mothers, our daughters, our wives, what debate is there in treating them as decently as we have to?” he said.

The Head of State described the relationship between fighting GBV and promoting democracy, explaining that the vice is against the values of democracy and good governance.

"The equality of women is a cornerstone of our democracy and rightly so. When gender-based violence is left unchallenged, it diminishes the nation as a whole. If we don’t work together to end these crimes we risk undermining our work to entrench good governance and development,” he said.

He called upon members of Africa’s security organs to play their rightful role in protecting women and girls.

"It requires more than words to protect women and girls from violence. Perpetrators must be held accountable and those who protect them must be shamed. The right mindset and values must be inculcated within the ranks and file of all our forces. There must be determination to act decisively, without fear or favour,” he said.

Asking for more intensive efforts against GBV and directly addressing the about 100 officers from army, the police, and correctional services from 30 countries in Africa, Kagame added: "Let me encourage you to turn the theory into practice, now and for the rest of your careers. You have no higher calling.”

At the ‘Africa Unite II’ command post exercise, which is taking place at the Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kigali, participants will share experiences about best practices in fighting GBV and do some exercises to hone their skills in dealing with the vice.

"We expect them to go back to their respective countries with improved know-how about fighting Gender-Based Violence,” said Commissioner of Police Felix Namuhoranye, Director of the Command Post Exercise.

Talking about what is poised to be the most important best practice in fighting GBV that Rwanda has to share with other countries, President Kagame lauded the model of Isange One Stop Centres, saying that setting up the centres shows what's possible when the government, development partners, and the civil society collaborate to find solutions.

Isange One Stop centres, which have been scaled up in Rwanda, support victims of gender-based violence and their families by providing them with access to medical attention, psychiatrics, social workers, and legal counsel.

The Kigali International Conference Declaration, held in October 2010, brought together 12 African nations who committed to strengthening security organs to end violence against women and girls. The second of its kind to be held in Rwanda, this year’s Africa Unite Command Post Exercise is under the theme "African Security Organs Synergy to End Violence Against Women and Girls.

Isange, which started in 2009 as a pilot project, offers free medical, psycho-socio and legal services to victims of GBV, and was adopted by the 43 Kigali International Conference Declaration (KICD) member countries as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for African security institutions.

"Being there for women is being there for yourself,” President Kagame said, calling on everyone to also be part of the ‘HeForShe’ campaign, to produce tangible results.

HeForShe is a solidarity campaign for gender equality initiated by UN Women. The global campaign seeks to ‘enlist’ men and boys as agents of change in the quest to achieve gender equality and women’s rights.  

The Inspector General of Rwanda National Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana, who is also the current chair of KICD, thanked President Kagame for his guidance and support to KICD initiatives.

He noted that KICD had made tremendous efforts toward realising its agenda, including developing training manual and standard operating procedures, capacity building on prevention and response, while plans to construct the secretariat block in Kigali are underway.

KICD as a continental body that started in 2010 to champion fight against GBV; it’s currently composed of 42 African member states.

This Command Post Exercise aims at enhancing capacities and capabilities of the security forces to respond to gender based violence both at home and in peacekeeping operations.

"We have no option; we must act now; we must move from commitment to action. We must train together to guarantee acceptable levels of operational readiness to prevent and effectively respond to challenges women and girls face,” IGP Gasana, said.

Letty Chiwara, the UN Women Representative to Ethiopia, African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa , said that one distinguishing feature of the launch of the Africa UNiTE campaign in Kigali in 2010, was not only about enhancing the capacities of the security organs in the country, but also ensuring that good practices of Rwanda, like Isange One Stop Centres, are shared widely across Africa.

She praised what she witnessed in 2010 during the launch of Africa UNiTE campaign in Kigali, including seeing "men and women in uniform seated on the same table discussing issues women and girls face and laying concrete strategies to deal with the vice”.

"In Africa, some countries are in conflict, others are in post conflict and reconstruction phase, and yet others continue to encounter crisis while others enjoy relative peace. However, in all these contexts, women and girls continue to suffer from violence, abuse and discrimination,” Chiwara said.

Lamin Manneh, the UN Resident Coordinator in Rwanda, commended President Kagame for his commitment to gender equality, his support to women in difficult circumstances, and according dignity to women.

He lauded Rwanda’s security organs and the KICD Secretariat for keeping the momentum and spirit of Africa UNiTE.

"It is acknowledged throughout the world, that Rwanda security forces are highly devoted to protecting civilians, especially women and young girls in conflict situations. This is a reflection of ideals that you stand for,” Lamin said.

KICD’s annual general meeting is rotational while CPX is conducted annually by the host country. Algeria will host the 2015/2016 KICD and CPX.