The umbrella body of Human Rights Organisations in Rwanda (CLADHO), in partnership with the National Youth Council, has deployed a group of lawyers and behavioural change trainers in 10 districts to rally the youth against sexual violence and teenage pregnancies.

The group to be deployed met at Kimisagara Youth Centre on Thursday for final briefing where they were urged to make all necessary efforts to make sure the cases of teenage pregnancies are minimised.

The intervention follows the upsurge of teenage pregnancies as indicated in a recent report, which showed that in 52 sectors across the country, 818 teenage girls got pregnant before they reached 18 years within a period of just two years.

Evariste Murwanashyaka, the project manager in charge of gender-based violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancies at CLADHO, said the special group will work closely with local government authorities to sensitise the youth in their villages on the impact of early pregnancies and how they can be avoided.

"More than 69 per cent of children do not know their rights and how to protect themselves against violation. Their capacity will be built to defend themselves any time they are in trouble. Now that children are in holidays, our team will organise meetings with them to ensure no one is victimised out of ignorance,” Murwanashyaka said. "Also, when they are back to school, we will visit them there and set up anti-sexual GBV clubs to push the agenda forward.”

Murwanashayaka added that, through the sensitisation, parents will also be addressed on their responsibility on children’s welfare and monitoring.

About the welfare of the children borne of teenagers, CLADHO is taking into consideration that their fathers tend to ignore them and live miserably.

To this, Murwanashyaka said, when the babies are denied by their fathers they will do the DNA tests and, based on the test result, the responsible father will be forced to leave a portion of his property to take care of the baby.

Eric Zibukira, the in-charge of youth mobilisation at the National Youth Council, said the issue of sexual abuse and pregnancies among teenagers not only affect the victims but also the community at large.

"Teenagers affected with sexual abuse drop out of schools earlier. Those from poor families turn to prostitution or other odd jobs for survival. We should come together to fight this issue with all possible means,” Zibukira argued.

Moise Nshuti, a lawyer who will operate from Gicumbi District, said they are ready to work professionally to make sure young girls who fall victim to sexual abuse get justice by making sure all the violators are fairly tried and the victims get compensation in accordance with the law. editorial@newtimes.co.rw