A total of 2,157 defilement cases have been filed with Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) in the first half of 2020, members of the media heard this Tuesday, July 28.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) Secretary General, Col Jeannot Ruhunga said that there was need for an intensive and all-inclusive sensitisation programme to highlight to society the value of fighting this vice.

"It all comes down to sensitisation and how this information is consumed and how people are ready to get fed up with it and decide to start reporting it. This is a war that cannot be won by one part of the society alone. We need to all be involved,” he explained.

Ruhunga said that while 3,152 cases were reported in 2018 and 3,623 in 2019, there were indications that the number this year would most likely be higher.

"When you compare the number of underage girls giving birth and the number of cases we have received, you can tell the issue is rampant but the victims and their families choose to hide the identity of the culprits,” he explained.

He told the journalists that there were still people who fear to report defilement cases for fear of family or community wrangles while in some cases, the victims choose to deal directly with the abuser since he has promised financial support.

"We mostly get to know the identity of the abuser when the communication between him and the victim breaks down and the girl decides to file a report. We need a more inclusive sensitisation program where the child, parents, community and local leaders are involved so that we can finally put a stop to this,” he said.

Worrying trend

While a total of 78,000 babies were born to teen mothers between 2015 and 2019, recent data also indicates that by the age of 19, one in five (20.8 per cent) Rwandan girls is a first-time mother.

According to Nicolette Nsabimana the coordinator of Centre Marembo, a youth-centred NGO working to rehabilitate young girls who have been defiled or have gone through similar difficulties, victims are mostly pushed by thoughts of blame and trauma not to report their ordeals.

"Defiled girls tend to feel more vulnerable and the stigma forces them to blame themselves. They blame themselves and they know that society will also blame them. That vulnerability is to blame for their failure to report the cases.” she added.

Sylvie Nsanga, a feminist and children rights activist told The New Times in an interview that it is time parents started to openly talk to their children about reproductive health.

"The culture and religion expect people to not have premarital sex. A child who is sexually active is regarded as ill-mannered. Our children shouldn’t be our copies, but should instead be empowered to make informed decisions,” she says.

At a recent Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum, lawmakers called for effective strategies to curtail the rise in cases of defilement.

MP Safari Begumisa said child defilement should be a national issue and that culprits should be punished seriously.

"It is a scandal that a teacher rapes a student. We should raise awareness about this issue, but, also, identified cases should be tried at the crime scene so that people attend them and learn from the sentences against the criminals,” he said.

MP Marie Pélagie Uwamariya Rutijanwa wondered why the cases are on the rise yet there are laws punishing the crime, as well as campaigns against it.

Upon conviction, a person who commits child defilement is liable to imprisonment for a period of not less than 20 years and not more than 25 years, if the victim is 14 years or older.

"As this is a serious issue, it needs special strategies for it to be addressed,” she said, calling for building capacities of children for them to be able to detect malefactors.

Clarisse Munezero, the senior capacity development officer at The Legal Aid Forum also suggests that the government should have a specific sex assault investigators unit.

She adds that those investigators must be intensively trained on finding evidence and maintaining it, so that even when it is little, at least it works in favor of the victim.

In 2009, the First Lady Jeannette Kagame, through her Imbuto Foundation, implemented the Isango One Stop Centre (IOSC) to ease access to services needed by GBV victims such as medico-legal examinations, psychotherapy and treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, STI/D’s, among others.

The centre works 24 hours a day in 44 hospitals across the country, and at least medical services for GBV victims in every health centre and their services are accessed for free.