The role of women and girls must change from being victims of violence to frontline defenders of lasting peace within and between nations, First Lady Jeannette Kagame said Monday, June 20. 

She was speaking at the opening session of the Commonwealth Women’s Forum, in Kigali.

The First Lady took the audience down memory lane on how Rwanda’s path in reconstruction, after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was littered with the pain of fragmented families, of wounded and traumatised women, yet the nation now leads as a champion of women empowerment. 

"The 2022 Kigali CHOGM (Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting) Women’s Forum does not just occur in a country that consistently pushes for the emergence and recognition of women in leadership,” she said.

Mrs Kagame added: "It occurs in a country where rape was used barely three decades ago as a weapon of war. Today, Rwanda is ranked by the World Economic Forum as the seventh country in the world for closing the gender gap.”

She said Rwanda considers peace and security a condition for the attainment of sustainable development and that the lessons learned can combat existing challenges affecting women and girls. 

"The role played by women in peace building has been the cornerstone of Rwanda’s development. We too, can adopt our strategies for accelerated progress, our service provision, our collaboration frameworks, our militancy and advocacy, our education and research, and every tool in the arsenary which will combat gender inequality in order to transform for better the landscape in which we exist,” she said. 

Patricia Scotland QC, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, said the "Commonwealth advantage” is enough to achieve set goals in gender equality and women empowerment.

"This Women’s Forum and this CHOGM is our opportunity to build on our Commonwealth advantage. Our similar systems of democratic governance, of common law, of common language, of compatible institutions drive progress for which we all hunger and thirst,” Scotland said.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, she added, that Rwanda is hosting the Women’s Forum, "because it is a champion for gender equality”.

More than 500 delegates are attending the Commonwealth Women’s Forum where they’re discussing solutions to address pressing challenges affecting women and girls across the Commonwealth, with a view to ensure that member countries have robust policies and programmes to meet gender equality targets by 2030. 

The Forum, which is taking place in Africa for the very first time, is running under the theme, ‘Delivering a Common Future: Transforming Gender Equality. 

It’s one of a series of events taking place on the first day of the 26th edition of CHOGM.