KIGALI - The of Minister Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), Jean d’Arc Mujawamariya, has urged the Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) to be vigilant and identify loopholes in the Child Act by promoting and advocating for the protection of children’s rights

She said this yesterday while officiating at the opening of the stakeholders workshop on the implementing the convention on the rights of a child and the African Charter on Rights and Welfare of a Child at Hotel des Mille Collines.

The three-day meeting brought together members of HAGURUKA, a local NGO, Save the Children Sweden and experts with the mission of promoting and defending the rights of children.

Mujawamariya said that the government of Rwanda had many achievements in terms of domestication and implementation of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the children

She added that children are a vulnerable group whose rights are often overlooked or even encroached and said that it was every Rwandan’s responsibility to protect their rights.

"We have many orphans in the country, most of them street children, therefore it’s our role to nurture them into better people for tomorrow,” the minister said.

She warned the CSO’s which are not genuine and use vulnerable children to solicit for funds from the government and donors and eventually channel those funds into their personal business, saying they would be dealt with.

In an interview with The New Times, Minister Mujawamariya revealed that Rwanda is committed to maintain its first place in Africa and in the world in the protection of children’s rights.

Ends