Army and police officers from Rwanda have been called on to spearhead the fight against the use of child soldiers in Africa.

Seventeen officers from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police on Friday, January 27, completed a course on prevention of recruitment and use of children as soldiers at the Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) in Musanze District.

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The two-week course began on January 16.

"The course is a training of trainers and has enabled Rwanda to have a team of capable officers who will offer training specifically on the prevention of recruitment of children into armed groups in countries where Rwandan peacekeepers are deployed,” Col (Rtd) Jill Rutaremara, the RPA’s director said.

Organised in collaboration with the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, the course was attended by nine French-speaking officers from the RDF and eight from RNP.

"Rwanda contributes a significant number of troops to peacekeeping missions in countries with security issues, where they also have to build the capacity of local organs. The training was initiated for Rwanda to take the lead in the prevention of recruitment and use of child soldiers,” Maj Gen (Rtd) Ferdinand Safari, the director of the Dallaire Institute’s Africa office, said.

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In addition to Rwanda, Safari said the institute operates in Mozambique, South Sudan and DR Congo. "Now we want to open more offices in French-speaking African countries. That is the reason this training focused on French-speaking officers,” he said.

Rwandan and international laws prohibit recruitment and use of child soldiers. In September 2022, the officers had a preliminary course on children’s rights, including the child’s protection from joining armed groups.

"This second course was focused on training other officers on how to prevent children’s recruitment into armed groups. We have committed to becoming champions of the child’s protection in countries where we will be deployed,” Lt Col Innocent Nkubana said.

"After taking this course, we now have the capacity to prevent the use of child soldiers and how to respond to situations in which children are recruited by armed groups. This training stresses the need for concerted effort to end the use of children in armed conflict,” said Inspector of Police Claudine Uwimana.

With 5,752 Rwandan troops deployed in different countries as of October 2022, the country is the third largest troop contributor to United Nations peacekeeping g missions.