Lack of knowledge about one’s rights, alcohol abuse and cultural beliefs have been blamed for cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country. Other factors responsible for GBV cases are informal marriages and co-habitation. Haguruka, a local NGO promoting rights of children and women, highlighted this during its annual general meeting that brought together child and women rights activists from different parts of the country, on Saturday, in Kimironko, Gasabo District. Speaking at the meeting, Monique Munyankindi, the chairperson of Haguruka, said the NGO had committed itself to put more attention on addressing gender-based violence in its five-year strategic plan that runs from 2016-2020. It aims at providing a strong framework for sustainable intervention to prevent and effectively respond to GBV. “We want to pay more attention to GBV, having realised that it’s one of the biggest issues that our society experiences,” said Munyankindi. Munyankindi stressed the need to work closely with all relevant institutions such as Gender Monitoring Office, Gender ministry, National Children Commission, private sector and civil society to tackle the vice. “We know it’s not easy to deal with the different challenges single handedly but we are sure with full collaboration, we can do much more. In our plan, we want to involve all the actors,” she added. Munyankindi also called for collective responsibility to remove children off the streets. “When we talk of gender-based violence, we mean both men and women; it’s, therefore, in this sense, that we want to work hand in hand with all levels to save the lives of these children,” she explained. Christianne Umuhire, the gender mainstreaming and anti-GBV officer at the Gender ministry, noted that stemming GBV requires partnership. “With different partnerships, we are sure we can achieve a lot. We know there are issues of street children and family conflicts, but again, we’ve established different initiatives to help parents understand the lives of children and address issues that lead children to go to the streets,” said Umuhire, citing family meetings locally known as ‘Akagoroba Ka’ ababyeyi’ among the initiatives. The meeting called for campaigns against cultural values that condone GBV, increasing anti-GBV awareness, and rights awareness among vulnerable groups to protect women and children. State of GBV in Rwanda According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2015, Rwanda ranked sixth in closing gender gaps in the world. Statistics from Rwanda National Police show that cases of gender based violence have declined. Last year, 750 defilement cases were recorded by police, compared to 1433 defilement cases in 2014. Rape cases have also dropped from 284 to 147 cases reported across the country in 2015. The same trend is noticed in the category of physical abuse where cases handled by police have reduced from 541 in 2014 to 320 in 2015. In 2014, about 37 women were murdered by their husbands but this has also gone down to 22 cases in 2015. In 2014, 271 cases of women battering were filed but this has also reduced to 145. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
