Human rights group petitions for children’s rights

WESTERN PROVINCE KARONGI — AJEPRODHOR, a human rights body operating in Karongi and Rutsiro districts has petitioned the police and judicial sector to jointly work together in uplifting children rights. This was announced on Tuesday, during a one day consultative meeting on the rights of children minors held at Home St.Jean in Karongi District. According to Martin Kayinamura, the project’s district coordinator, the meeting was mainly called to address the issues and solutions geared towards protecting the rights of minors especially in the courts. ‘AJEPRODHOR has launched a project that will monitor and evaluate activities concerning the safety of minors in different fields particularly the court related issues. This is why we have organised such a meeting with police and prosecutors to discuss the matter’, he said. Kayinamura explained that the body has experienced a growing threat of delayed court cases meaning that the affected minors have judicially been left out due to such irregularities. He said the project will also advocate for separate safe custody for arrested minors. ‘It has been realized that some of adults rape and defile these children when in prisons. One of our objectives is to carry out a study and come up with a project that will construct a separate safe custody where they will be detained provisionally’, he added. Chief Inspector of Police Alex Vuningoma, who commands Bwishyura police station, said the national police has directed that a provisional detention of criminal offenders be undertaken for up to only 72 hours and that rights of children be given a priority’. ‘We give full protection of these children when they are detained in our custody and every one is ready to work with the human rights body’, he said. Ends