The Annual National Children’s Summit is a Consultative Forum which brings together children’s delegates from across the country to exchange views and ideas on the issues. It was initiated in Rwanda in 2004 to grant every child a right to participation and to provide an opportunity for dialogue amongst children, policy makers, Government officials, civil society, development partners and all citizens. The 14th children summit was held on November 20, 2020 coinciding with celebrations of the Word Children’s Day at Rwanda Parliament Building, which was marked under the theme: “the role of the family to fight against online child abuse.” Speaking at the summit, Jeannette Bayisenge, the Minister for Gender and Family Promotion said that there has been remarkable improvement in terms of children’s rights thanks to the annual National Children’s Summits. “National Children’s Summits have played a big role in advancing children’s rights and equality for girls,” she said, adding that as government, they always pay attention to the children and implement recommendations they make during their summits. For instance, thanks to the resolutions from the 13th children summit last year, Bayisenge said that Umugoroba w’Ababyeyi the parents evening forum initiated to discuss community issues like gender based violence and family conflicts, was transformed into Umugoroba w’Umuryango so as to integrate all family members including children. “We brought these reforms so that children can also be integrated and discuss topics about children’s issues,” she said. She added that three families that have no conflicts, selected according to the summit resolutions, in every village are serving as role models to help other families with conflicts in their respective communities. Concerning the fight against defilement, the minister noted on recommendation from the children summit, two people in every village dubbed Inshuti z’Umuryango (friends of the family) have been given mobile phones to be able to report cases whenever they occur to ease follow up. Inshuti z’Umuryango are community-based child and family protection volunteers - are also helping in handling of family conflicts as well as violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and all other forms of child mistreatment. Lambert Hategekimana, the acting Director of Adoption, Protection and Promotion of Child Rights at National Child Development Agency (NCDA) said that thanks to the children’s summits, districts have established list of the families in conflicts so as to help them mitigate such conflicts at an early stage and take care of their children “During the celebration of International Day of Girl Child (IDGC), the First Lady of Rwanda, Jeannette Kagame launched a campaign to combat child defilement and teen pregnancies including hunting down perpetrators to face justice and supporting teen mothers with counselling, justice and other needs,” he said. He added that a toll-free line, (711) has been set up to help people report violence against children. The 3rd resolution, Hategekimana said, they trained journalists on child’s rights reporting. He said there is also ongoing research about online child abuse with target to come with preventive measures. The 4th resolution led to a project that is set to start in 2021 and will be implemented jointly with UNICEF to educate parents and children about laws protecting children’s rights. The 5th resolution helped to fight school drop outs, delinquency, teen pregnancies, drug abuse, and child labor. Since February 2020, about 1,570 street children from across the country and 1,197 street children from Kigali city have been reunited with families. Hategekimana said sex reproductive health guide was produced. The 9th resolution had recommended the government to reduce prices on cosmetics to ensure affordability for children with disability. As a result taxes were waived and helped children to afford cosmetics. A list of children and adult with the issue is also being established in partnership with National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) Online child abuse Tackling online child abuse was the theme of the 14th National Children’s Summit and the celebration of World Children’s Day. Jean Baptiste Shyaka, a children representative in Gasabo district said: “Internet use exposes children to risks. We need parents and teachers’ supervision to avoid online child abuse such as harassment and abuse, Children should primarily use internet in learning important things,” he said. Alodie Octavie Akoyiremeye, the president of Rwanda national children forum said: “Children should avoid being in contact with unknown people on social media. These people might be rapists, thieves and human traffickers.” She advised children whose parents are illiterate on the internet to refer to those literate. Abdul Ndimurwango, one of the parents who attended the event said: “Parents are the first teachers of their children. We have to play big role in fighting online child abuse,” he said. Plan International Rwanda, one of the partners in organizing the summit has been at the forefront in advancing children’s rights and equality for girls, both with in development and humanitarian spaces. The organisation believes in the power and potential of every child, and thus must be free from any form violence and abuse including on social media. Pamella Ingabire, the Child Rights Program Manager, who worked with NCDA to organize the national children’s summit, said, the event is a very important platform for children to raise their voices over the issues that affect them. “The summit is a critical platform that provides children with an opportunity to speak out over issues that affect them like child online abuse, but also important in sharing experiences and ideas with all participants for appropriate recommendations to be made by those in leadership,” she said. In line with the theme, Pamella added , “online child abuse can exacerbate child defilement. More so, the usage of digital tools for e-learning have also drastically increased protection risks to children such as exposing leaners to adult contents Therefore, parents and caregivers should play a big role in providing guidance to their children in a child friendly way for prevention of such abuse”. 14th summit resolutions Resolutions from 14th children summit include training illiterate parents in ICT, increasing recreational grounds for children that could help them manage time on social media, raise awareness of ICT laws, setting up cyber security to protect children while parents have been recommended to interact with children to monitor them on the internet. Children also requested an assessment of children who didn’t return to schools. Paula Ingabire, The minister in charge of ICT said that if not monitored, children could face consequences from human trafficking, pornography, child labour, sex exploitation, and exploitation in business such as films and ads, drug abuse, bad behaviors, emotional distresses, cyberbullying and others. Any child abuse can be reported to RIB 116 toll free line or to NCDA 711 toll free line. During the 14th children summit, She said that Government of Rwanda has established a Child Online Protection Policy (COP Policy”) to mitigate against those risks and harms, and to deliver a framework that meets children’s needs and fulfils their rights, while enabling them to safely and confidently navigate the digital environment Julianna Lindsey, the representative of UNICEF Rwanda told The children: “ Use the Summit to engage with your peers and brainstorm ways you can keep each other safe online because there is exploitation by strangers and criminals.
