Over 5,000 Gender Based Violence cases recorded at Isange Centre

At least 5,216 Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases have so far been registered at the Kacyiru Police Hospital based Isange One Stop Centre since July, 2009.In an interview with The New Times, Dr Daniel Nyamwasa, the Director of the Police hospital which houses Isange Centre, attributed the relative high number to the fact that, lately, people are more open to report GBV cases than in the past.Nyamwasa said youth below 18 years comprise 84 per cent of the victims.“Thirty-one per cent of the GBV victims we receive here are men, while 69 per cent are women. We are glad that people can now at least be open and report these cases which makes it easier for us to help them,” he said on Monday.The physician also said that 14 per cent of the victims received are children below the age of five. He called upon people to always report GBV cases to the authorities or even call the toll free line-3029.Once these cases are reported, Nyamwasa says they follow up and help the victims medically and facilitate the prosecution of the culprits.Defilement topsIsange Centre was established in 2009 by the Rwanda National Police (RNP) in partnership with Imbuto Foundation and the UN to provide medical, legal and psychosocial services, such as counselling to GBV victims.According to 2011-12 report from RNP, defilement topped the list of all the GBV committed crimes, with 1,247 defilement cases committed between January and September last year. Twenty nine were male victims.There were 401 cases of defilement between October and December of last year, with 15 committed against men. Defilement recorded 1,733 cases in 2011, up from 1,654 registered in the year 2010.The second most prevalent crime last year, was assault, with 578 cases throughout the year, according to the police report released last weekRape came third with 255 cases registered between January and December.