CERULAR calls Rwandans to report abuses against child defilement as cases continue to rise

By Elias Hakizimana.

The Center for Rule of LAW Rwanda (CERULA) calls the public to report abuses of child defilement as cases of teenage pregnancy are on the rise.

The call was made on October 27, 2022 in Kigali, during a national stakeholder meeting that aimed to discuss assessment findings on barriers towards combating impunity for Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) perpetrators and access to justice for SGBV victims.

Teen pregnancies cases were 17,337 in 2017, then increased to 19,832 in 2018, to 23,628 in 2019. They slightly reduced to 19,701 in 2020 and increased again to 23,000 in 2021.

John Mudakikwa, Executive Director of CERULAR said that the number of perpetrators of SGBV who are taken to courts is still low, comparing to the number of teenage pregnancies in five years ago, accounting to over 100,000.

“Only around 30 percent cases of defiled children were taken to courts while only 10 percent of perpetrators are taken to courts, it is still a challenge as these perpetrators are not punished according to the laws to give justice to the victims. We also call up on people to provide information on time and avoid hiding perpetrators,” Mudakikwa said.

Frederic Africa, an inspector in the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) said that there is still a gap in awareness of citizens’ rights to report what happens to them.

“Sometimes the victims do not report the cases, which complicates crime signs collection. So, there is a need to help citizens know their rights and report the cases on time,” he said.

The assessment recommends various actors including the government, Civil society, media, private sector and faith-based organizations to intensify awareness raising campaigns on SGBV, to facilitate the victims to report the cases, to strengthen referral mechanism between the victims and different legal aid service providers and to support government in rolling out a multi-stakeholder campaign to prevent and respond to SGBV among others.

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