As part of the activities to mark the 23rd commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda Youth Volunteers in Community Policing (RYVCP) have pledged to put more effort in fighting against Genocide ideology through enhanced sensitization campaigns.

The commitment comes as an addition to RYVCP’s dedication to ensuring public welfare, safety and sustaining what the country has achieved so far.

In an interview with the Executive Secretary of RYVCP, Placide Bizimana, he said: "We, the youth, are the foundation of our country’s future, so it is important that we get involved in everything and drive the agenda.”

"This is why we have committed to fight the genocide ideology through enhancing sensitization campaigns, cooperate with different institutions particularly security organs in advancing national values as well as detecting and reporting cases of Genocide Ideology,” said Bizimana.

He further pointed out that RYVCP, which currently has over 100, 000 members nationwide, has been involved in social protection programmes through providing support to the vulnerable groups including genocide survivors as well as partnering with the country’s leadership and security organs in advancing public welfare.

The youth organization has been actively involved in constructing and renovating houses for the poor, environmental protection, awareness campaigns against crimes especially those that are said to be of high impact like illicit drugs, corruption, genocide ideology, gender based violence and child abuse, among others.

Jean-Bosco Mutangana, who is in charge of trainings in RYVCP said: "We strive for patriotism... that’s why we must stand up against anything or anyone that wants to repeat our bad history.”

"In our voluntary work, we feel it’s our responsibility to partner with the government in peace building; we can’t achieve that when there are some elements of genocide ideology; that’s why we chose to join the fight against the vice and make it one of our priorities,” said Mutangana.

"Having the mentality of genocide ideology at this time when the country is rapidly advancing... is something we have committed ourselves to uproot. This negative ideology can be an obstacle to development.”

"Our visionary leadership has showed us the road to sustainable peace, security and development, which we should guard jealously, and that includes fighting negative ideologies and criminality in general,” Mutangana said. RYVCP currently targets to have about a million members before this year ends; they are mainly involved in advancing national values among their peers, supporting communities through different social protection programmes and crime prevention awareness programmes in schools and communities.

The organisation that currently include secondary and university students and those who have so far graduated, was created in 2013 by the youth whose ambition also included fighting and preventing crimes in partnership with police and local authorities.

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