During a policy dialogue organised by the Association of Genocide Widows Agahozo (AVEGA) at Sainte Famille Hotel on March 22, a mother testified that her daughter was 16 years old when she got pregnant, and the boy responsible was her 18-year-old boyfriend.
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At the nearby health centre where they had gone to take the pregnancy test, word spread that an underage girl had been impregnated, which eventually led to the boy’s arrest and subsequent incarceration.
"They were in the same class, and after being prosecuted, the boy was imprisoned. My daughter suffered as she did not want him to be jailed, in fact, they were not even aware that it was a crime,” she said.
She continued, "The imprisonment of her boyfriend affected her and brought conflict between our families. She gave birth and the child is six months old, but the boy’s father is not interested in knowing or supporting his grandchild as they believe we had something to do with the arrest of their son.”
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She also said that circumstances forced her daughter to drop out of school due to fear of stigma, or being accused by fellow classmates of having the boy imprisoned.
The case of minors
Children lack the legal capacity to give consent, and so sex with them is deemed defilement, even when the boy is in the same age group.
AVEGA, a non-governmental organisation created to help reintegrate genocide widows back into Rwandan society, in partnership with Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), started the policy dialogue to amend the law on offences and penalties, in general, relating to child defilement to ease consequences where the wrongdoer is in the same age group, as the imprisonment of the boy may have more consequences.
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Article 4 of this law states that any person who commits any sex-related acts on a child commits an offense and upon conviction, he/she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 20 years and not more than 25 years.
If child defilement is committed on a child under 14 years of age, the penalty is life imprisonment that cannot be mitigated by any circumstances. If child defilement is followed by cohabitation as husband and wife, the penalty is life imprisonment that cannot be mitigated by any circumstances.
According to a study conducted by AVEGA in five districts, it was found that in cases that include young boys where the offense of defilement involves pregnancy, girls experience the heavier consequences of the imprisonment of the boys, yet the punishment is supposed to benefit the victim.
John Mudakikwa, Executive Director of Centre for Rule of Law Rwanda (CERULAR), said that the dialogue policy is not about letting people who defile children go unpunished, and explained that the mitigation is for young adolescents.
"Any person who commits sex-related crimes on a child should be punished, we are not seeking the amendment of this law for adults who defile children, we are focusing on young boys who perform sexual acts with girls in the same age range, but are still underage so that judges can mitigate the punishment for them. We want it to be adopted in the law,” Mudakikwa said.
Etienne Kalisa, AVEGA’s executive secretary, stated that the association is ready to advocate for the purpose of getting legal aid and justice for GBV victims.
"Victims should get justice, those who committed criminal offenses have to be punished in the application of the law and legal awareness among the people, to know about laws can help decrease crimes,” he said.