The Rwanda National Police, on Wednesday, sent out a strong warning against violation of children’s rights. This was during a meeting in Kicukiro District that attracted local authorities, religious and opinion leaders, representatives from nongovernmental organisations, specifically those dealing with children rights promotion, and the Police. “According to our findings, mistreating children is one of the major factors that have led some children to leave their respective homes for the streets,” said Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP), Vedaste Habimana. The meeting aimed at sharing views on the current situation about commitments of family heads to take on their responsibilities in providing for their members or children as well as devising solutions to the causes of children getting on streets. He called on participants to play the leading role in preventing cases that may ruin the future of the young generation; reminding them of the expected role of the youth as people holding the future of the country. “The economic development of any country greatly depends on its youth as a driving force; therefore, everything in our means should be done to safeguard them since it’s also among government priorities,” he said. Esperance Uwicyeza, the officer in charge of Gender, Family and Child Rights Promotion at Kicukiro District, said the district came up with a programme that encourages and supports vulnerable families to start income generating activities. “Our mission is to ensure that mothers or heads of these families can afford to take good care of their children, and this was after realising that some parents abandon their children claiming they cannot afford or support their families,” Uwicyeza said. She added that last year, the district supported 860 families. Uwicyeza explained that the district has encouraged women to join cooperatives something she said has helped in creating jobs and prevented child abandonment since parents now have a source of income.
