At least 40 people from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MEGPROF) and partner ministries and institutions were trained in basic counselling skills for victims of sexual abuse. The training which took place on Friday in Kigali aimed at empowering focal point people in districts with basic knowledge on how to deal with cases of child abuse. It was sponsored by International Justice Mission, a U.S. non profit human rights organisation that operates in countries all over the World to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse. “We wanted to give skills to the implementers of the National Family Policies so that they can improve on their counselling skills to simplify their work,” said Lane Mears, Field Office Director for International Justice Mission in Rwanda. Skills learnt at the training include basic counselling techniques and helping victims of sexual abuse among others. “This will be the only solution to overcome such sexual exploitation of children and child labour through conducting professional investigations of the abuses and mobilising intervention on behalf of the victims,” he noted. The Family and Children Promotion Officer from MIGEPROF, Gedeon Bahimbayandi, welcomed the move. “In fact the methods taught are good and they will do away with rape and defilement since other people just keep quiet with what they know leads to the victims’ suffering,” he said. He added that some parents don’t cooperate with their children and that’s why the latter fail to report defilement cases and end up being traumatised.
