Government will not tolerate families allowing child marriage – Minister Busingye

On Sunday, 19th January 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Busingye Johnston visited Rubavu District, more specifically the Gisenyi Airport, where 142 bodies of victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi had been recently exhumed.

Minister Busingye point out that seeing such number of victims should remind everybody that they should do anything for that tragedy to never happen again. He said, “This moment is for keeping in mind that it [genocide] will never happen again, and for it to never happen again requires us to work for it, and we will achieve it as Rwandans.”

He added that more information will be sought until the truth on how the victims’ bodies were dumped at the airstrip is known.

On the last day of his two-day visit, Monday, January 20, 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General visited Gisenyi Hospital’s “Isange One Stop Center”, to observe how the center operates to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

The Director General of Gisenyi Hospital, Dr William Kanyankore, told the Minister that they are optimistic that the Gender-Based Violence will be eradicated, since residents do not hesitate to share information on time, and the victims are no longer afraid to say what happened to them.

Minister Busingye warned parents who decide to force their children to marry after facing defilement; he said the Government will not keep watching.

“The families that force their children to marry just because they were defiled will be charged, all of them. Even those who attend the wedding ceremony; you will then explain how you could drink at a wedding of a minor.” He emphasised.

The Minister also officiated the swearing-in of 57 Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) officers operating in Western Province and western areas of Northern Province. He especially urged them to always have Rwandan values and taboos as weapons, to avoid corruption whatsoever, and other doings that could ruin the institution’s reputation.

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