The Prime Minister Bernard Makuza who was making a presentation at the just concluded National Dialogue, said crime against women has mounted comparatively and so has requested Rwandans to oppose violence against women.
He added that out of 1000 cases, nearly 396 cases have been tried and 290 are yet to be handled while others have not been put forward because of want of evidence.
He asserted that in order to safeguard the women folk, police station has been deployed with officers charged with gender related cases. However, the women organizations did not approve of this and gave statistical evidence regarding gender based violence.
In an investigation of nearly 720 women, more than 50% amongst them have been battered by their male partners for not preparing meals on time, above 50% for suspicion of adultery, and a similarly large number had been raped during the 1994 Genocide.
Moreover, scholars have also indicated that the root cause of this high percentage of defilement and rape stems from the 1994 Genocide, where rape was used as a weapon to destroy a section of the population.
Meanwhile, Women Parliamentarians added that between 2002 and 2004, 6440 gender based violence related crimes were committed against women and children. And in 80% cases, the victims were children below eighteen years of age.
