Rwanda

Female Police officers have vowed to fight for the rights of women and girls in their respective areas of operation by preventing gender related crimes, which are relatively still high in the country.

The female officers made the commitment on Saturday at the closure of this year's Female Police Convention held at the Peace Leadership Academy in Nkumba, Burera District.

Rwanda's new parliament was seated this month, with higher female representation than any other country in the world

The tiny East African nation's Parliament was seated this month and women dominated the room. In September elections they took 51 of 80 seats in Parliament – and at 64 percent, the country has the highest female representation of any nation on earth.

Women in Rwanda are at the centre of the country's development agenda, thanks to recent law reforms, MP-elect Esperance Mwiza, has said.

President Paul Kagame said that Rwanda had already expressed a strong opinion on the International Criminal Court (ICC) at its inception ten years ago - questioning it's premise - and the years that followed proved that Rwanda had made the right decision in not signing the Rome Statute. President Kagame said this at a press briefing with editors of print and broadcast.

BY GITURA MWAURA, 10 OCTOBER 2013

ANALYSIS

Towards the end of last month, the UN General Assembly passed what was touted as "a landmark declaration to stop rape in conflict."

A record 113 countries - more than half of the UN member states in one sitting - agreed to support the Declaration. The countries expressed support for strengthened efforts to end rape in war.

In the context of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and of the genocide in Rwanda, reports of sexual violence appeared regularly in the global media.

Fifty Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) officers yesterday concluded a two-day course on "prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence in peacekeeping theatres."

The training took place at Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District.

With constitutional quotas for interest group seats in their favour and all political parties legally bound to respect women's quota of at least 30 per cent of their parliamentary nominees, women may retain or even widen their majority in the Chamber of Deputies after the upcoming September elections.

There is need to invest in women's empowerment and leadership in order for countries to achieve sustainable development.

Peter Malnak, USAID Rwanda Mission director, made the remarks yesterday while opening the first partners meeting for a Women's Leadership Programme in Kigali.

The Women's Leadership Programme is a USAID-supported project that operates in four countries worldwide: Rwanda, South Sudan, Armenia and Paraguay.

UN Secretary General, Ban ki-Moon and World Bank president, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, have hailed Rwanda's commitment to end Gender Based Violence (GBV).

The two officials made the remarks yesterday after holding talks with President Kagame at Village Urugwiro.

It was the first time the heads of both institutions travelled together for a common purpose.