Members of the National Women Council (NWC) from Karama Sector in Kamonyi District have been called upon to be active in the campaign to fight and prevent incidences of gender and domestic violence.

While addressing about 150 members of NWC from Karama on August 22, Inspector of Police (IP) Athanase Niyonagira, the District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) of Kamonyi noted that there is need to put all efforts together to understand and address the issue of gender based violence, which still undermines the rights of the women, the most affected.

This was during a meeting convened by the women representatives to review the implementation of their action plan as means to adopt new measures to respond to the existing challenges.

IP Niyonagira noted that despite the efforts, there are still cases of gender based violence in Karama, which requires concerted efforts through awareness, identifying and sharing timely information for quick response.

Although some women have understood and stood up for their rights and open up to violence they face, it should be a general among all women and men not to keep silence.

“What you have achieved in the promotion and protection of women rights is commendable; we need to build on that as a team by involving the people as well. But you need to think about the children as well. Development goes with the protection and valuing all rights,” IP Niyonagira said.

He further urged them to always sensitize the residents to prevent domestic conflicts.

Beatha Murekatete, one of the participants noted that the work of police and that of the NWC fulfills each other to ensure that rights of all people are respected.

Bienvenue Umugwaneza, the in-charge of civil affairs in Karama, urged them to work with the people to identify families affected and always share timely information with the police to prevent any likely violence or loss of lives that arise from such conflicts.