By Rwanda News Agency
Friday, 12 March 2010
Kigali: Criminal networks are trafficking Rwandan women and children to Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania for sexual exploitation and domestic labor, a new report claims.
The largest trafficking problem is underage prostitution where women and very young girls are trafficked for use in commercial sexual exploitation, according to the U.S. State Department, in the 2009 Global Human Rights Report released Thursday.
“Small numbers of impoverished girls, typically between ages 14 and 18, used prostitution as a means of survival; some were exploited by loosely organized prostitution networks,” says the section on Rwanda.
Due to the genocide and deaths from HIV/AIDS, numerous children headed households, and some of these children are reportedly resorting to prostitution or are more likely to be trafficked into domestic servitude.
While police conducted regular operations against prostitution, the report says no statistics were available on prosecutions of those who utilized or exploited children in prostitution.
The law on prevention and prosecution of gender-based violence includes an article on gender-based human trafficking with penalties of 15 to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of Rwf 500,000 to 2,000,000 (approximately $900 to $3,600).
The annual U.S government report says the human trafficking problem is not just heading outside. Over the past year, there were persons who were reportedly trafficked within the country.
Traffickers are said to include “individuals and small, loosely organized prostitution networks” found in secondary schools and universities.
In some instances, according to the report, older students offered vulnerable younger girls room and board, eventually pushing them into prostitution to pay for their keep.
In November 2008 Ugandan authorities arrested a Rwandan national in Uganda for attempting to sell a 15-year-old boy she had trafficked from Rwanda.
The Police investigated several cases and prosecuted traffickers using laws against prostitution by coercion, slavery, kidnapping, rape, and defilement. However, the Americans say no traffickers were convicted during the year.
If convicted, the criminals face penalties including imprisonment.
Several investigations into other trafficking cases continued at year's end, including two cases involving adults caught at borders with children, according to the report.
Related Materials:
2009 Human Rights Report on Rwanda-U.S. Department of State
2009 Respect for Civil Liberties: Rwanda-U.S. Department of State
2009 Human Rights Report: Rwanda-Human Rights Watch
2009 Human Rights Report: Rwanda-Amnesty International
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