Welcome to Isange, Rwanda’s model GBV centre

Lifetime physical or sexual intimate partner violence stands at 37.1 per cent in Rwanda, says data from UN Women.

While, Unicef indicates that five in 10 girls and six in 10 boys experience at least one form of violence – sexual, physical or emotional – before age 18. And the children are most abused by parents, neighbours, teachers or friends.

But this country has, for more than a decade, implemented a model mechanism to tackle gender-based violence (GBV).

I seek to find out how they have been doing it, to offer learning lessons for Kenya as it seeks to open policare centres across the country, the equivalent of the one-stop GBV centres in Rwanda.

Welcome to Kacyiru Hospital in the City of Kigali. It is in this hospital that the Rwandan government first integrated the model centre called Isange. That was in 2009.

Now, there are a total of 44 of such facilities. They are integrated in the district hospitals across the country. This expansion was a result of a successful story written from the Isange one-stop GBV centre.

I meet Isabelle Kalihangabo, deputy secretary-general at Rwanda Investigation Bureau, who explains how it works.

Here, a victim gets all the services within a private space and without moving out of the building.

The Isange facility is located on the first floor just opposite the paediatric wing and as such, no one can tell that a victim has sought such services as she or he descends, says Ms Kalihangabo.

The rooms for all the necessary services are next to each other-reception, investigator’s, medical examination and separate interview and counselling rooms for the adults and children. On the ground floor are also modern laboratories.

At the reception, the victim is received by a social worker who assesses his or her situation and determines the most immediate attention they need.

In the ideal circumstance, the social worker would accompany her or him to the next room where an investigator is waiting to register the case and take a statement from the victim. But this step can be skipped if the most urgent attention is medical examination or counselling. Then, they are taken to the respective rooms where they are attended to, the official explains.

From the investigator, a requisition for taking samples from the victim is processed. This enables gathering the evidence to aid in prosecuting the perpetrator.

The interview rooms provide a safe space for the adult or child victims to speak with the social worker or the investigator.

Then the victim moves to the next room to meet the medical doctor for treatment and examination 

After that, the victim if a child, is taken to the children's counselling room. The walls have drawings of children playing, cycling, a family, animals, trees, flowers and alphabet letters. They are also equipped with playing toys and dolls.

After receiving psychosocial, the victim proceeds to the temporary shelter on the second floor, if he or she qualifies for the service. There are two rooms for the female survivors and one for male.

Further, there are four State funded safe houses where those who have to be kept for more than one week are accommodated.

Later, they would be provided with free legal support.

Ms Kalihangabo says there are pro bono lawyers provided under the Ministry of Justice. She says the victims are advised on the legal process including pursuing both a criminal and civil case, especially where property possession is involved.

All these GBV-related services are free.

She notes that all staff who provide services to the GBV victims undergo thorough training.

Isange has two mobile clinic vans used for fetching victims from the far flung villages and sensitise the community about ending GBV.

She says Isange received 101,945 cases of which 20 per cent are of male victims between 2009 and June 2021.

Most of the victims are in the 14-17 age bracket, followed by those below nine years and 10-14. Assault and battery as well as defilement are the major forms of GBV, she says.

On conviction rate she explains: “Last year, the Judiciary declared that the conviction rate for GBV cases, especially defilement was at 70 per cent rate."

But like in Kenya, parents are compromised. They allow the perpetrators to marry the girls of 14-17 years, especially if they have become pregnant, she says.

But Rwandan government considers this a serious crime.

"Those parents are also investigated for two things; first for not reporting a criminal case and second, for failing to take care of their children," she says.

The local authorities and anyone who knew about the case but never reported would also be prosecuted, she notes.

In Rwanda, 2012 penal code allows abortion for pregnancies resulting from rape, incest and forced marriage or when the health of the woman or foetus is at risk.

She says Rwanda's integrated electronic case management system has made it possible to protect the evidence and avoid victimisation and re-victimisation of the victims.

"Investigator uploads the case into the system and evidence thereof. That means medical reports are uploaded into the system," she says, adding that those working on the case including the judge, can access the information without having to make the victim repeat her ordeal over and over again, as it happens in Kenya.

Ms Kalihangabo notes that the government has also rolled out anti-GBV management information system, reinforcing its measures to tackle the crime.

 [email protected]