Minister Consolée Uwimana
The minister of gender and family promotion (MIGEPROF), Consolée Uwimana has encouraged young girls to avoid early and unwanted pregnancies by sticking to saying ‘NO’ to people who intentionally trick them with gifts.
That way, Uwimana said, young girls can work for a better future.
The minister made the remarks while addressing over 1,800 teenagers who attended the annual national children’s council conference held in Huye district this September 2, 2024 under the theme ‘Tomorrow Is Me’
The remarks followed a call by Solange Tetero, the Director General of Youth Empowerment in the Ministry of Youth, who was one of the speakers at the event where she asked young girls not to allow anyone to touch their bodies because they often end up doing things they didn’t plan.
“Boys, what I am asking you is to love us but do not involve us in fornication when we are still young. That ruins our lives. Just as you love your sister not to get pregnant at a young age, so should it be for the girl next to you,” Tetero said.
Solange Tetero
Teenage pregnancy has been increasing for years, with underage girls getting pregnant in 2021, up from 17,337 in 2017, according to recent data from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.
In 2022, the parliament rejected the bill that was set to avail contraception services to adolescents aged at least 15, with main considerations being culture and faith, a decision that was met with a lash back from Civil Society Organizations in Rwanda.
The minister of gender and family promotion said that all this can be avoided with a NO.
“Especially for those who have reached the stage of adolescence, I would like to urge you to beware of those who deceive you. Your age-mate (Tetero) told you to take a moment to write a consent note. I say to you, don’t give them anything and say NO in response,” Uwimana said.
Uwimana explained that: “It is NO, because other than killing your dreams, there is nothing else they wish for. A Rwandan proverb says that- he/she who has mercy that is more than that of the mother of a child, wants to eat it.”
These messages landed on open ears and young people at the conference said that they followed the advice given and also testified that the easiest thing to say is ‘No’.
“You are the one who denies it because if you agree to be tricked, then the theme ‘Tomorrow is Me’ will not be possible and you will not be you tomorrow, because your life will be in chaos”, said 16-year-old Fanny Tumukunde.
The adolescents at the conference were reminded to break the silence by reporting cases of abuse, to avoid habits like drug abuse that can be other cases of teenage pregnancies but also assured of justice for those who are or were victims- who are in most cases forced to single handedly raise a child but also infected with STD and HIV/Aids.
In 2020, there were more than 350,000 new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women 15–24 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa” Adolescents in Africa face many obstacles in accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services. To address these challenges, both governmental and non-governmental organizations are actively working to improve adolescent SRH.
To alleviate he Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS and Health Service Organizations (EANNASO) is Currently implementing a European Union (EU) Project for Solution for Supporting Health Adolescent and Rights Protection (SHARP) – a 4-year project which aims at improving the adolescents’ reproductive health in Six Great Lake region countries (Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, and DR Congo.
