Rwanda

Junior Chamber International (JCI), a global agency with a chapter in Rwanda, has trained over 1 500 entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses in the last eight months.

JCI Rwanda's incoming president, Fabrice Ngoga, says that the agency will continue partnering in the country's development especially through empowering young people with skills to do business.

"We have a mandate of changing lives, we are happy with the activities in the past year and JCI will continue reaching out and impacting people," argues Ngoga.

The Rwandan minister of gender and family promotion, Jean d'Arc Mujawamariya, has urged the civil society organisations (CSOs) to be vigilant and identify loopholes in the Child Act by promoting and advocating for the protection of children's rights.

Mujawamariya says that the government of Rwanda had many achievements in terms of domestication and implementation of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the children.

Rwandan lawmakers have criticised the Dutch government's aid policy that mainly looks at funding NGOs and commits a small portion to direct budget support.

The members of parliament (MPs) say such money that is sent to NGOs is normally unaccounted and could be missued by the beneficiaries.

The Rwandan NGO, Assist Rwanda, says human rights need regular enforcement if societies are to embrace sustainable peace.

Addressing a group of youth trained to monitor and evaluate mediators, prisons and Travaux performances across the country, Assist Rwanda national director, Emmanuel Shamakokera, urged the youth to visit the rural areas and make residents understand their rights and how to fight for and safeguard them.

As part of efforts to strengthen civil society in Rwanda, the Public Sector Capacity Building Secretariat (PSCBS), has kicked off a two-week training that targets 60 elected civil society representatives from all districts.

The training is under the $0.4m project for Civil Society Institutional Support and Capacity Building that is being funded by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).

PSCBS executive secretary, Charles Karake, underscored the importance of civil society to the national development agenda.

The Rwandan Lower Chambers of Parliament has approved an amendment to the law that regulates the operations of local NGOs.

The law prohibits NGOs from fundraising for any political party. However, individual members of the NGOs have a right to have political affiliations.

Barely four months since RDB/IT introduced the two models of ICT buses, reports indicate that their impact in improving information technology is already being felt all over the country.

In a phone interview with Wilson Muyenzi, the e-Rwanda coordinator, one of the Hi-tech buses is already being used in Kamonyi district, in the Southern Province, by students and other local residents seeking IT services.

"We expect higher benefits to people in other rural areas which have been cut off in terms of ICT access," pointed Muyenzi.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda may lose its credibility unless it indicts and tries Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) officers suspected of having committed war crimes in Rwanda in 1994.

Rwanda's suitability for Commonwealth membership this year has been questioned because of its human rights record.

A report released by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) pointed out that harsh laws banning genocide ideology, harassment of independent journalists and military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo make Rwanda's accession ill-advised.