Awareness campaign against human trafficking, cybercrimes and fraud

IOM and RIB have joined forces to implement a national awareness campaign against cybercrimes and human trafficking. The country-wide initiative is expected to combat these fast-growing crimes by creating awareness amongst citizens, public institutions, religious organizations, civil society and private companies across the country.

On 28 May 2019, IOM fully facilitated the closing campaign in the capital, Kigali. The overall message of the event in the local language, Kinyarwanda, is: “Sobanukirwa ibyaha ubyirinde; ubirdine nabandi, Irinde ibyaha bikoresheje ikorana buhanga harinmo nicuruzwa rya’bantu” which means “Be aware of crimes, avoid committing them and prevent others from getting involved in crimes, especially cyber-related crimes and human trafficking’’. Thousands of people from different Districts in Kigali participated in the event. The campaign begun with an awareness walk in the city of Kigali, which ended at the Nyamirambo stadium, with the intention of calling all citizens to be aware of human trafficking and cybercrimes. The Guest of Honour was the Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye; the Secretary General of Rwanda Investigation Bureau, Colonel Jeannot Kibezi Ruhunga; and the mayor of Kigali City, Marie Chantal Rwakazina.

When addressing the citizens at the Nyamirambo stadium, the Minister of Justice commented: “These crimes negatively impact the economy, people’s lives and the flow of investments to our country.” He added: "The prevention of crime is a joint action; I therefore thank IOM Rwanda for working on this with us”.

In order to share information widely and make the Rwandan population aware of the crimes, messages were also advertised on the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) two times a day during the national news for 10 days prior to the event. These type of messages and events will continuously be part of IOM’s ongoing awareness raising campaign on combating human trafficking in Rwanda.