Organized by three countries i.e Sweden, Rwanda and Canada which grouped together in what they called TROIKA in collaboration with the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), it was attended by the participants from various institutions from Government, UN Peace Keeping Missions, Non-Government Organizations, Regional and International Organizations, known under the name of Group of Friends of Corrections.
During the opening of this training workshop, the Minister of Internal Security, Sheikh Mussa Fazil Harerimana, who was the Guest of Honor said that this training workshop is highly correlated with Rwanda’s policy of promoting gender, where it clearly derives positive results from the role of women in development.
The Minister of Internal Security told the participants that there is a growing interest in female corrections, the demand for specialized female corrections expertise is increasing both within the Rwanda and outside to be specific in international peace keeping.
“The Rwandan experience is that the Ministry of Internal Security through Rwanda Correctional Service has made deliberate efforts in its strategies and policies to select, train and retain female correction officers at all levels of the correctional force, this can be manifested by the number of female correction officers deployed in UN Peacekeeping missions since 2010 in Haiti and South Soudan where they have done a commendable job”, highlighted the Minister of Internal Security.
Addressing to the participants, the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service, CGP Paul Rwarakabije said that RCS has made a rapid progress and changed the punitive methods of imprisonment to a modern correctional rehabilitation programs aimed at transforming the one time criminals into responsible citizens that will go back into their communities and live in harmony with the rest of the population. He added that this is successfully done using well selected, trained corrections officers and has minimized reoffending.
CGP Paul Rwarakabije informed the participants that as the Republic of Rwanda’s policy of promoting women and girls to contribute to the development of the country in all sectors, the female corrections officers form 60% of the total number of officers in decision making positions in Rwanda Correctional Service.
The Commissioner General of RCS said that Rwanda Correctional Service will continue to train and equip corrections officers as well as offer pre-deployment training into Peace keeping missions.
The Representative of One UN in Rwanda, Mr. Lamin Momodou Manneh said that the choice of Rwanda to host this training workshop is to be commended, in recognition to the strong contribution of Rwanda in peace keeping missions in and outside Africa. He emphasized that Rwanda is also the champion in gender equality, especially in women representation in decision making positions.
