Kigali: Rwanda must do more to curb an increasing problem of its young girls and boys being pushed into prostitution and forced labour by "organized prostitution networks", according to a report released Tuesday by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
"Older [Rwandan] females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board, eventually pushing them into prostitution to pay for their keep," says the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report. "Brothel owners reportedly supply girls and young women in prostitution to clients staying at hotels for conferences."
The report says the trafficking is facilitated by women who supply other women or girls to clients or by loosely organized prostitution networks. These networks are operating in secondary schools and universities, says the massive report that also covers all countries.
The report was released by Hillary Clinton at a ceremony at the State Department in Washington. The document commends Rwanda for "making significant efforts" in tackling human trafficking, but the Obama Administration wants more.
"Rwanda is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking," said the report.
Rwandan children also are said to be recruited and transported to Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, where they are subjected to forced agricultural labor, domestic servitude, and child prostitution, sometimes after being recruited by peers. In 2010, a female Rwandan trafficking victim was reportedly identified in Israel.
Rwandan girls and boys are said to be exploited in domestic servitude within the country; some of these children experience nonpayment of wages or physical or sexual abuse within their employer's household.
The US government is urging Rwanda to enforce the trafficking provisions in the 2009 Labor Law through increased investigations and prosecutions of trafficking offenders.
"Enact and enforce trafficking provisions in the draft penal code, thereby creating an easily understandable legal regime with clear definitions of human trafficking," the report said.
The Obama administration also wants government to launch a nationwide anti-trafficking public awareness campaign. The authorities have to establish mechanisms for providing increased protective services to victims, possibly through the forging of partnerships with NGOs or international organizations.
