{"id":2944,"date":"2026-08-12T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2944"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:58:11","slug":"minister-calls-for-stronger-action-to-protect-youth-from-substance-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/minister-calls-for-stronger-action-to-protect-youth-from-substance-abuse\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister calls for stronger action to protect youth from substance abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Minister of Youth and Arts Development, Dr. Utumatwishima Abdallah, has called on families and authorities to do more to protect young people from alcohol and drug abuse, saying a healthy and skilled youth population is essential to the country’s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utumatwishima made the remarks Wednesday during national celebrations of International Youth Day in Gatsibo District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged parents to begin guiding children from an early age and work with authorities to prevent habits that could undermine their health and prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe cannot have the strength of young people we talk about if they have been weakened by drugs,\u201d Utumatwishima said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said parents and leaders at all levels have a shared responsibility to raise children with a strong sense of responsibility and help them avoid alcohol, drugs and other harmful influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister also encouraged young people to take advantage of opportunities available to them by pursuing education, acquiring vocational skills and creating jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cited youth representation in district councils, Parliament and government as avenues through which young people can participate in decisions that affect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung people should study hard, pursue what can improve their lives and create jobs so that we can build our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some young people attending the event, vocational training is already helping them work toward financial independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diane Nayituriki, who is studying tailoring, said she hoped to turn her skills into a source of income and become self-reliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akayezu Justine, a tailor who has worked for two years after training in Kigali, said having a profession had helped her stay focused and avoid idleness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people aged 16 to 30 account for about 4 million of Rwanda’s 14.5 million population, or 24%, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister of Youth and Arts Development, Dr. Utumatwishima Abdallah, has called on families and authorities to do more to protect young people from alcohol and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,38,41,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-facts_on_rwanda","category-hot_topics","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2948,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944\/revisions\/2948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}