Governmental Meetings

The Human Rights Learning and Action Delegation with the Parliamentary Commission on Human Rights, Unity/Reconciliation, and the fight against Genocide

Parliament Visit

Compiled By: Akaliza  Shalita and Sammy Kalisa

Our visit to Parliament consisted of a meeting with the committee for Unity, Reconciliation, and the fight against Genocide ideology. The committees’ chairperson, vice chair, and six other members attended the meeting. They began the meeting by explaining the structure of the Rwandan Parliament and their rights and responsibilities.

Mission

Parliaments mission is to legislate and oversee executive article nine of the constitution. More specifically, the committee for Unity, Reconciliation, and the fight against Genocide Ideology is responsible for issues relating to:

a)      unity and reconciliation of Rwandans and human rights;

b)      prevention and fight against the genocide ideology and all its manifestations as well as its trivialization and negationism;

c)      follow up and search for solution of effects of the genocide against the Tutsi;

d)     fight against discrimination in speeches, writings, in actions and in any other forms;

e)      all issues relating to harmonization of Rwandan laws and international conventions on human rights ratified by Rwanda, except for those that fall under the responsibilities of other committees;

f)       human rights organizations

g)      functioning of the structures of administration that have relationship with respect of human rights;

h)      consideration of the report of the National Commission for the fight against Genocide and that of the National Commission for Human Rights and preparation for the Plenary Assembly of draft recommendations within six months of the date of submission of the reports to the Plenary Assembly

The creation of this committee is due to the country’s history. Before 1994 there was no organization, public or private, which dealt with issues of Human Rights. However, after 1994 Human Rights was considered a pillar for the development of the country. Some of the achievements mentioned include:

-          Initiated the law related to fighting against genocide ideology.

-          Monitoring implementation of Human Rights activities on the ground.

-          Analyze the annual report produced by the National Commission for Human Rights and the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide and provides recommendations.

-          Promotion of gender equality in public and private institutions, specifically women’s and children’s rights.

-          Promotion of freedom of speech through private and public media institutions. As well as promotion of country dialogue achieved through interaction between the citizens and the president.

-          Power sharing in the national government, Rwanda has 8 political parties represented within Parliament, and the President, the Prime Minister, and the two Speakers of Parliament cannot come from the same political party.

-          Fighting genocide ideology through sensitization and education of the public.

After the committee’s presentation we as participants were given a chance to pose questions to the members. There were questions in regards to the rights of people, questions about the human rights challenges they face as a committee, and questions about media and freedom of speech.

Q & A

How do they feel about the enrollment of women with lower marks compared to men?

-          In the past women’s rights were not respected therefore these affirmative action programs are intended to help the promotion of women in education.

-          They also invite young men to come to parliament and participate in order for them to voice their concerns on the issue.

Commission Chair, Mr. Evariste Kalisa (left) with other members of the Commission

How do they plan to advocate and advance sexual orientation rights?

-          They stated that laws are formed in accordance with the country’s culture, so issues of sexual orientation remain private according to the Rwandan culture. Therefore it is an issue that will take time.

What are some of the biggest Human Rights challenges you face as a committee/country and what legislation has been passed in order to deal with these issues?

-          Some challenges they face are poverty amongst the people, justice for perpetrators of genocide, and health care.

-          The ways in which they have tried to address the poverty issues are through programs such as Vision 2020, a strategic five-year plan aimed at reducing poverty within the country, one cow per family, and Umurenge Vision.

-          The way in which they have tried to address justice is through Gacaca courts.

-          The issue of health care has been addressed through community/universal health care insurance, where all Rwandan citizens contribute 1000 francs per year.

Tharcisse Inquiring about Laws to Protect People with Different Sexual Orientations -- He said his question was inspired by his work during the Delegation program with Health Development Initiative (HDI)

How does the government feel and deal with issues of freedom of speech and political spaces? How long will it remain a sensitive issue?

-          They have freedom but the law should be respected, and these laws provide guidelines for the media.

-          One member stated that there are still some challenges when dealing with the media because at times it is difficult to satisfy them, and at times there are financial motives behind their complaints.

Conclusion

Overall, the committee feels as though there have been significant strides made in Rwanda in the promotion of Human Rights. The meeting between our delegation and the committee was informative and eventful, allowing us to see where and how issues of Human Rights fit into Rwandan society and government.

RELATED WORKSHOP DISCUSSION

US Constitution and Rwandan Constitution (6/21/11)

Remy and Hillary

As part of the afternoon session, Alice Umuhoza Umutoni from AJPRODHO gave a brief presentation about the contents of the Rwandan Constitution, which was adopted on May 26^th, 2003. She described it as a basic instrument with which to protect human rights in Rwanda, and explained that it deals with all civil and political rights provided in Articles 2-13 of the African Charter. Alice outlined for us some of the broad categories of human rights provided by the Rwandan Constitution, including legal rights, equality rights, democratic rights, fundamental freedoms, and mobility rights. We learned that, as in the US, a number of other Rwandan laws deal more specifically with particular human rights situations and challenges. Then the participants had the chance to ask questions about the presentation. As a large group, we then had a short discussion prompted by some questions about amending the Rwandan Constitution, and learned that additional national laws must not contradict the Constitution. The Constitution has been amended more than 4 times to provide a basis for new laws, such as the 2008 law punishing genocide ideology. We discussed the possibility of amending the Constitution without passing a referendum, and whether this would be a danger for the human rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

We then split into small groups to explore similarities and differences between the US and the Rwandan Constitutions, and came back together as a group to discuss our findings. By comparing the preambles of both documents, we recognized the historical differences between both countries; the Rwandan Constitution was prompted by a post-genocidal unification process, whereas the US Constitution’s basis was in protecting the unity of a new nation against an outside oppressor. As a group, we discussed the varying degrees of citizens’ involvement in the writings of both Constitutions, noting that the Rwandan Constitution was written with much consultation of citizens from around the country. The group also discussed the concept of “cruel and unusual punishment” as it relates to events in Guantanamo Bay as well as perspectives on the death penalty in both countries. This discussion about the death penalty also focused on how the death penalty was considered by the Rwandan participants as it relates to the punishment of genocide perpetrators.

Delegation with Edward Kalisa, Permanent Secretary at MINIYOUTH

MINISTRY OF YOUTH

June 22^nd, 2011

By Stina Amanda Renvall and Jerome Migisha

Today the international and Rwandan delegations visited the Ministry of Youth to have the opportunity to discuss what the ministry is doing and promoting for the youth of Rwanda. Before the trip, the delegates had time to contemplate the objectives for the visit. The delegates had many questions that they wanted answered such as: How are the youth represented in government? In what ways do they mobilize the youth? What can the ministry do to encourage employment and education?

The meeting at the Ministry of Youth was informative and productive. The delegates first were presented some facts about the situation of the youth in Rwanda. The official classification of youth is those aged 14 to 35. This encompasses 4 million Rwandans, which is around 40% of the population. 67% of the current population is under 30. This is a large proportion of the population. Some problems that were identified were the lack of employment and education, literacy, and that the past of genocide can manifest itself in the values and behaviors of the youth. To work on these problems and encourage improvement in the situation of the youth, there are National Youth Council structures supported by the government. These councils start at the second lowest level, the cell level, of the country. At the national level, two youth representatives are elected to parliament. This is important because it shows a representation for the interests of the youth in the political process.

One significant objective we learned about for the Ministry of Youth was economic empowerment. They intend to encourage this with the acquisition of vocational and professional skills, access to finances, and education.

Johnas (standing) inquires about the rights of his fellow Refugee Youth for Technical and Vocational Training

When given the opportunity to ask questions, the international and Rwandese delegates wanted to know more about areas such as:

• Youth in refugee camps (Q: How can they have equal access to education and training? Can they be included in the IWAWA Training center for example if they so desire? A: Yes we can consider how they can be invited to attend training camps like IWAWA)
• Sex education (Q: Can schools be encouraged to make condoms easily available? ANSWER: This is difficult because the schools are quite conservative still. But they normally allow condom demonstrations to take place, which is a step in the right direction.)
• Resources for Job Creation (Q: Especially related to the Arts; ANSWER: There is way to register businesses and arts entities on-line now for zero fee, so the bureaucracy is getting better.)
• Arts Education (Q: Given that, during our Advocacy conference in January, we identified Arts Education as a crucial thing to increase in Rwanda, to whom should we advocate for more arts education, is it MINIYOUTH, is it MINEDUC? ANSWER: Mainly MINEDUC, but if there is a project that MINIYOUTH can help with and show to MINEDUC with proof that Arts Education in Schools is going to be beneficial, then MINIYOUTH is willing to assist for sure),
• The budget (Q: Is the budget too small for MINIYOUTH?). The responses to the budget questions were that government is dedicated to the department of youth, but there are many competing demands, and thus they must prioritize their resources. This was significant because it showed the delegates the realistic restrictions to the visions of the department, but also ensured that they were committed to empowering the youth.

This session was interesting and the delegates left the meeting with ideas on the importance of empowering the youth and the functions of the Ministry of Youth in pursing these goals, and we all look forward to following up on the issues that we raised and to which we were granted informative answers.

In an intimate meeting with the Minister of Gender, Jean D'Arc addressed Hon. Minister Inyumba with a question about Gender in the Potter Communities

MINISTRY OF GENDER AND FAMILY PROMOTION

On August 12, 2011 the Global Youth Connect Learning and Action Delegation visited the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.  The Ministry is located in the compound of the Prime Minister’s Office along with the National Women’s Council, the Ministry of Children and the Official Gazette in which all changes to the law are printed in the newspaper for distribution to the country.  The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion is also referred to as MIGEPROF and directly oversees the National Women’s Council, the Youth Council and the Ministry of Children.  As the Honorable Minister, Aloisea Inyumba, explained to us in the meeting, MIGEPROF is unique in the sense that it works directly under the Prime Minister and is responsible for promoting Gender Equality and Family Promotion issues among all of the other ministries in the government, and it is therefore a ministry focused chiefly on advocacy. The Minister explained that the Ministry is responsible for looking at gender gaps that need to be filled in other ministries.  They approach other ministries regarding various concerns and keep them accountable to make positive changes in regards to gender, youth, children and family promotion.  She informed us that she herself was not responsible for instituting changes in these particular sectors but that she would advocate on behalf of these sectors to the ministries that are responsible for them.

After welcoming us, the Honorable Minister said she wanted to focus on our questions first and foremost, and areas we have seen in Rwanda that could be improved. Being as the delegation was soon to wrap up, there were many issues, concerns and questions that the group wanted to address with the minister.  The entire meeting ended up consisting of a discussion between the delegates and the Minister herself, despite the fact that they had planned a presentation on the relationship between Gender and Human Rights. We greatly appreciated the fact that they prepared this presentation, and we thought it was very useful after reading it (reading material was given to us regarding their planned presentation!). But, all in all, we were also happy that they were willing to forego the presentation to answer as many questions and concerns as possible during our limited time. We will reflect more on the presentation on Gender and Human Rights at the end of this post.

One of the first questions addressed was the issue of decriminalizing abortion.  HDI- Health Development Initiative Rwanda, one of the service organizations that GYC youth were volunteering with, is working to advocate to decriminalize abortion.  The Minister was asked what her official stance on abortion was and if they had considered advocating for this issue.  The Minister responded by saying that they will respect the law but she implied that she personally believes that this issue needs to be pushed/advocated-for by NGOs.  She informed us that the Senate was currently in discussion on this issue.  HDI-Rwanda later informed us that the senate was discussing keeping abortion a crime, and so there was an urgent need to advocate against this.

The second major issue that was raised to the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion was the protection of Domestic Workers’ Rights.  The Turikumwe volunteers working for ADBEF, a local NGO that works to protect the rights of domestic workers in Rwanda, raised some concerns, including one about the ability of DWs to start their own families when they are in employment situations that require them to live with another family.  The Ministry responded to the inquiry by saying that there were tribunals that were held to protect domestic workers but that most of the relationships were informal and could not be brought to court because there was no official documentation of the agreement.  She also commented that there was no law against domestic workers having children or starting a family, but rather is was only an issue of employer preference.  Most importantly, the Minister said that she would love to know more information, and said that ADBEF should come to see her and share all of her research with her so that she can reflect more on it and they can come to some more common understanding about best way forward. The minister was handed a copy of the flyer that the Turikumwe Volunteers created for ADBEF during their volunteering and she saw that MIGEPROF was listed as a partner with ADBEF and she said, “See, there we are, in partnership, so you need to come and share with us so that this can be an effective partnership!”

Next, the Btwa community was addressed as having many issues pertaining to stigma, food security and gender.  The Minister was very interested in this topic.  Jesse informed her that the US Aid program had stopped all food aid at request of the government, as we learned at the US Department of State- Political and Economic Affairs Office.  His concern was that the Btwa children were often not able to attend school because their families were not able to provide them with enough food to give them the energy to attend.  He suggested that if the food was requested to be supplied for children and their families when the family decided to send their children to school, that this could encourage the educational development of the community.  Staying with the theme of education, issues regarding the education of children in the Kiziba Refugee Camp were also addressed. The current situation is that the final three years of high school were not available to the refugee youth.  Also, the very few scholarships that were made available to the refugee youth were given to only to females and that many male youth felt they were being unfairly left out of this opportunity.  The Minister said that all children were protected through the Rwandan law under the Ministry of Children and that both the issues of education in the Camp and in the Btwa community were of interest to her.  She also mentioned that the Refugee camp was specifically protected by the UN’s 1951 Refugee Declaration which gives them access to health care, education and food.  She said that the issue of senior 4 to 6 classes needed to be addressed with the UNHCR whom run the camp and that the government of Rwanda is working closely with them, so advocating could help to improve their situation. Also, the issue of violence against women in the refugee camp was discussed.  Many of the female youth and women in the camp were scared to attend community and youth events for fear of violence from young men.  The concern was that sexual violence and gender discrimination.  The Minister seemed very concerned by our observation and said that the issues would have to be looked into.  The most important progress made by the conversation was a meeting that was requested by the Minister to meet with Jeanne D’Arc, who is from Btwa heritage, along with other COPORWA representatives to discuss what could be addressed in the Btwa community regarding women’s issues such as lack of education and gender based violence.  The concern that COPORWA was identifying up to as many as 60% of the young girls being married by the age of 12 was also made known to the Minister.  The Minister promised to follow up with these issues within the following week.

The Minister asked if there were any other concerns to be addressed, as she found this information very helpful.  At this time, one of the GYC participants brought up the issues that had been identified during the police station visit in Kibuye.  The state of living conditions including the fact that young children were being held in the same detention hall as the older detainees was spoken about.  Also, issues pertaining to the reason for many of the arrests being unclear and the rules regarding detainees were of concern.  The Minister said she would address these issues along with the other Karongi issues that she planned to discuss with the Mayor of Karongi. Jesse thanked her for this and then explained that we have a relationship with the Mayor, and that the Mayor has expressed an interest in working on these issues as well, so there should be a way forward.

She was asked the question, “What is gender?”  She responded by saying that gender is different than sex, but in the Rwandan constitution gender is only recognized as female or male oriented.  This is also in reference to the family structure, which is defined as a father, mother and their children.  When asked about their policies regarding LGBTI issues, she was very clear that the issues were not addressed in the constitution and culturally they were not an issue in Rwanda.  She felt that because these issues were so hidden by their culture, the need to address LGBTI issues was non-existent because there was no discrimination. Currently no “alternative” family styles were recognized and that the constitution did not discriminate but also did not recognize specific issues pertaining to this area of GYC’s work.  The Minister said that is was good that parliament did not criminalize LGBTI, but that further advocating was not needed in her opinion.  At a later meeting, John from AJPRODHO suggested that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Gender have a meeting regarding LGBTI issues, as their positions are very different.  The Minister of Health is one of the biggest advocators for LGBTI rights, and has knowledge of whatever discrimination exists against LGBTI persons in Rwanda, and may be able to talk to the Ministry of Gender regarding these issues.

Overall, the GYC participants felt that the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion was very receptive to the concerns and issues raised by our group.  She was very honest on her own opinions and on the official stance of the Ministry and government as a whole.  She made promises to follow up on certain issues, while letting us know which issues she was not going to advocate for.  This meeting was very genuine and we as GYC participants are very excited to participate in the follow up of many of these issues.  ADBEF and COPORWA are interested in increasing their partnership with the Ministry and are looking to set up specific meeting dates.  We appreciated that the meeting was a dialogue and that we were valued for the research and service work we had performed in order to advocate for these issues. The Minister also gave plenty of information regarding the ministries we should be meeting with in the future and whom we should be advocating to.

It is recommended that GYC alumni and future delegates work to follow up on all of the issues mentioned here, of course working with the local partnering organizations concerned.  With reference to HDI, suggesting a meeting regarding “issues of gender and health” could be a good way to hold a meeting regarding LGBTI issues with the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Health.

The group poses with the Minister of Justice after the meeting

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Ministry of Justice

Meeting with Minister Tharcisse Karugarama

August 12, 2011

Location: Ministry of Justice

Reporting Team: Jordan Nowotny and Sibomana Emmanuel

The final governmental site visit by the Global Youth Connect delegates was to the Ministry of Justice.  This visit had two objectives; 1) to learn about the Ministry’s role in promoting human rights in Rwanda and 2) to report to the Ministry on what we have learned during our previous site visits and our work in the Bwishyura Police Station, Kibiza Refugee Camp, and Mubuga/Karora Potters Community.

Expecting a typical reserved if not monotonous governmental meeting, our delegation was somewhat surprised to be introduced to the charismatic and theatrical Minister of Justice. The meeting began with an animated greeting from the Minister of Justice who welcomed each and every one of the delegates personally to the meeting. Following introductions, we got down to business.

The Minister started first by going over his duties and role in the governance of Rwanda.  According to him, the Minister of Justice is in charge of all judicial and legal policy in Rwanda.  Overseeing fourteen institutions, the Minister of Justice coordinates the direction of legal development and justice initiatives in the state.  To put it lightly, the enormity and importance of this position is extraordinary.  Following 1994, Rwanda found itself devoid of any governmental, social, or civil mechanisms to quell the abundance of human rights violations that had occurred there.  As the Minister put it; “Rwanda suffered the worst form of human rights violations…Rwanda was a shattered country with no hope for tomorrow…There was a total breakdown of law and order.”

As our delegation had spent the previous three weeks addressing issues related to the genocide and visiting memorial sites displaying the horror that had occurred to the citizens of Rwanda it became clear that the task of building an institution of justice was of enormous complexity and difficulty.  Rwanda was left with hundreds of thousands of people in detention waiting to be tried for their role in the genocide.  Turning to local citizens to help solve the enormous justice problems in the state, the Rwandan government began a mass campaign to recruit youth to apply to become judges, prosecutors and investigators.  New investigators were trained for three months while judges were trained for six.  As the Minister put it, these instructional programs were “crash programs in law and justice.”  Once some of the local population was trained a period of formal court hearings were undertaken to try offenders.  By 1999, 350 out of some 200,000 cases were completed.  Obviously, this was not sufficient.  With nearly all of the judges, prosecutors, and investigators wiped out by the events of 1994, there was simply no way to conventionally try any of the alleged perpetrators.  The legal professionals that were trained proved insufficient and the courts, jails, and prisons were overburdened.  The Minister described the local population and the international community proclaiming a “cry for justice” to find those responsible for the genocide as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Rwandan government decided to release all sick people and children to clear space in the detention facilities; leaving around 120,000 detainees still incarcerated and awaiting trial.  With over one million Rwandans suspected of genocide and 120,000 kept in jails and prisons the options were limited.  Eventually, the government felt that the best plausible answer was to turn to traditional community Gacaca courts to try the alleged assailants.

With this introduction, the Minister of Justice laid out the framework for the creation of the Gacaca Courts.  He described the courts as a modification of the traditional courts that sought community reconciliation.  The traditional courts were typically used to try lesser crimes and relied on entire communities working together to find the truth and try individuals that were involved in the genocide.  The Gacaca Courts have been in effect since 2005 and are set to close this December.  The Minister proudly declared that there were “1.2 million cases judged by ordinary citizens.”  Running through some unofficial numbers, the Minister revealed that approximately 25-30% of those tried in Gacaca courts were found innocent or acquitted.  5-8% were sentenced to death but altered to life in prison, following legal change barring death sentences in Rwanda.  15% of those convicted faced “life in prison” with the rest receiving between five and fifteen years in prison.  As of today, only 40,000 of the 1.2 million are still in prison as many sentences were abridged for admitting guilt.  The Minister said that “by 2015, almost all of those convicted will be reintegrated [into Rwandan society].”

Overall, the Minister of Justice described the Gacaca process as being a great success.  He admitted that it might not be “100% successful” but was the best they could do.  Additionally, the region has the “smallest rate of crime in the region [East Africa].”  Addressing some international critiques of the Gacaca process, the Minister stated that the international community was wrong in its negative assessment of the Gacaca courts.  These proceedings “don’t need lawyers or judges who have lots of schooling.”  The Minister ended the overview of the Ministry by stating that the goal of the Gacaca courts was social cohesion and the mission has been a success.  99.99% of the people going through the courts have been reintegrated.

Questions and Answers:  Following the overview of the judicial system since 1994, the delegation had the opportunity to ask some questions.

1. One of the questions asked for specific programs that were available for individuals that were being reintegrated back to civilian life after the Gacaca process.  The Minister replied that there were many alternative sentences in place than traditional prison incarceration although relatively few programs after being released from jail.
2. Another question asked the Minister to respond to international critique pertaining to the Rwandan judicial response after the genocide. The Minister responded that the Rwandan government was “condemned if you do and condemned if you don’t [regarding trying individuals for genocide].  He further explained that the government can be criticized for locking people up and for not locking people up.  The government would be criticized regardless.  [Overall, the Minister did not seem concerned with international criticism].
3. A question pertaining to possible abuses at the Bwishyura Police Station were raised to the Minister.  The Minister responded that any individual that was acting illegally would be dealt with by local “mechanisms” inherent already in place in the justice system.  Additionally, he mentioned that one of his staff would follow up on these reports.
4. We asked the Minister if were there were any elements of the current Penal Code that he felt he had to personally compromise on in order to get it passed. The minister said that there is always room for improvement, but he declined to comment on specific items that he personally felt were in need of improvement. Rather he said he preferred to focus on the positives, like the fact that they are reducing the number of prisons in the country.

In conclusion, the meeting was well received by the Minister and the delegation.  The Minister of Justice allowed the delegation to ask many questions and learn about the vision behind the Ministry’s work.

 

NOTE FROM GYC ABOUT PRESS INVOLVEMENT:

We were surprised to find that photographers were at the meeting and journalists met us outside the Ministry.  Following interviews with some of our delegation and the Minister we were pleased to see our meeting covered in the local newspaper and on television.

At our wrap up session the next day, Jesse explained what he had been asked by the TV reporter and why it was important. Jesse had been asked “What do you think about the human rights situation in Rwanda?” Jesse had tried, in French, to give a reply that included: (a) what is GYC’s definition of “human rights” — a broad framework from the right to health to freedom of expression; and (b) how GYC’s group had been able to witness great advances on many issues in Rwanda, and still the group has seen some areas for improvement (adding that this is the case all over the world of course), and (c) how we are glad to have a cross cultural youth program involved in the process!  Jesse said that the question they had asked is very easy to ask, but very complicated to answer, and hence it can be a dangerous situation. When asked, “What is your take on the Human Rights situation?” you need to be thorough in the response, otherwise the concept of “human rights” can remain stigmatized and divisive. So, Jesse said, if we are asked such things when we go home to the USA we should also try to be as complete in our response and we should ensure that we are clarifying what we mean by the terms Human Rights. 

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