NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Transcription

1 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 1 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Kigali, September 2014

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3 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3 The National Commission for Human Rights is provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date. Its Article 177 stipulates that the National Commission for Human Rights is an independent institution especially in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights in Rwanda. Every year, the Commission presents its work plan and activity report to the Parliament with copies thereof to other State Organs provided for by the Law. The National Commission for Human Rights was established by Law n o 04/99 of 12 th March 1999 which was later modified and complemented by Law n o 37/2002 of 31 st December This Law was replaced by Law n o 30/2007 of 6 th July 2007, determining the organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights for conformity with the Constitution of 4 June 2003 as amended to date, and with the purpose of giving more powers to the Commission. This Law was in turn replaced by Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights. This Law enhances the respect of the requirements of the Resolution A/RES/48/134 of 20 December 1993 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, establishing the Fundamental Principles of National Human Rights Commissions, known as the Paris Principles determining the organization and functioning of National Human Rights Commissions and national institutions in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights and to adapt it with the reform of the Commission structure. As stipulated by Article 4 of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 th March 2013 mentioned above, the Commission has the overall mission of promoting and protecting human rights. It also has the following special mission provided for in Article 5: With regard to the promotion of human rights: - To educate and sensitize the population on matters relating to human rights and participate in the development of Human Rights educational programmes; - To collaborate with other organs in designing strategies to prevent violations of human rights; - To prepare and disseminate reports on the situation of Human Rights in Rwanda, annually and whenever necessary; - To provide views, upon request or at its own initiative on laws, regulations of public organs in force in the country and bills so as to ensure their conformity to fundamental principles of Human Rights; - To urge relevant Government institutions to ratify international treaties related to Human Rights and incorporate them in the existing domestic laws; - To urge relevant Government institutions to submit on time the reports related to international treaties on Human Rights ratified by Rwanda;

4 4 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - To collaborate with other foreign national Human Rights institutions, local associations and international organizations in Human Rights promotion and protection activities. With regard to the protection of human rights: - To receive, examine and investigate complaints relating to Human Rights violations; - To examine Human Rights violations in Rwanda committed by State organs, those who work in the public service abusing their powers, associations and individuals; - To carry out visits to custodial places with the purpose of inspecting whether the rights of detainees are respected and urge relevant authorities to address identified cases of violation of the rights of detainees; - To particularly monitor the respect for the child s rights, women, Persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, refugees, migrant workers and members of their families and the elderly; - To monitor the respect for Human Rights throughout elections process and submit reports to relevant institutions; - To propose to relevant Government authorities measures to be taken to address and punish any violation of Human Rights in accordance with law. As stipulated in article 7 of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 th March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, the Commission has the following powers: - To receive and consider testimonies on human rights violations; - To have access to any place where human rights violations are alleged or reported including custodial places for the purpose of investigations; - To contact, interrogate and seek explanations from any person likely to have testimony, information, responsibility and expertise deemed to enlighten the Commission on scrutinizing and collecting Human Rights violation evidence; - To have access to documents, consult them on the spot or get their copies as well as any other document required by the Commission to be able to analyze and collect Human Rights violation evidence. Documents or items given to the Commission shall be returned to owners or organs of origin in a period not exceeding three (3) months; - To conduct mediation and conciliation between parties with Human Rights litigations where the mediation or conciliation does not contravene the law; - To request relevant organs to unconditionally restore the rights of any person where it appears that his/ her rights have been violated; - To request relevant organs to bring to justice any person having committed offences related to the violation of Human Rights;

5 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 5 - To carry out research on thematic issues and publish findings with the purpose of promoting Human Rights. Article 8 of this Law confers on Commissioners with Judicial Police powers throughout the Rwandan territory. The Commission staff members may be given these powers by a competent authority upon request by the Chairperson of the Commission. With regard to filing legal proceedings, Article 9 provides that the Commission shall have powers to file legal proceedings in civil, commercial, labour and administrative matters for violation of human rights provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, international treaties ratified by Rwanda and other laws. In that regard, the Commission may be represented in courts by its employees authorized by the relevant authority on the request of the Chairperson of the Commission or may also be represented by a council of its choice.

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7 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 7 NIRERE Madeleine Chairperson of the Commission KAYUMBA Déogratias Vice Chairperson of the Commission NIYONZIMA Etienne Commissionner KANYANGE Anne Marie Commissionner Me NKONGOLI Laurent Commissionner KAREMERA Pierre Commissionner KANYEMERA Samuel Commissionner

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9 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREWORD...11 I. INTRODUCTION...13 II. HIGHLIGHTS ON RWANDA III. ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION DURING THE YEAR PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Educating people on human rights Sensitizing the Rwandan population on human rights PROVIDING VIEWS ON BILLS RELATED TO THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS URGING RELEVANT GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS TO SUBMIT ON TIME THE REQUIRED REPORTS ON INTERNATIONAL TREATIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS RATIFIED BY RWANDA COLLABORATION WITH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES, NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AS REGARDS ACTIVITIES AIMING AT RESPECT AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS The right to life The right not to be subjected to torture The right to education The right to employment The right to property The right to justice The right to free movement The right to a fair trial Right to redress COMPLAINTS FOLLOWED UP BY THE COMMISSION IN THE LAST THREE YEARS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMISSION S POWER OF FILING LEGAL ACTIONS...77

10 10 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3.8 RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN SPECIAL CATEGORIES The Child s rights The rights of women, respect for gender balance and fighting gender-based violence MONITORING THE RESPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS Monitoring the respect for the rights of detainees in prisons Monitoring the respect of detainees in Police Stations Monitoring the respect of children s rights Monitoring the respect for the rights of the elderly, childless parents and vulnerable people Monitoring the respect for the rights of Persons with disabilities Monitoring the respect of the right to vote and to be voted CAPACITY BUILDING FOR THE COMMISSION FINANCIAL REPORT IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS V. PLANNED ACTIVITIES FROM JULY 2014 TO JUNE

11 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 11 FOREWORD This report comprises the main activities carried out by the National Commission for Human Rights from 1st July 2013 to 30th June These activities are stipulated in the overall mission provided for in Article 177 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date which stipulates that the National Commission for Human Rights is an independent institution especially in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights and submits its report of activities to the Parliament. NIRERE Madeleine, Chairperson of the Commission This is the reason why the National Commission for Human Rights has the pleasure to submit to the Parliament, its report of activities. The Commission s main activities contained in this report are those related to the promotion and protection of human rights, providing views on bills, urging relevant Government institutions to ratify international treaties related to Human Rights and submitting on time the reports related to international treaties on Human Rights ratified by Rwanda, activities related to filing legal proceedings and monitoring the respect of human rights of persons in special categories. Among its activities of promoting human rights, the National Commission for Human Rights organized training workshops and seminars for different categories of the Rwandan population, mainly representatives of public and security authorities, religious leaders, associations and students. It also provided views to commissions of the Parliament on bills so as to ensure their conformity with the principles of human rights; it also continued to urge relevant Government institutions to ratify international treaties related to human rights in order to help Rwanda progress to a higher level in the respect of different categories of rights. Also the Commission continued to urge relevant institutions to submit on time the reports related to international treaties on human rights ratified by Rwanda so as to show other countries that it keeps fulfilling its commitment. The Commission also continued to implement its powers to file legal proceedings as provided by Article 9 of Law N o 19/2013 of 25/3/2013 determining its missions, organization and functioning. This Article provides that the Commission shall have powers to file legal proceedings in civil, commercial, labour and administrative matters. Most of those cases are related to vulnerable children who were violated, and other people who are incapable to carry on their litigation in court, so the Commission hired lawyers for them. The Commission also investigated the respect of human rights of persons in special categories with a view to advocating for them based on its findings about those categories. This is the reason why this report presents only typical cases which illustrate the general picture of every category of rights. Some of them were included in the report for their gravity or the lessons thereof. The National Commission for Human Rights was able to conduct all the activities included in this report thanks to its collaboration with the Rwandan population and various local and international institutions. In this framework, the Commission thanks the Government of Rwanda for the funds it allocates to it in the State Budget, which helps the Commission to fulfill its mission. The Commission also has the pleasure to thank its partners and volunteers for their esteemed role in the advocacy for the population. NIRERE Madeleine, Chairperson of the Commission.

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13 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 13 I. INTRODUCTION The Commission, based on the overall mission entrusted to it under Article 177 of the Constitution of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date, and Law n o 19/2013 of 25 th March 2013 determining the missions, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, presents the report of its activities from July 2013 to June The main activities included in the report are those concerning the overall mission of the Commission of promoting and protecting human rights. With regard to the promotion of human rights, the Commission trained 1,975 persons and sensitized 34,364 persons on human rights. This shows that a big step was made because, from July 2011 to June 2012, the Commission trained 1,883 and sensitized 9,279 people on human rights as shown in the following table: Table n o 1: Number of persons trained and sensitized on human rights during the last three years ( , na ) Year Year Year Number of persons trained on human rights Number of persons sensitized on human rights With regard to training and sensitizing people on human rights, it is obvious that, in the year , the number of participants increased so much compared with the number of those trained and sensitized during the year This increase was mainly due to the fact that, the majority of the beneficiaries of lectures and training workshops were mainly schools; it is obvious that the number of students and human rights clubs in schools has increased. Concerning the number of trained persons, they increased by 545 persons while those sensitized on human rights increased by 1,723. The Commission focused on sensitizing the youth on human rights in order to establish the culture of the Rule of law and the Culture of respect for human rights sustainably. Regarding the protection of human rights, the Commission kept following up the complaints received during this year and those of the previous year still under investigation as shown in the table below:

14 14 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Table n o 2: Complaints received and followed up by the Commission during COMPLAINTS NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS N ADULTS CHILDREN TOTAL MEN WOMEN BOYS GIRLS 1 Complaints received by the Commission and those it had under examination Complaints the Commission had under examination at the beginning of July Complaints received by the Commission from 1 July 2013 to 30 June Complaints scrutinized by the Commission and for which complainants were advised to forward to other relevant authorities Complaints not examined by the Commission because they did not meet the requirements for admissibility 1.3 Received complaints Total complaints examined by the Commission Complaints fully investigated by the Commission and forwarded to relevant authorities for action Solved complaints Complaints not yet solved Complaints still under investigation Complaints not yet investigated As reflected in the table above, the National Commission for Human Rights followed up three hundred ninety nine (399) complaints that were still under examination during the previous year and received eight hundred seventy (870) new complaints as illustrated in Table 2. The total number of complaints amounts to one thousand two hundred sixty nine (1,269) complaints. One hundred ten (110) of these complaints were scrutinized and complainants were advised to forward them to other relevant authorities. Forty three (43) complaints were not examined because they did not meet the requirements. The Commission followed up one thousand one hundred sixteen (1,116) complaints of which three hundred eighteen (318), that is 28.49%, are still under investigation. Six hundred fifty four (654) complaints, that is 58.6%, for which the Commission conducted investigations were submitted to relevant authorities for action. Four hundred one (401) complaints, that is 35.9%, have already been solved while two hundred fifty three (253) complaints, that is 22.6%, were not yet solved.

15 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 15 Table n o 3: Categories of rights reflected in the complaints that the Commission followed up during the year NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS ADULTS CHILDREN COMPLAINTS MEN WOMEN BOYS GIRLS TOTAL PERCENTAGE 1 Right to life Right to health Right to education Right to employment Right to property Right to freedom of movement N O 7 Right to justice Right to redress Rights of detainees Rights of Persons with 10 disabilities Rights of historically marginalized persons Gender-based violence Right not to be tortured Other rights TOTAL Graph n 1: Categories of human rights followed up by the Commission

16 16 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS As reflected in Table n o 3, out of 1116 complaints followed up by the Commission, those coming foremost are the ones related to the right to property (329) that is 29.4%, right to justice (229) that is 20,5% and genderbased violence (137) that is that is 12.2%. Among these complaints followed up by the Commission, those relating to women are three hundred sixty three (363), those relating to men are four hundred seventy (470) and two hundred eighty three (283) relating to children. Complaints relating to the right to property (329) were so many because most complaints related to property are mainly based on land conflicts, which arose especially with the beginning of land registration process. The fact that complaints relating to justice (229) are so many was due to the reason that courts and tribunals play a major role in solving them. Those complaints include particularly the following categories: the right not to be arrested and detained illegally, the right to a fair and transparent trial in reasonable time, the right to be tried by a competent court, the right to judgement execution, the right to access the copy of judgment, right to redress and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Another big number of complaints is related to gender-based violence (137) due especially to the number of women and girls victims of sexual abuse. These complaints on sexual violence were submitted to the Commission by the Observatory of Children s Rights (ODE) operating in all the Sectors of the Country. Table n 4: Solved cases and those still pending according to the categories of rights N Categories of human rights Solved cases Pending cases 1 Right to life Right to health Right to education Right to employment Right : to property Right to freedom of movement Right to justice Right to redress Rights of detainees Rights of Persons with disabilities Rights of historically marginalized people Right not to be tortured Gender-based violence Other rights 66 83

17 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 17 Graph n 2: Solved cases and those still pending according to the categories of rights Right to life Right to health Right to education Right to employment Right to property Right to freedom of movement Right to justice Right to redress Rights to detainees Rights to persons with disabilities Rights of historically marginalized people Right not to be tortured Gender based violence Other rights Ibyakemutse Solved cases Ibitarakemuka Pending cases As reflected in Diagram n 3, and according to the categories of human rights, complaints related to the right to property come foremost among both pending cases (179) and solved cases (150). Cases relating to the right to justice come in the second position regarding pending cases (126) and solved cases (103). In the third position of pending cases come those related to gender-based violence (100) even if this category is ranked fourth when it comes to solved cases (37). As reflected in both Table n 4 and Diagram n 3 above, the category Other rights comprises the violence based on refusal to grant certificates of poverty, women abandoned by husbands, children abandoned by parents, non-registration of children in the Civil Status Registry, mistreatment of children, orphans not cared for by authorities, unlawful arrest and detention, children who fail to know both parents who are responsible for their education, and other rights.

18 18 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS II. HIGHLIGHTS ON RWANDA This section of highlights on Rwanda includes different activities related to the promotion and protection of human rights in respect of the categories of civil and political rights, economic, social, cultural, development and environment rights. In this framework, laws, policies and resolutions were adopted both at national and international level. It also includes International Conventions relating to human rights that were ratified by Rwanda. The content of this section is mainly based on the feedback given on letters of the Commission to different Ministries and other relevant institutions. It is also based on the laws, orders and instructions relating to human rights that were published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda. 2.1 WITH REGARD TO THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Civil and political rights The right to life In the framework of due regard to the respect of human dignity, preventing and fighting any violation of the right to life, especially the genocide and its ideology, there was adopted Law n 84/2013 of 11/09/2013 on the crime of genocide ideology and other related crimes. Also the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in 1994 was commemorated for its 20 th anniversary. The theme was Remember, Unite, Renew for the respect of human rights and the human dignity to be a good culture on which builds Rwanda. The 20 th commemoration of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis was characterized by different activities including lectures delivered around the country, at all levels and in public institutions focusing on strategies of giving regard to human dignity and prevention of any cause of genocide. In the framework of enhancing collaboration of countries in the prevention and fighting against the crime of genocide and other severe crimes provided in International Conventions, the UN Security Council adopted the Resolution n o (2014) condemning without reservation the negation of the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 and urging State members to develop educational programmes on genocide for the youth to prevent the genocide in the future. The resolution stressed paragraphs 138 and 139 of the report UN General Assembly (A/60/L.1) of 2005 relating to the responsibility to protect the population during the genocide, the crimes against humanity and those aiming at ethnic destruction. The resolution stated that the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in Rwanda should serve as a lesson for other countries. It also invited countries to collaborate with the Arusha International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Rwanda in the framework of arresting and bringing to court nine (9) suspects still wanted by that Tribunal. The resolution also urged countries that have not yet ratified the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to ratify and adopt laws if necessary in order to fulfill the duty to which they committed themselves by ratifying the Convention.

19 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The right to security Among the achievements in the respect of the right to security, we can mention the adoption of laws and reinforcing strategies of the national security policy. With regard to the laws, the following laws were adopted: - Law n 26/2013 of 10/05/2013 establishing the District Administration Security Support Organ (DASSO) and determining its mission, organization and functioning; - Law n 60/2013 of 22/08/2013 regulating the interception of communications. Regarding the reinforcement of the national security policy and sensitizing the population to play its role, emphasis was put on discovering drug traffickers and users. Mobilization of the population on their role in the national security continued especially regarding the delivery of information in time in order to prevent potential murders The right to vote A. Elections of Deputies All citizens have the right to participate in the government of the country, whether directly or through freely chosen representatives, as provided by Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date and Article 25 of the International Covenant on civil and Political Rights. In this framework, elections of Members of the Parliament were held on 16 September In these elections, out potential voters, about , that is (98%), turned up for the elections 1. In the respect of the principle of equality of all Rwandans and between men and women as provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003, as amended to date, which stipulates that women are granted at least thirty percent (30%) of the positions in decision making organs, 51 out of 80 Members of the Parliament elected, that is 64%, were women. B. Good governance In the framework of enhancing good governance, laws were adopted and the month of good governance was celebrated. The following laws were adopted: - Law n 37/2013 of 16/06/2013 modifying and complementing Law n 27/2010 of 19/06/2010 relating to elections as modified and complemented to date; - Organic Law n 11/2013/0L of 11/09/2013 modifying and complementing Organic Law nº 61/2008 of 10/09/2008 on the leadership code of conduct; - Law nº 87/2013 of 11/09/2013 determining the organization and functioning of decentralized administrative entities. 1

20 20 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS From 20 January 2014 to 14 March 2014, for the third time 2, Rwanda celebrated the month of good governance. The theme was «Good governance: A foundation for self-reliance». Activities of this month were prepared by the Ministry of Local Government and the Rwanda Governance Board, in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Rights and other public institutions 3. The following were the main objectives during that month: - To receive and handle complaints of the population, share with them and give them the floor to express their views; - To enhance activities of the month of good Governance so that they can occur annually; - To strengthen the principle that Leaders must explain to the population the services offered to them; - To enhance the culture of collaboration between the Public Sector, the Civil Society, the Press, and others; - To enhance the value of self-reliance and «Ndi Umunyarwanda 4 Program». The month of good governance was closed by a Meeting at national level on governance whose objective was to assess achievements made in that month and to take strategies to solve identified problems. Also an International Symposium on Accountable Governance and Decentralization in Africa was organized in collaboration between Rwanda and Germany. The Symposium aimed at learning from Rwanda s achievements in good governance and decentralization as well as to sensitize the population on their rights and responsibility in the service delivery in decentralized entities. C. Freedom of press and the right to access information One year after the adoption of the Law governing media, the Law determining the responsibilities, organisation and functioning of the Media High Council and the Law relating to access to information, some of the ministerial orders planned for the implementation of those laws were published. Those orders are the following: - Ministerial Order n o 006/07.01/13 of 19/12/2013 determining in details the information to be disclosed; - Ministerial Order nº 007/07.01/13 of 27/12/2013 determining the time limit for the provision of information or explanations of not providing it; - Ministerial Order n 005/07.01/13 of 19/12/2013 determining which information could destabilize national security; - Ministerial Order nº 008/07.01/13 of 19/12/2013 determining the procedure of charges of fees related to access to information; - Ministerial n 009/07.01/13 of 19/12/2013 determining private organs to which the Law relating to access to information applies. 2 This month was celebrated for the first time from 13 December 2011 to 30 January MINISPOC, MINEDUC, MIGEPROF, URWEGO RW UMUVUNYI, MINIJUST, RLDST, National Itorero Commission 4 I am Rwandan

21 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Right to justice In the field of justice, the following new laws aimed to promote the respect of the right to justice were adopted. - Law nº 30/2013 of 24/5/2013 Law relating to the Code of criminal procedure was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda n 27 of 08/7/2013; - Law nº 83/2013 of 11/9/2013 establishing the Bar Association in Rwanda and determining its organization and functioning; - Law n 15/2014 of 28/5/2014 modifying and complementing Law n 21/2012 of 14/06/2012 relating to civil, commercial, labour and administrative matters; - Law n 13 bis /2014 of 21/5/2014 governing the Office of Notary. Ministerial orders were also decreed in the field of justice: - The Ministerial Order n 003/03 of 03/12/2013 determining the period for putting in place orders implementing laws; - The Ministerial Order nº 005/07.01/2014 of 16/1/2014 determining modalities of the Government Support to Local Non Governmental Organizations; - The Ministerial Order n 001/08.11 of 11/2/2014 on court fees for criminal matters; - The Ministerial Order n 002/08.11 of 11/2/2014 on court fees in civil, commercial, labour and administrative matters; - The Ministerial Order nº 003/08.11 of 11/2/2014 determining the scale of fees for the professional bailiffs; - The Ministerial Order n 004/08/11 of 11/2/2014 determining the modalities for administration of confiscated property; - The Ministerial Order n 005/08.11 of 11/2/2014 relating to the execution of ban on entry into a place or restriction of movement; - The Ministerial Order n 01/Mininter/14 of 28/5/2014 determining judicial police custody facilities. There was also decreed the Ministerial Instructions n 699/08.25 of 06/5/2014 establishing the Coordination Committee at the District level and determining its mission, structure and functioning Economic, social, cultural, development and environment rights In this category of rights, highlights on Rwanda are mainly related to the right to employment and the right to good health Right to employment Regarding the right to employment, Law n 86/2013 of 11/9/2013 governing the general statute of Rwanda Public Service, was adopted Right to good health In the framework of promoting the right to good health, from July 2013 to June2014, Ministerial orders aimed to enhance the child s rights were decreed. Also meetings were held and activities were conducted with the aim to sensitize the population on the respect of the child s rights. The following Ministerial orders were decreed:

22 22 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - The Ministerial Order n 01/Mininter/13 of 14/11/2013 establishing programs and strategies for the education and care of children under three (3) years who live with their mothers in prison; - The Ministerial Order n 20/32 of 05/12/2013 relating to programs and strategies for protecting and supporting children living with or affected by AIDS virus. Regarding other achievements made in the framework of sensitizing the population on the respect of the child s rights, from 18 to 20 February 2014, the 3rd National Food and Nutrition Summit was held at Kigali. Participants were experts from different national institutions and international organizations working in Rwanda or at international level; the goal of the seminar was to promote joint and community-based action of protecting the infant from malnutrition during its first days of life. Participants in the Summit agreed on resolutions which they jointly announced based on the Five Year Nutrition Plan ( ). Particularly, they agreed that food security at home and a balanced diet in life is a fundamental human right. Participants decided that the Summit will be held once every two years to assess the achievements and take other nutrition strategies. On 19 December 2013, at the level of Province and the City of Kigali, there was held a Forum of the National Children s Council in the framework of continuing to enhance the respect of the child s rights. The theme of the seminar was «Children and the culture of Self-reliance». Also commemorations of children who were massacred during the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis was held at the level of District and national level from April 2014 to June 2014, in the framework of continuing to mobilize the youth for the respect of human dignity and to enhance the Rwandan values, with a view of building a better future that is free of genocide. 2.2 AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL International conventions on human rights were ratified Regarding the ratification of International conventions on human rights, Presidential orders for the ratification were promulgated. Some of those International Conventions are related to prevention of torture, protection of environment and filing complaints with the Committee in charge of monitoring the respect for economic, social and cultural human rights Prevention and fight against torture Regarding the prevention and fight against torture, the Presidential order nº 60/01 of 12/2/2014 ratifying the Additional Optional Protocol to the Convention against torture, cruel, inhuman and other degrading treatment or punishment, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, in New York on 8 th December 2002, was promulgated Protection of environment In the framework of protecting the environment, the following laws, orders and instructions were promulgated:

23 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 23 - Law n 57/2013 of 10/8/2013 ratifying the accession of Rwanda to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; - Law n 58/2013 of 10/8/2013 authorizing the ratification of the Treaty of 05 February 2005 on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa and establishing the Central African Forests Commission. Also the Presidential Order nº 29/01 of 24/5/2013 ratifying the Agreement on the conservation of African-Eurasian migratory water birds was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda n 32 of 12/8/2013. The Prime Minister s Instructions n 005/03 of 27/12/2013 preventing air pollution caused by vehicular emissions and machines using petroleum products in Rwanda were promulgated; Additional Optional Protocol to the Convention on economic, social and cultural rights The Presidential Order nº 61/01 of 12/2/2014 ratifying the Additional Optional Protocol to the Convention on economic, social and cultural rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 10 th December 2008 was promulgated and the Protocol entered into force from 5 May This implies that in case of violation of an individual s economic, social and cultural rights and of failure of action by domestic courts and tribunals, the individual may appeal to the International Committee in charge of monitoring those rights Enhancing the respect of the Paris Principles In order to enhance the respect of the requirements of International Principles governing the organization and functioning of National Commissions and Institutions responsible for the promotion and protection of Human Rights, called the «Paris Principles», the Presidential Order n 72/01 of 12/3/2014 establishing the candidate selection committee to the position of Commissioner of the National Commission for Human Rights and determining its mission, organisation and functioning was promulgated. This Order was promulgated to implement the provisions of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights International Day of Human Rights (2013) On 10 December 2013, like anywhere in the world, Rwanda celebrated the International Day of Human Rights by commemorating the Universal Declaration of human rights of 10 December The day s theme was «Let s promote economic, social and cultural rights for sustainable development». Particularly, at the world level, the Day s celebration coincided with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of UN Agency for Human Rights. In Rwanda, the Day was celebrated in Huye District, Maraba Sector, in the Southern Province, where the National Commission for Human Rights, officials of the Southern Province together with representatives of the United Nations visited the factory that process the coffee known the famous Maraba Coffee.

24 24 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 2.3 HIGHLIGHTS ON RWANDA REGARDING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS IN SPECIAL CATEGORIES Rights of Persons with disabilities In the framework of improving the policy aimed at promoting the rights of Persons with disabilities, the Prime Minister s Order nº 226/03 of 27/12/2013 modifying and complementing the Prime Minister s Order n 02/03 of 11/2/2011 determining the responsibilities, organization and functioning of the Organs of the National Council of persons with disabilities Rights of refugees With regard to the rights of refugees, Law n 13 ter/ 2014 of 21/5/2014 governing refugees was adopted during this year. This Law focuses on the International Principles in the respect of refugees rights as well as on the International Policies providing for sustainable responses to the refugee status. The Ministerial Order n 01/MIDIMAR/13 of 03/12/2013 determining appropriate measures of tracing family members of unaccompanied refugee children for their reunification was also promulgated.

25 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 25 III. ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION DURING THE YEAR PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Promotion of human rights is provided for by Article 177 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date, and explained by Articles 5 (1) and 6 (4) of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission organized training workshops and seminars on human rights for various categories, including: - Those in charge of handling the population s claims, including local authorities and security organs; - Those who meet and interact with many persons, like religious leaders; - Cooperatives and other non-governmental organizations; - Representatives of various associations; - Students; - People in different special categories; - Other categories of people involved in activities related to the respect of human rights who requested training workshops. The training workshops and seminars aimed at increasing the skills of decision makers or the population s councelors for their better understanding of the laws and principles of human rights while fulfiling their responsibilities. In general, training workshops and seminars on human rights help in the prevention of violence and in building the culture of human rights respect in the Country Educating people on human rights During the year , the Commission trained different categories of persons on human rights as shown in the following table. Table n o 5 : Categories of people trained by the Commission during the year N o Participants Number 1. Religious leaders Members of District councils in Musanze, Burera and Gicumbi districts Local leaders from Nyamasheke, Rusizi, Karongi and Rutsiro districts Representatives of Committees of People living with AIDS Virus in the Eastern Province Students of Mururu Teacher Training College Students of TTC Save Representatives of Persons with disabilities in Gasabo District Members of Health Centres Committees in Huye, Nyaruguru, Nyanza and Ruhango districts Members of COOPEVEM Security Cooperative in Muhanga District 61

26 26 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 10. Students of IPRC (Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center) in Kicukiro District Representatives of associations of taxi motorcycle drivers from all the districts Police Stations Commanders and Judicial Police officers at Police Stations from the Western Province Journalists representing various media from different places of the country 39 Bose Total Some of these categories play a big role in promoting and protecting human rights, the reason why the Commission pays special attention to them. These include religious leaders, local leaders, committees of health centres and police officers. Training workshops organized in were designed for the following people: Religious leaders As shown in the following table, training workshops for representatives of religious confessions were organized in different categories: Table n o 6: Training workshops for religious leaders Date Venue Participants Women Men Total 9-11/10/2013 Gicumbi Mother s Union members/byumba+ Their husbands /10/2013 Nyarugenge Religious leaders grouped in «Mouvement Pour Christ au Rwanda» /10/ /11/2013 Seeds of Peace (Kayonza) Musha (Rwamagana) Association of pastors wives in the Adventist Church and their husbands Different leaders of Musha Parish /11/2013 Nyarugenge Leaders of the Revival Church /06/2014 Kabuye (Gasabo) Different leaders of Kabuye Parish Grand Total The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental Human Rights Principles; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Children s rights in International Conventions and Rwandan laws; - Women s rights; - The Bible and Human Rights. Different leaders of Musha Parish were trained on human rights

27 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 27 At the end of the workshops, participants proved to be pleased and engaged themselves to spread the principles of human rights through their preaching and advice Local leaders In their daily duties, local leaders are in charge of addressing the population s problems and sensitizing them on the Government programs relating to their social welfare. They need sufficient knowledge in human rights matters in order to fulfil their duties successfully. In this context, the Commission trained Executive Secretaries from different districts together with Civil Status Officers, as shown in the following table. Table n o 7: Training workshops for local leaders Date District Participants Women Men Total 5-9/08/2013 Rusizi Different leaders of Bweyeye Sector, Executive Secretaries of cells, directors of schools, the members of sector s councils, religious leaders, reserve force cooperatives, health councillors, security organs /08/2013 Nyamasheke Executive Secretaries + Civil Status Officers /12/2013 Rutsiro Cell Executive Secretaries + Civil Status Officers /01/2014 Karongi Cell Executive Secretaries + Civil Status Officers Grand Total The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Child s rights in International Conventions and in Rwandan laws; - Women s rights; - The Law determining the use and management of land; - Organic Law n o 04/2005 of 08/04/2005 determining modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda; - Good governance and Human rights. At the end of the workshops, participants expressed their commitment to fight any hindrance against the rights of the population they lead and sensitize them on the values of human rights through different meetings they hold with them. They also gave the following recommendations:

28 28 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - To plan more training workshops and allocate sufficient time for them; - Relevant institutions should submit on time laws to organs in charge of their implementation and diffusion; - To reform the Law which authorizes civil servants of local administrative entities to execute judgements so that this power is granted to qualified lawyers - To help a non professional bailiff find a lawyer in case s/he is sued to court Members of District councils Members of District councils are especially in charge of District development. They also need sufficient skills in terms of human rights to be able to take appropriate strategies likely to promote the welfare of the population that elected them. In this framework, from 29 th to 31 st November 2013, the Commission trained 83 members of District councils from Gicumbi, Musanze and Burera districts, including 37 men and 46 women. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Children s rights; - Women s rights in International Conventions and in Rwandan laws; - Organic Law n o 04/2005 of 08/04/2005 determining modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda; - Law no 22/99 of 12/11/1999 on matrimonial regimes, donations and successions; - Law n o 43/2103 of 16/06/2013 governing land use and management in Rwanda; - Right to security; - Security institutions and human rights; - Good governance and Human rights. Members of District councils appreciated the training workshops and engaged themselves to do their best to ensure that all development programs and decisions taken in their respective districts take the principles of human rights into consideration Training workshops for special categories One of the special attributions of the Commission in promoting human rights is monitoring the respect of the rights of special categories. In this framework, the Commission trained committee members of the following categories, to enable them to strive for their own rights and the rights of the people they represent, so that they can also assist the Commission in monitoring the respect of those rights by providing it with information.

29 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 29 A. Members of Committees of People living with HIV/AIDS in the Eastern Province From 22 nd to 23 rd August 2013, at Centre d Accueil AVEGA, located in Rwamagana District, the Commission trained 56 members of Committees of People living with HIV/AIDS, including 28 men and 28 women. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Rights of People Living with AIDS Virus. At the end of the workshop, participants engaged themselves: - To strive for their rights; - To collaborate with the world in the prevention of new contamination; - To dare deliver lectures among the population at their own initiative. They also gave the following recommendations: - To be represented in the Parliament as a special category; - Not to be discriminated in the grant of scholarships abroad; - To be allowed to join the police and the army. B. Persons with disabilities From 17 th to 18 th October 2013, the Commission trained 70 members of committees of Persons with disabilities in Gasabo District, including 56 men and 14 women. The workshop focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Rights of Persons with disabilities. Participants appreciated the workshop and gave the following recommendations: - To be granted further and longer training workshops; - To be trained jointly with other people.

30 30 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Members of Health Centres Committees Health Centres Committees are composed of representatives of different categories of the population, including medical professionals, teachers, traders, etc. They are an efficient channel that can help in diffusing messages related to human rights to the majority of the population. In this framework, the Commission continued to train the members of these committees, which was launched in the year Members of Health Centres Committees in a training workshop at Kabgayi From 7 th to 8 th November 2013, the Commission trained 163 members of those committees in Huye, Nyaruguru, Nyanza and Ruhango districts, including 102 men and 61 women. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights of Persons with disabilities; - Right to medical care. Participants appreciated the workshop and gave the following recommendations: - Considering the importance of the training received, participants requested to be granted further and longer training workshops; - They requested installation of infrastructures that will facilitate special categories to access different services Students of high schools The youth, especially high school students, are future leaders and are those citizens willing to promote and protect human rights. It is, therefore, necessary to care for this category. In this context, the Commission trained students of Teacher Training College of Mururu and Teacher Training College of Save. The following table shows how the training workshops were organized.

31 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 31 Table n o 8: Training workshops in high schools Date School Number of participants Boys Girls 21-22/10/2013 TTC Mururu /10/2013 TTC Save Grand Total The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Children s rights in International Conventions and in Rwandan laws Students of Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center Institute Apart from high school students, the Commission also trained 34 students, members of the Human Rights Club, of IPRC Institute from 17 th to 19 th December 2013 including 24 boys and 10 girls. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Children s rights in International Conventions and in Rwandan laws; - Women s rights in Rwandan laws and in International Conventions; - Role of the youth in promotion and protection of human rights. At the end of the training, participants requested: - To be offered further and longer training workshops in order to increase their skills and be able to sensitize the other youth on human rights Members of COOPEVEM Cooperative 5 in Muhanga From 17 th to 18 th December, the Commission trained 61 members of COOPEVEM Security Cooperative, which is in charge of security in Muhanga District, including 49 men and 12 women. 5 Muhanga Veterans Cooperative

32 32 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Right to security; - Security institutions/organs and human rights. Participants appreciated the training and requested for further and longer training workshops Representatives of associations of taxi motorcycle drivers from all the districts From 23 th to 24 th January 2014, at Mount Kigali Hotel, located in Nyarugenge District, the Commission trained 59 representatives of associations of taxi motorcycle drivers on human rights. The training workshop was especially aimed to mobilize them on playing a role in the protection of the child s rights and to sensitize members of their associations. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Children s rights in Rwandan laws; - Debate on the reports from districts about violations of children s rights in 2013; - Role of motorcycle drivers in the child s rights protection. At the closure of the training workshop, motorcycle drivers engaged themselves: - To request their cooperative to set up a committee in charge of monitoring the discipline of their Cooperative members regarding the respect of human rights in general and the child s rights in particular; - To transmit the knowledge acquired in the training to their colleagues; - To set up clubs that aim to fight against child violence; - To request the compilation of an annual report on the behaviour of motorcycle drivers in order to take appropriate measures Police Stations Commanders and Judicial Police at Police officers Stations from the Western Province From 7 to 9 May 2014, the Commission trained Police Stations Commanders and the Judicial Police officers from the Western Province. The workshop was held at Kabgayi, in Muhanga District, and was attended by 65 police officers, including 50 men and 15 women.

33 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 33 Themes discussed include: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Civil and political rights; - Economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - Children s rights in Rwandan laws and in International Conventions; - International Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; - International mechanisms for the protection of human rights; - Laws governing arrest and detention. At the closure of the workshop, police officers thanked the Commission for the training workshop. They promised to improve their work by respecting the rights of everybody through the respect of laws. They gave the following recommendations: - Such training workshops should be given to Police Stations Commanders in other provinces and to the police staff in general; - They expressed their wish for further and longer workshops; Commission Officers together with trained Police Commanders - They also requested that the book entitled «Servir et protéger 6» by C. De Rover published by the Red Cross International be translated into Kinyarwanda and distributed among police officers Journalists Media plays an important role in changing the mind of the population; they are a good channel that the Commission can use in diffusing the Principles of human rights. Journalists need to understand well human rights in order to help the Commission to enhance the values of mutual respect, tolerance and human rights. They also need to understand the monitoring and respect of human rights at international level. Particularly, they must have the knowledge related to periodic reports requested from countries that have ratified International Conventions (Periodic Reports) in order to play their role in the dissemination of the recommendations given, how they are implemented and how such reports are prepared. In this framework, from 12 th to 13 th June 2014, in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Rwanda, the Commission organized a training workshop for journalists. The workshop was held at Kabgayi, in Muhanga District, and was attended by 39 journalists, including 5 women and 34 men. The lectures focused on the following themes: 6 To serve and protect

34 34 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - The UN Agency for Human Rights; - The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report on the respect for human rights and the periodic reports on the implementation of International Conventions requested from the countries which have ratified them; - The right of expression as a human right: principles of the right to access and diffuse information; - Groups work: Approach that can be used by media to sensitize the population on the reports related to the respect of International Conventions ratified by countries. At the end of the training, journalists appreciated the workshop and gave the following recommendations: - They requested that the recommendations made on periodic reports relating to the respect of International Conventions ratified by countries be published and disseminated in Kinyarwanda; - To facilitate journalists to access information as provided for by the Law related to access to information; - Collaboration between journalist in disseminating the recommendations relating to periodic reports on the respect of International Conventions ratified by countries; - Establishment of a network of journalists, the national Commission for Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in the framework of diffusing the conclusions of that training workshop Sensitizing the Rwandan population on human rights From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission delivered lectures on human rights to different categories including: students of high schools and higher education institutes; it also delivered messages through the celebration of annual days Lectures in high schools The Commission delivered lectures in high schools of Kirehe, Ngoma and Nyagatare districts. Students following lectures on human rights Table n o 9: Delivery of lectures in high schools Date District Sector School Number Boys Girls 24/2/2014 Kirehe Mushikiri GS Mushikiri GS Bisagara

35 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 35 GS Karambi /02/2014 Nyarubuye GS Migongo GS Nyamateke GS Nyabitare E S Nyarubuye /02/2014 Mpanga GS Mpanga GS Kankobwa GS Nyakabungo /02/2014 Nasho &Mahama GS Rugoma APENA Nasho GS Paysanat D GS Paysanat L /02/2014 Nyamugari GS Paysanat G GS Kiyanzi GS Rusumo Lycée de Rusumo Total Date District Sector School Number Boys Girls 12/05/2014 Ngoma Gatore GS Curazo GS Kirehe GS Gatore GS Rwantonde /05/214 Kirehe GS Nyabigega GS Nyakarambi E Secondaire de Rusumo /05/2014 Kigina GS Rugarama II APAPEN GS Kigina Rusumo High School /05/2014 Kigarama GS Gasenyi GS Musaza GS Kigarama GS Nyankurazo /05/2014 Musaza GS Nyakiriba GS Gacuba GS Murambi II GS Rugango Total

36 36 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS NYAGATARE Date District Sector School Number Boys Girls 24/02/2014 Nyagatare Karangazi GS Rugabagaba (9YBE) Akagera High School GS Nyamirama (9YBE) Karangazi Secondary School /02/2014 Matimba Hillside High School Kagitumba High School GS Matimba TTC Matimba /02/2014 Rukomo GS Rurenge ES Rukomo (SO.P.E.M.) Gatunda GS Rwebare ETP Nyarurema /02/2014 Mimuli GS Gakoma GS Cyabayaga Rwimiyaga GS Nyarupfubire Rwimiyaga TSS /02/2014 Rwempasha GS Kabare GS Rwempasha Nyagatare GS Cyonyo GS Nyagatare Igiteranyo /05/2014 Bright Academy School Nyagatare Secondary School Mary Hill Girl s School Karangazi GS Ryabega /05/2014 Katabagemu GS Rutoma GS Nyakigando Matimba GS Kagitumba Cleveland Technical TS /05/2014 Musheri GS Nyamiyonga GS Musheri Kiyombe GS Gitenga GS Kabare II /05/2014 Tabagwe GS Runyinya GS Tabagwe

37 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 37 Mukama GS Bupfunda GS Gishororo /05/2014 Rwimiyaga GS Kabeza GS Gacundezi Karangazi GS Musenyi GS Rwisirabo Total Grand Total Themes of the lectures: - Mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights; - Fundamental principles of Human Rights; - Children s rights. At the end of the lectures, students expressed their appreciation of the Commission in schools, committed themselves to transmit the knowledge acquired to the other youth and to their parents. They also gave the following recommendations: - To organize competitions in schools on matters relating to human rights; - To organize training workshops for parents to help them know human rights; - To help students set up human rights clubs which can help them implement human rights; - To be often visited and sensitized on other rights by the Commission Lectures in solidarity camp of ex-combatants from the Democratic Republic of Congo The Commission delivered lectures to ex-combatants in Mutobo Solidarity Camp, located in Musanze District. The lectures were delivered to 341 persons and focused on themes listed in Table n o 9 below: Table n o 10: Delivered lectures Date Number Themes debated - Role of the judiciary in human rights; 07/09/ Rights and duties of the citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda. - International Convention and Rwandan laws punishing discrimination and sectarianism; 21/09/ International Convention and Rwandan laws on the prevention and punishment of Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; - Rwandan laws punishing Genocide ideology.

38 38 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 30/12/ /01/ /4/ International Convention and Rwandan laws on the prevention and punishment of Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; - Explanantions of the Genocide ideology crime and its punishment in Rwandan laws; - Role of the judiciary in the respect of human rights. - Rights and duties of the citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to date; - International Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination; - Rwandan laws punishing discrimination and sectarianism. - Role of the judiciary in the respect of human rights; - Rights and duties of the citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to date; - History of the Genocide ideology; - International laws on the elimination of all forms of discrimination; - International Convention and Rwandan laws on the prevention and punishment of Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes - International Convention and Rwandan laws punishing discrimination and sectarianism Lectures delivered to journalists On 23 April 2014, in partnership with Pax Press, the Commission delivered lectures to 45 journalists, in Musanze District. The lectures focused on the following themes: - Freedom of the press is part of human rights; - How the right to access information may not hinder other human rights, and the benefits of the population to access information; - Law n o 04/2013 of 08/02/2013 relating to access to information and Ministerial orders of the Minister of Local Government and the implementation of that Law Lectures delivered in the workshop of the Committee of the Observatory of Children s Rights at national level On 24 February 2014, at Classic Hotel, Kicukiro District, Kigali City, there was held a workshop of the Committee of the Observatory of Children s Rights (ODE) at national level. There were 127 participants in the workshop including members of ODE Committee together with other people from different institutions. The theme of the workshop was «Gender-based violence against children and its consequences». The following lectures were delivered in this workshop: - Organization and mission of the Observatory of Children s Rights; - Implementation of the resolutions from the previous workshop; - Reports on the violation of the child s rights in 2013; - Monitoring of the crime of rape against children and measures of its prevention in the Judicial Police, in the Prosecution and in courts.

39 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Commemorating annual days The Commission mobilizes the Rwandan population through the commemoration of International Annual Days relating to human rights. By commemorating them, the goal of the Commission is to sensitize Rwandan citizens on human rights through oral or written press, banners, brochures and by delivering conferences to different categories of people. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission played a role in commemorating the following annual days relating to human rights: - On 3 rd December 2013, International Day of Persons with disabilities: The theme at international level was: «Break barriers, open doors: For an inclusive society for all». The Commission attended the celebrations of this day held in Huye District. Various messages relating to this Day were delivered and prizes were awarded to Persons with disabilities who made achievements for their own development. - On 9 th December 2013, Anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Commission delivered lectures in higher learning institutions, on the following theme: «Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide at international level and in Rwanda». Table n o 11 Shows how the lectures were delivered Date Beneficiaries Venue Number of participants Boys Girls 9/12/2013 Students of INATEK/Kibungo Kibungo INES/Ruhengeri Musanze Byumba School of Nursing Gicumbi IPB/Byumba Gicumbi Tumba College Tumba ICK/Kabgayi Kabgayi Grand Total On 10 December 2013, the International Day of human rights: The Day s theme was: «Let s promote economic, social and cultural rights for sustainable development». This day, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the International Organization for Human Rights, was celebrated in Huye District. Ceremonies of the Day were attended by the leaders of the Southern Province. The National Commission for Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice, Huye District, the UN Agency for Human Rights and the French Embassy visited Maraba Coffee Processing Plant. These officials delivered messages The Chairperson of the Commission awarded prizes to excellent coffee growers

40 40 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS relating to that Day to the population during the ceremonies which were held in Kizi Cell. The Commission also awarded prizes to excellent coffee growers. - On 8 th March 2014, International Women s Day: The day s theme at international level was «Inspiring change». At national level, the theme was «Build on achievements to inspire change». For the celebration of the Day, the Commission joined COCOF Cooperative 7 located in Kamonyi District and delivered lectures to its 450 members, including 380 women and 70 men on the following themes: - Gender and women s rights; - Child s rights; - Parents evening. - On 7 th April 2014, 20 th Commemoration of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi: The theme was Remember-Unite- Renew. In the framework of the 20 th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsis, the Commission delivered lectures in higher learning institutions on the theme Remember and build the future. Students of AUCA University at Masoro during lectures Table n o 12 Shows how the lectures were delivered Date Venue Number Boys Girls 3/4/2014 INILAK/Nyanza /4/2014 KIST/KHI /4/2014 UNR /4/2014 UAAC Grand Total On 1 st May 2013, The International Labour Day. The Day s theme at national level was «Work in order to be self-reliant». As was planned in the program at national level, employers and employees shared about the strategies that can enable them improve their productivity. In this framework, Commissioners and the staff of the Commission celebrated the day at Nobleza Hotel in Kicukiro District, and discussed the trategies that can enable the staff to improve their service delivery and shared about the difficulties they encounter. 7 Women s Consultative Council

41 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 41 - On 16 June 2014, the African Child Day. The theme at the level of the African Union was «Quality, free, compulsory and suited education for all African children». At national level, the theme was «Let s remember the children who were victims of the Genocide». The Commission joined the students of Youth Village Agahozo Shalom High School, located in Mataba Village, Karambi Cell, Rubona Sector, Rwamagana District. At the beginning, this high school received orphans survivals of the Genocide, but now it receives all vulnerable orphans. On this day, the Commission organized competition of poems on the theme «Let s fight discrimination and the culture of impunity, and prepare a brighter future». On 11th June, the Commission awarded prizes to the first 5 children who composed the best poems and offered balls to schools, during the ceremonies which were attended by the Vice-Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs of Rwamagana District. In addition, a lecture on the following theme «Remember-Unite-Renew» was delivered to 500 students, including 120 boys and 380 girls Radio and TV broadcasts As usual, in the framework of continuing sensitization of the Rwandan population on human rights, the Commission produced a broadcasting emission Uburenganzira iwacu every Thursday from six o clock to six fifteen (18:00-18:15 ) p.m. on Radio Isango Star. In this regard, the National Commission for Human Rights produced emissions on various themes relating to Human Rights and its activities aimed at promoting and protecting Human Rights The emissions focused on the following themes: - Let s eliminate the worst forms of child labour; - The child s rights must be respected by all institutions; - Monitoring the child s rights should be done permanently; - Monitoring the respect of the child s rights is a constant action; - UPR: Universal Periodic Review; - Let s know the principles and characteristics of human rights; - Let s learn, promote and protect human rights; - People chased from Tanzania have right to their property; - Human rights are not discriminatory; - No person should be discriminated for any reason; - Having rights does not imply to be above the laws; - Religious leaders have big role in promoting human rights; - Promoting human rights does not exclude anybody; - Let s promote economic, social and cultural rights; - Prevention of the Genocide Crime is every person s duty;

42 42 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Human rights are one of the pillars of people s welfare; - Knowing laws helps in fulfilling one s duties; - Promoting and protecting human rights is a permanent action; Every person has the duty to respect others rights; In addition, two emissions were broadcast on the national Radio and TV, in the framework of continuing to sensitize the Rwandan population on the protection and promotion of human rights. One of them is KUBAZA BITERA KUMENYA broadcast on 1 December 2013, when the Commission was preparing to commemorate the International Day of Human Rights. In this emission, explanations were given about the year s theme at world level «20 years striving for your rights». At national level, the theme was «Let s promote economic, social and cultural rights for sustainable development». The second emission in KUBAZA BITERA KUMENYA was held on 14 June 2014 in the framework of commemorating the African Child Day. The emission focused on the theme at national level adopted for the 20th Anniversary of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis which was «Let s remember the children massacred in the Genocide». The Commission had planned that activities on the African Child Day in 2014 should focus on the theme «Let s fight discrimination and the culture of impunity, and prepare a brighter future». The Commission chose this theme in the framework of continuing to sensitize the Rwandan population, especially the youth, on the principles of human rights, particularly the principle of non-discrimination. 3.2 PROVIDING VIEWS ON BILLS RELATED TO THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS In the framework of implementing the Commission s mission provided for in article 5, paragraph 4, of the Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, stating to provide views, upon request or at its own initiative on laws, regulations of public organs in force in the country and on bills so as to ensure their conformity to fundamental principles of Human Rights, from July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission prepared and submitted to the Parliament written views on three (3) bills. The Commission also followed up, in the Parliament, both Chambers, the activities aimed at analyzing four (4) bills for Rwandan laws to be based on International Principles of Human Rights included in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda and International Conventions ratified by Rwanda Providing written views on bills From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission provided views on the following bills: - Draft Law regarding disaster management; - Draft Law regarding matrimonial regimes, family donations and successions; - Draft Law governing the organization of pension scheme Views on the Draft Law regarding disaster management The National Commission for Human Rights, in its letter n CNDP/MAY/595/13.14 of 16 May 2014,

43 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 43 submitted its views to the Parliament/Chamber of Deputies on the Draft Law regarding disaster management. The views were provided on the following articles: - To consider on Article 49 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date which provides for the right to a healthy and satisfying environment and on the articles relating to procedure of law drafting, in the preamble: the Commission noticed that this article of the Constitution was not considered on whereas it is an important article as it attributes to the Government the responsibility to ensure to every citizen s right to a healthy and satisfying environment. - To consider on all the main International Conventions in the preamble: the Commission found some International Conventions ratified by Rwanda containing important articles on human rights and their respect in the process of disaster management which were not considered during the preparation of the bill. It therefore requested that they can be considered in the preamble. These include: the International Convention on the Children s rights of 20 November 1989 ratified by the Presidential Order n 773/16 of 19/9/1990, in its articles 2; 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 28 and 30; the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child ratified by the Presidential Order n 11/01 of 30/5/2001 and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa ratified by the Presidential Order n 11/01 of 24/06/2004, especially in its articles 6 and 19 and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) as ratified by the Presidential Order n 121/01 of 15/12/2011, especially in its articles 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12 and To consider the Organic Law n 04/2005 of 8/4/2005 determining modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda, in the preamble: the Commission found that some essential articles of this Organic Law were not considered whereas the are related to disaster management. Those articles are: Article 63 which provides for free access to sufficient information on the environment; Article 64 which stipulates that the population has the obligation to conserve the environment by individual action or through collective activities, associations of the environment, in preparing green spaces and reserved areas and other activities that promote environment; Article 78 which stipulates that appropriate measures for the conservation of the environment shall be taken and standardization and management services for the environment shall ensure strict compliance. - To provide for the rights of the victims of disasters: the Commission noticed that, throughout the Bill, there was no clear responsibilities of the Government to protect and assist the victims of disaster, both in disaster areas or in the new places where they are displaced inside the country. In the framework of protecting and assisting them, the Commission suggested that new articles be added regarding the following rights: - Right to security of people and their property; - Right to live as a family (family reunification); - Right to assistance regarding basic needs in life such as potable water, food, beddings, shelter, medicines, etc; - Right to return at own initiative after the cause of the disaster is over;

44 44 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Right to reintegration into ordinary life; - Right to be registered in the Civil Status Registry (births, marriages, deaths, etc); - Children s right to education; - Right of people in disaster to play their role in decisions concerning them. - To provide a transitional provision regarding disaster management after the Law is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda pending the publication of the Prime Minister s Order governing the Members of the Executive Committee for disaster management, its organization and functioning. The Commission found that, in the framework of implementing the Law after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda, the publication of the Prime Minister s Order governing the Members of the Executive Committee for Disaster management at national level should not exceed six months (6). The Commission requested that, in the new article, be inserted that during that period, actions relating to disaster management should be the responsibility of the Ministry in charge of disaster management Views provided on the Draft Law regarding matrimonial regimes, family donations and successions The National Commission for Human Rights provided views on various articles of the Draft Law regarding matrimonial regimes, family donations and successions so that the Commission of the Parliament/Chamber of Deputies, which was analyzing it, could consider them in finalizing the Bill. Letter n CNDP/AUG/044/14.15 of 4 August 2014, written by the Commission to the Parliament/ Chamber of deputies, presents its views on the following articles: - To consider the Bill on International Conventions relating to the right to property. The Commission found that the Bill did not considered some important International Conventions. These Conventions are: 1. The International Convention on economic, social and cultural rights of 16 December 1966, ratified by the Presidential Order n 8/75 of 12/02/1975, in its articles 3 and 10; 2. The International Convention on civil and political rights of 19 December 1966, ratified by the Presidential Order n 8/75 of 12/02/1975; 3. The International Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women of 18 December 1979, ratified by the Presidential Order nº 431/16 of 10 November 1980; 4. The International Convention on Person living with disabilities, adopted by the UN General Assembly of 13 December The Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women, ratified by the Presidential order nº 11/01 of 24/6/ To explain well some articles of this Bill. In this framework, views were provided on articles displayed in the following table:

45 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 45 Table no. 13 Show articles of the bill ARTICLE WORDING IN THE BILL PROPOSED WORDING Preamble Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date, especially in its articles 26, 27, 28, 62, 88, 90, 108, 118, 121 and 201; After the Constitution, the following should be added: - Pursuant to the International Convention on economic, social and cultural rights of 16 December 1966, ratified by the Presidential Order n 8/75 of 12/02/1975, in its articles 3 and 10; - Pursuant to the International Convention on civil and political rights of 19 December 1966, ratified by the Presidential Order n 8/75 of 12/02/1975, in its article 23; - Pursuant to the International Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women of 18 December 1979, ratified by the Presidential Order nº 431/16 of 10 November 1980 in its article 16; - Pursuant to the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People s Rights regarding women s rights, ratified by the Presidential Order nº 11/01 of 24/6/2004) in its article 6. Article 4: Types of matrimonial regimes Having reviewed the Law n 22/99 of 12 November 1999 to supplement Book One of the Civil Code and to institute Part Five regarding matrimonial regimes, liberalities and successions. Article 4, paragraph 2 stipulates that if the spouses make no election, they shall be married under the community property regime. Article 4, paragraph 2 should be formulated as follows: The Civil Status Officer shall explain, to prospective spouses, all types of matrimonial regimes provided for by law. The spouses must choose one type. Article 4, paragraph 3 should be formulated as follows: Accepted matrimonial regimes are the following: 1 Community property; 2 Limited community property; 3 Separation of property.

46 46 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Article 5: Management of property in the community property regime Article 19: Choice of matrimonial regime by authorized minors and legally incompetent persons of full age Article 22: Divestment of the right to administer patrimony Article 69: Order of irregular heirs Article 5, paragraph 3: Immovable or movable property registered in one spouse s name shall also be registered in the other s name through a notation on the title so that the latter can also benefit from it. Article 19, paragraph one: When one of the spouses is a minor authorized to marry, his/ her choice of matrimonial regime shall be done upon the advice of the person exercising parental authority over him/her. Article 22, paragraph one: Notwithstanding the matrimonial regime, if one of the spouses compromises the interests of the household by depreciating family patrimony or his/her own property, s/he may be divested of the rights of administration, enjoyment and disposal of his/her patrimony upon request by the other spouse or any interested third party. Article 69, paragraph one: The surviving spouse succeeds together with the heirs of the second level. In the absence of heirs at the second level, s/he succeeds together with heirs of the third level, and so forth. In the absence of any other legal heirs, s/he succeeds to the whole patrimony of the de cujus. Article 5, paragraph 3: Both spouses shall have equal rights on the immovable or movable property registered in one spouse s name. It can also be registered in the other s name if s/he wishes so. The Commission considers that paragraph one of Article 19 should be removed from the Bill. Article 22, paragraph one: Notwithstanding the matrimonial regime, if one of the spouses compromises the interests of the household by depreciating family patrimony or his/her own property, s/he may be divested of the rights of administration and disposal of his/her patrimony upon request by the other spouse or any interested third party. Article 69, paragraph one: Unless it is decided by courts in a final resolution that the surviving spouse played a role in the death of the other, s/he equally succeeds together with other heirs of the first level. In the absence of heirs at the first level, s/he succeeds to the whole patrimony of the de cujus if they had chosen the community property regime».

47 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 47 Article 69, paragraph 2: If spouses had chosen separation of property, the surviving spouse succeeds together with the heirs of the first level. In the absence of heirs at the first level, s/he succeeds together with theirs of the next level, and so forth. In the absence of any other legal heirs, s/he succeeds to the whole patrimony of the de cujus.» Article 69, paragraph 3: For spouses married under the limited community property regime, the succession rules for community of property shall apply to their common property and the rules for separation of property shall apply to any personal property. Adding new articles relating to the rights of Persons with disabilities in this Bill: the Commission found that no part of the Bill provides for the rights of Persons with disabilities whereas this category of people needs special protection regarding matrimonial regimes, family donations and successions. Besides, the Commission found that the Bill did not consider Article 12 (5) of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, which stipulates that subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of Persons with disabilities to inherit property [...], and shall ensure that Persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property Follow up of the process of analyzing bills in standing committees of the Parliament, both Chambers The Commission followed up, in different committees of the Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, the process of analyzing the bills on which it had provided views as well as those on which no views were provided but which are related to human rights. Here is a list of those bills: - Draft law governing the organization of pension scheme; - Draft law governing persons and family; - Draft law relating to disaster management; - Draft law regarding matrimonial regimes, family donations and successions. 3.3 URGING RELEVANT GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS TO SUBMIT ON TIME THE REQUIRED REPORTS ON INTERNATIONAL TREATIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS RATIFIED BY RWANDA In the framework of implementing its mission provided for in Article 5, paragraph 6, of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the missions, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, namely to sensitize relevant Government institutions to timely submit reports on International Conventions ratified by Rwanda, the Commission made the following main achievements:

48 48 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Urging relevant Government institutions to submit required reports on time In the framework of urging relevant institutions to submit on time the reports required both at international and African levels provided for by the International Conventions on Human Rights (periodic reports), the Commission wrote to the Minister of Justice/Attorney General the letter n CNDP/MAY/612/13.14 of 26 May 2014 and informed the Right Honourable Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. The letter requested the Minister of Justice to speed up the submission of delayed reports and those which are almost due. Here is the list of those reports: - Initial report on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, which had to be submitted by 14 January 2011; - 11 th and 12 th reports on the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights of 1981, which had to be submitted in 2012; - 7 th, 8 th and 9 th reports on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which had to be submitted in September 2014; - The 1 st report on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which will be submitted in 2014; - Preparing the Report on the Universal Periodic Review (Second Cycle). The report must be submitted by 20 July In the above-mentioned letter to the Minister of Justice/Attorney General, the Commission also showed him that the Government of Rwanda has delayed authorizing the Commission in charge of Fighting Torture to submit the list of problems for which answers must be provided before submission of the report on 1 st June 2016 on the International Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The reply was expected on 1st June The decision was taken by the Commission in charge of Fighting Torture on 31 May 2012 after analyzing the initial report by Rwanda on the International Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Providing advice on the preparation of reports The Commission played some role in the preparation of reports on the implementation of International Conventions ratified by Rwanda and provided views on the preparation of the following reports: - Initial report on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; - Initial report on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities Implementing UPR recommendations 8 In the framework of sensitizing relevant institutions on the implementation of the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review for the respect of human rights, the Commission particularly played a role in the preparation of the Report on the Second Universal Periodic Review of Rwanda regarding the respect of human rights. The report is expected to be submitted in October Universal Periodic Review

49 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 49 The Commission also joined different Government institutions and the Civil Society in various seminars aimed to analyze how the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review on the respect of human rights in Rwanda for the year 2011 are being implemented. The Commission provided views in those seminars at technical level so that those resolutions are implemented before the Second UPR. Those seminars include: - A seminar held at the Ministry of Justice on 16 July 2013 aimed to analyze and improve the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review regarding the respect of human rights on Rwanda in 2011; - A seminar held at La Palisse/Gashora from 17 to 18 February 2014 which analyzed achievements of implementing the resolutions on Rwanda and the role of Government in their implementation; - A seminar held at Lemigo Hotel on 24 June 2014 was aimed to launch the activities of the Second Universal Periodic Review cycle on Rwanda regarding the respect of human rights and to assess the level of implementation of the recommendations from the First Universal Periodic Review cycle. In this seminar, it was decided that, before the end of 2014, action should have been taken on non-realized recommendations. 3.4 COLLABORATION WITH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AS REGARDS ACTIVITIES AIMING AT RESPECT AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS According to Article 5, paragraph 8 of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the missions, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, the Commission has the mission to collaborate with human rights institutions of other countries, National and International Organizations operating in human rights promotion and protection activities. In this regard, the Commission continued to collaborate with International Organizations, on the African continent and at the level of the East African Community. The Commission also continued its collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations involved in human rights operating in Rwanda. This collaboration was reflected by meetings and training workshops in which the Commission participated, delivered lectures and provided views. The Commission also collaborated with international organizations, African Human Rights Institutions, national non-governmental and international organizations involved in human rights operating in Rwanda. Other activities conducted in the framework of collaboration are discussions between the Commission s authorities and different delegates Collaboration with the United Nations Agencies Collaboration with the Office of United Nations the High Commissioner for Human Rights The commission, being represented by its Chairperson, attended the Conference of experts selected to discuss the UN OHCHR practical guide on the National mechanism for the promotion, protection and monitoring on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. From 20 th December 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights selected 5 experts from all the continents, to discuss the above-mentioned document in the framework of improving and finalizing it. The experts also announced that countries should be careful in implementing their

50 50 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS commitments regarding the fight against discrimination in general; they also discussed about the International Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. In that Conference, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Human Rights shared with those experts about the laws, strategies and activities regarding the elimination of any discrimination adopted by Rwanda. The Commission also played a role in research activities and studies on the rights of Persons with disabilities prepared by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. That contribution is reflected in the following: - On 27 th September 2013, in its Letter n 180/13.14, the Commission submitted to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a document containing the necessary information which will be based on in the preparation of the study of the right of Persons with disabilities to education. The Commission did so in respect of the resolution of the 22nd Meeting of the UN Human Rights Council relating to the right of Persons with disabilities to employment; - On 22 nd November 2013, the Commission submitted to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the report presenting the Commission s achievements relating to the protection, promotion and monitoring of the respect of the rights of Persons with disabilities. The document was compiled in the framework of research of best practices by NHRIs regarding the implementation of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability; - On 15 May 2014, the Commission submitted to the Advisory Committee of this organ a document containing the necessary information on the situation of the human rights problems of Persons living with albinism especially regarding their education, medical care and living with other people in the community. Based on the Resolution of the 24th Meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council taken in the framework of promoting, protecting the rights of Persons living with albinism. The main points included in those documents show the strategies taken by the Government of Rwanda in the framework of protecting and promoting the rights of Persons with disability in general, the rights to education of Persons with disability and the rights of Persons living with albinism in particular, especially in the matter regarding the laws and the achievements of the country in that context by public institutions and Non- Governmental Organizations Collaboration with the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions From 12 th to 14 th March 2014, upon invitation by the International Coordinating Committee of the National Human Rights Institutions, a delegation of the National Commission for Human Rights, composed of the Chairperson and one commissioner, attended the 27th Annual Meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of the meeting was «The role of National Commissions for human Rights in promoting and protecting human rights». Rwanda s Commission provided views on other points that were discussed in that meeting including its collaboration with the Commissions of other countries. Over one hundred National Commissions attended the meeting. Rwanda s National Commission for Human Rights gave two presentations, one on its role in the Universal Periodic Review on the respect of human rights and another on the rights of women and on the human rights national action plan.

51 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Collaboration with the Secretariat of the Human Rights Advisory Committee In May 2014, the Commission played a role in the survey conducted on the situation of the human rights problems of Persons living with albinism. The study was conducted in the framework of implementing the recommendations given by the UN Human Rights Council pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution. The Commission also submitted to the Secretariat of this organ, a document containing answers on different questions that were asked regarding the situation of human rights problems of Persons living with albinism especially those regarding their education, medical care and how they live with others in the community as well as the national strategies taken to protect and promote rights of this category of Persons. The main points contained in that document show strategies taken by the Government of Rwanda in the framework of protecting and promoting the rights of Persons living with albinism and actions that should be taken to enable the persons living with albinism to enjoy the same rights as other people Collaboration with the Commonwealth Forum of the National Human Rights Institutions. On 11 March 2014, a delegate of the National Commission for Human Rights attended the meeting of of the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions held in Geneva, Switzerland. This annual meeting focused on the activities planned after 2015 and the mechanisms to protect the rights of human rights activists Collaboration with the Francophone Association of National Human Rights Institutions 9 On 11 March 2014, a delegate of the Commission attended the meeting of the francophone Association of National Human Rights Institutions held in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting discussed on the role of the National Human Rights Institutions in the implementation of the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review Collaboration at African level Regarding this section of the collaboration at African level, the report contains the information on the collaboration of Rwanda National Commission for Human Rights with the Institutions members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions Collaboration with the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights From 27 April to 7 May 2014, the Chairperson of the Commission attended the 55 th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights held in Luanda, Angola. The session was also attended by representatives of States, representatives of National Human Rights commissions together with representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations. In this meeting, every institution was given the floor to present to participants it achievements in the protection and promotion of human rights in its country of origin. In addition, the session discussed about the collaboration between the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the National Human Rights commissions and Non-Governmental Organizations involved in human rights. Delegates of the Commission delivered a presentation on the situation of human rights in Africa, how States submit periodical reports or special reports on human rights inside countries. 9 International Francophone Organization

52 52 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Collaboration with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRIs) Rwanda s Commission is a member of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions. In this framework, the Commission played a role in activities prepared by the Network regarding the rights of Persons with disabilities as follows: - On 5 November 2013, the Commission submitted to the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions a report presenting its achievements from the year 2012 regarding the implementation of the Cape town Declaration of 21 October 2011 adopted in the 8th Conference of African National Human Rights Institutions whose theme was «The role of African National Human Rights Institutions in protecting the rights of Persons with disabilities and the Elderly»; - On 30 June 2014, the Commission submitted to the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions a report containing Rwanda s achievements in the implementation of Article 33 of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. The Commission prepared that document based on the surveys carried out by this Network on basic information about the achievements of Human Rights Institutions regarding the rights of Persons with disabilities. The main points contained in those reports show the Commission s achievements in the context of promoting and protecting the rights of Persons with disabilities as well as the national legal strategies taken to protect, defend and promote the Persons with disabilities in general and in the framework of building the capacity of their institutions Collaboration with Government institutions The Parliament The collaboration with the Parliament is reflected in the provision of views on bills by the Commission, upon request or at its own initiative. Collaboration was again reflected by the submission to the Parliament of the Commission s Annual Activity Report for the year and its Action Plan for the year , as well as through finding sustainable solutions to problems identified in the report. The Ministry of Justice The commission collaborated with the Ministry of Justice in preparing the training workshop on the universal periodic review, designed for Non-Governmental Organizations involved in Human rights, held at Musanze from 22 to 23 may Apart from this training, both institutions collaborated in launching the preparation of the UPR Second Cycle in which Rwanda will take part, in In the framework of this collaboration, at different occasions, both institutions prepared seminars and training workshops aimed at preparing the National Action Plan of Human rights. Again, the Commission collaborates with the Ministry of Justice through the Team in charge of preparing the periodic report on International and Regional Conventions signed and ratified by Rwanda. The Commission keeps collaborating with the Ministry in a continued effort to solve the population s problems relating to the right to justice.

53 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 53 The Ministry of Local Government The Commission continued to collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government by organizing training workshops on human rights for Local Leaders and on how to address the population s problems relating to the implementation of good governance program. The Ministry of Internal Security The National Commission for Human Rights continued to collaborate with the Ministry of Internal Security regarding the respect of the rights of those accused, detainees and prisoners. The Commission continued to collaborate with National Police by organizing training workshops and different seminars for Police organs. The National Unity and Reconciliation Commission The Commission continued its collaboration with the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission through different lectures delivered to it regarding the «Ndi Umunyarwanda Program». Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission Upon the invitation of Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, the National Commission for Human Rights continued to deliver different lectures on human rights in the solidarity camps of ex-combattants from armed militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The lectures were delivered at Mutobo at different occasions on the following dates: 7 September 2013, 21 September 2013, 30 December 2013, 6-7 January 2014 and April The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide Upon the invitation of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, the Commission attended preparatory meetings for the commemoration of the 20 th Anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsis. The Commission continued its collaboration in preparatory activities for the celebration of the annual day of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In this framework, lectures were delivered in different Higher Learning Institutions in Rwanda (Byumba Polytechnic Institute (IPB), Kibungo Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Education (INATEK), Musanze Higher Education Institute (INES), Independent Institute of Lay Adventists of Kigali (INILAK), University of Rwanda (Huye Campus), Tumba College of Technology (TCT), Kigali Independent University (ULK), Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), Catholic Institute of Kabgayi (ICK)). The National Children s Commission The National Commission for Human Rights collaborated with the National Children s Commission in preparing the African Child Day celebrated on 16 June every year. Another activity where this collaboration was reflected is the preparation of the 9 th National Children s Summit held on 19 December This day was celebrated at the level of Provinces and the City of Kigali in the respective districts of Kicukiro, Huye, Karongi, Rwamagana and Musanze.

54 54 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Judicial institutions The Commission collaborates with judicial institutions in the framework of monitoring the respect of the principle of fair and transparent trial in reasonable time. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Human Rights is one of the members of the Superior Council of the Judiciary as provided for by Organic Law n o 07/2012/OL of 19/9/2012 governing the organization, powers and functioning of the Superior Council of the Judiciary in its Article 2, paragraph 16, thus s/he participates in the meetings of this organ. Prosecution organs The Commission collaborates with Prosecution organs in the framework of monitoring the respect of laws regarding the arrest and detention as well as complementing investigations on the accused. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Human Rights is among the members of the Superior Council of the Prosecution as provided for by Organic Law n o 11/2006 of 10/3/2006 governing the organization, powers and functioning of the Superior Council of the Prosecution in its Article one, so she takes part in its meetings Collaboration of the Commission with non-governmental and international organizations involved in the promotion and protection of human rights Collaboration of the Commission with non-governmental and international organizations involved in the promotion human rights is provided for by Law n o 19/2013 of 25/03/2013 determining the missions, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, in its Article 5, paragraph 8, which stipulates that, the special mission of the Commission regarding human rights promotion, shall be to collaborate with other foreign national Human Rights institutions, local associations and international organizations in Human Rights promotion and protection activities. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission joined Non-Governmental Organizations in celebrating annual days relating to human rights, in training workshops, and in various seminars organized either by the Commission or by those NGOs, where the Commission provided views. The Civil Society was trained on UPR In that framework, through Access to Justice human rights and peace consolidation Project, a workshop was organized from 21 to 23 May 2014 at Musanze. The Ministry of Justice, the National Commission for Human Rights and the members of the Civil Society participated in the workshop. The discussions focused on the Universal Periodic Review regarding the implementation of recommendations given by the UN Human Rights Council in the previous review. Also, another training workshop was organized in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Rwanda, relating to the Periodic Review on how countries respect International Conventions they have ratified. The workshop was organized for 39 journalists, in Muhanga District, from 12 to 13 June 2014.

55 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 55 The Consultative Forum between the Commission and Non-Governmental Organizations involved in promoting human rights In the framework of the collaboration between the National Commission for Human Rights and those NGOs, we should recall that in 2006 there was established a Consultative Forum between the Commission and 38 Non-Governmental Organizations involved in promoting human rights. The number of these organizations kept increasing and has now reached 42. The Forum meets every six months and its members discuss about activities relating to the promotion and protection of human rights. Its recent meeting was convened on 25 May During the year , three (3) new Organizations applied for adhesion to the Forum. Activities of this Forum are reflected in various meetings and seminars aimed to share and build the capacity of members of Organizations involved in Human Rights as was adopted at the creation of the Forum of the Commission and those Organizations in Among the activities which characterized this collaboration from July 2013 to June 2014, we can mention the seminar atended by the Commission and the Forum Committee Members held on 2 May The seminar was preparing the Forum General Assembly held at Kigali, at La Palisse Nyandungu on 25 June Out of 38 organizations invited, 28 attended the meeting. The main goal of the meeting was to adopt the joint action plan of the Commission and those organizations for the year Participants also assessed the implementation of recommendations taken in the meeting of , they also discussed the Law n 04/12 of 17/02/2012 governing the organization and functioning of national Non-Governmental Organizations. Some of the recommendations of the meeting include request of signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and those Organizations; there should be set up a joint mechanism to find sponsorship that will help those organizations in their functioning and to prepare the training of the members of the Joint Development Assessment Framework (JDAF) on the Law n 04/12 of 17/02/2012 governing the organization and functioning of national Non-Governmental Organizations Collaboration with Institutions and Organizations of Persons with disabilities Article 10 of Law nº 01/2007 of 20 January 2007 relating to the protection of disabled persons in general authorizes the National Commission for Human Rights to monitor how the rights of Persons with Disabilities are respected. In this section of the report, the Commission exposes its collaboration with private organizations of Persons with disabilities and its collaboration with the National Council of Persons with disabilities. In the framework of promoting and protecting the rights of Persons with disabilities, the commission collaborated with other public and private institutions that care for the Persons with disabilities in activities aimed to their development. This collaboration is reflected in the seminar in which the Commission provided views, as well as in advocacy activities conducted for this category of the Rwandan population. Those views related to the content of the Rwanda s Special Needs and Inclusive Education Draft Policy and the Draft Policy of the National Curriculum Reform in primary and secondary schools. In the letter n 524/13.14 of 9 April 2014, the National Commission for Human Rights, also submitted to the State Minister in charge of Social Affairs and Community Development the achievements by the Commission and other institutions that should be added in the National report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Persons with disabilities.

56 56 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Collaboration with different delegates Guests in official mission in the Commission From July 2012 to June 2013, at different occasions, the Commission received visitors, either individuals or representatives of both local and international organizations. In general, the discussions focused on the mission and activities of the Commission. They also shared about the collaboration between the Commission and those Organizations. Those visitors include: Mr Maina Kiai and his delegation in talks with the Commission - A delegation of Parliamentarians of the Human Rights Commission from Southern Sudan who came for a study tour in Rwanda. They visited the Commission and shared with the Commissioners on the situation of human rights in Rwanda; - Mr. Maina Kai, UN Special Rapporteur in charge of the right of association and the right of peaceful assembly was received by the members of the Commission. They discussed how the rights under his responsibility are respected in our Country; - Resident Coordinator of UNDP with other UN staff in Rwanda, especially the Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Rwanda, visited the Commission and discussed about the collaboration between that UN Agency and the Commission and different activities that can be done in that context. They also shared about the review in which Rwanda will take part and the action plan on human rights under preparation; - Mr NIYIZURUGERO Jean Baptiste, Director of an Association for the prevention against torture whose Head Office is located in Geneva, Switzerland, was received by the Commission s authorities. They shared about the respect of human rights in our Country; - Mr Jonathan P. Howard, in charge of Political Affairs in the US Embassy visited the Commission in the framework of discussing about its functioning and the respect of human rights in our Country; - The Ombudsman of Senegal was received by the members of the Commission and shared about the respect of human rights in our Country; - A delegation of the International Organization for Migrations (IOM), composed of Mr Joseph Stefanelli, Special Assistant to the President of ICTR 10»; Mrs Northing Catherine, Representative of IOM in Rwanda and Mrs Ethel Gandia headed by Mr Peter Van Auweraert, Head of Land, Property and Reparation Division, visited the Commission and held discussions with its authorities about the respect of human rights in our Country. This organization is based in Switzerland, at the Head Office of IOM. 10 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

57 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 57 Meetings and other events where the Commission was invited The Commission attended different meetings and other events where it was invited, both at national and international levels. Some of them include: - The 4 th Annual Conference on Good Governance: Sustaining the fight against corruption to promote regional integration, held at Milles Collines Hotel; - Election observers from the East African Community who monitored the elections of Parliamentarians in our Country. The meeting was held at Serena Hotel; - The 6 th Conference of experts on Genocide and war crimes held at Serena Hotel; - Training workshop of soldiers and civilians from the EAC Peace Support Operations Foundation, upon invitation by Rwanda Peace Academy; - Celebration of the International Day of White Cane held in Ruhango District; - Ceremonies of launching the Good Governance Week in Huye district; - A seminar organized by Rwanda Governance Board with the theme: Policy Dialogue on the Future Perspectives of CEPGL 11, held in Rubavu District; - A seminar on the Task Force of Treaty Bodies Reporting organized in partnership with the UN Senior Human Rights Advisor, held at Gashora in Bugesera District; - The National Leadership Retreat held at Gabiro in Nyagatare District; - Cadet Course Pass out Ceremony, held at Gishari, in Rwamagana District; - A seminar organized by Rwanda Governance Board called «The 2 nd International Conference on Democratic Governance in Africa, Asia and Middle East», held at Serena Hotel, Kigali. Achievements of the Commission outside Rwanda - Upon invitation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Commission attended the workshop of the team of experts in charge of studying the Draft guide on the Nation mechanism for the promotion, protection and monitoring on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The workshop was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Commission Chairperson was a member of the team of experts. - The Commission attended the 27 th Conference of the Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Commissions, held at in Geneva, Switzerland; - The Commission attended the 55 th Ordinary Meeting of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights held in Luanda, Angola. 11 Great Lakes Economic Community

58 58 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3.5 PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS This part is related to activities of preventing cases related to violation of Human Rights in its different categories, which were planned in the Plan of Action for the year Those categories of human rights include the right to life, the right to non-subjection to torture, the right to health, the right to education, the right to employment, the right to property, the right to justice, the right to free movement, the right to a trial rendered in reasonable time and the right to redress The right to life The right to life is a fundamental right upon which all other rights are built. That right is inherent to human nature and is recognized to everyone with no discrimination whatsoever. Therefore, the hope for life gives a person the strength to strive to get and enjoy all other remaining rights. The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 June 2003 as amended to date, in Article 12, paragraph One reaffirms this basic human right in the following terms: «Every person has the right to life». The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 th December 1966, under its Article 6, stipulates that «every human being has the inherent rights to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her life». Furthermore, the right to life is provided for under Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. The Charter states that human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. In order to enhance the right to life, Rwanda has abolished the death penalty through Organic Law n 31/2007 of 25 th July 2007 on the abolishment of the death penalty. Article 2 of this Organic Law states: «The death penalty is abolished». With regard to the protection of the right to life, in year , the Commission received and carried out investigations on twenty three (23) complaints. Among them, seven (7) complaints were addressed while sixteen (16) are still under investigation. One complaint was considered as a typical example in this report. The complaint of a child killed by mother G On 14 October 2013, the Commission was informed that G, a resident of Nyagatovu Village, Rwamiko Cell, Muganza Sector, Gisagara District, gave birth to a child and immediately killed him using a sharpened edge stick. The Judicial Police arrested her and brought her to the Prosecution which opened a case file RONP J1134/13/NYZA/NM/AML In its investigations, the Commission knew that the Village Leadership and her neighbours saw G coming from a place where she had gone to work for food and returned with neither pregnancy nor child whereas she was pregnant. When asked about what had happened to her, she admitted that she delivered a child and immediately killed him by piercing it with a sharpened edge stick in the throat. The Commission further knew that G was brought to justice and that she pleaded her case in judgment RP 0186/13/HC/NYA, on 13 May 2014, in the High Court, Nyanza Chamber, where she was charged with infanticide. The Court waived its competence to hear her case and returned the case to the Intermediary Court of Huye on 30 May The case will be heard on 02 October 2014.

59 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 59 The Commission finds that the child was deprived of its right to life by his or her mother who committed infanticide. The Commission further requests that such cases should be heard at the place where the offence were committed in order to discourage people from committing similar offences. The Commission will continue to monitor how the case will be decided The right of not to be subjected to torture The right of not to be subjected to torture is provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 04 June 2003 as amended to date, in Article 15 which stipulates that Every person has the right to physical and mental integrity. The right of not to be subjected to torture is also provided for in International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 10 December Rwanda ratified this Convention on 15 December In reaffirming the right of not to be subjected to torture, Rwanda has put in place Organic Law n 01/2012/OL of 2 May 2012 instituting the Penal Code in Article 176 which gives the definition of torture. This article states that «torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, inhuman, cruel or degrading, are intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him/her or a third person, especially information or a confession, punishing him/her of an act he/she or a third person committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating him/her or coercing him/her or a third person or for any other reason based on discrimination of any kind». Article 177 provides for penalties to any person who inflicts torture on another person. Regarding protection of the right not to be subjected to torture, the Commission received the following two (2) complaints: 1. The complaint of NGENDAHAYO Mohamed On 24 January 2013, NGENDAHAYO Mohamed, a resident of Kayebe Village, Rwankonjo Cell, Cyumba Sector, Gicumbi District, Northern Province, wrote to the Commission requesting for advocacy in prosecuting and punishing a policeman named Sergeant RUHINDA Issa a.k.a Sanyu who tortured him on 15 July He reports that, when he was the manager of the ALI TAWAKAL Hotel located in Kagitumba Cell, Matimba Sector, Nyagatare District, in the night of 14 July 2012, this Hotel accommodated a Congolese who was coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya. In the morning of 15 July 2012, the traveller reported missing his travelling documents, a mobile telephone and One Thousand and One Hundred US Dollars (1 100 $ US). NGENDAHAYO Mohamed felt it necessary to report to the Police Station for an investigation to be conducted on the missing of those papers. He said that, upon their arrival, Sergeant RUHINDA Issa a.k.a Sanyu and the others under his command took him as a thief, handcuffed him, stripped him naked, tied his legs, wrapped his mouth with his clothes, beat him severely, burned him using drops of melting parts of a jerry can, and locked him up inside Kagitumba Police Station. NGENDAHAYO Mohamed filed his complaint to Matimba Police Station which delayed to investigate his complaint because it reached the Prosecution Department after five (5) months of routine and unsuccessful follow up. He further says that the Prosecution Department delayed to react to his complaint because he was

60 60 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS sent to bring witnesses which he did for three (3) consecutive days but the witnesses became discouraged because they were not heard. The Commission followed up this complaint. Various leaders in the Matimba Sector declared that NGENDAHAYO Mohamed was tortured, that even the residents staged protests to show they were not happy with the way the Police was handling the issue. Nyagatare District Police Unit disclosed to the Commission that the policemen suspected of inflicting such torture had been administratively sanctioned, and that a case file n RONPJ /S1/12/NJ/NC/SI had been submitted to the Prosecution Department. The Commission followed up this dossier in the Prosecution Department of Nyagatare and found that on 16 July 2013 a statement containing the complaint had been made, Sgt RUHINDA Issa a.k.a Sanya and PC MUTUNZI Bosco were accused of, being at Kagitumba Police Station, had tortured NDENDAHAYO Mohamed and burned him using burning drops of parts of a melting jerry can as they suspected him of stealing one thousand and a hundred US dollars, travelling papers and a mobile telephone and the fact that they had whipped him deliberately while they were interrogating NGENDAHAYO Mohamed. NGENDAHAYO Mohamed who was tortured The Commission found no proof that the said statement had been submitted to the Court, because that file was nowhere in the Register of the Prosecution s outgoing files or in the Register of the Court incoming files. The Commission indicated to the Senior Prosecutor at the Intermediate Level of Nyagatare that there was delay in following up the case file of NGENDAHAYO Mohamed and that nothing indicates its whereabouts. On 29 May 2014, the Nyagatare Prosecution informed the Commission on the phone that the case file had been found and was immediately submitted to the Primary Court of Nyagatare. The Commission notes that there was little diligence in following up the case file of NGENDAHAYO Mohamed who was tortured and requested the Senior Prosecutor to prosecute all those involved and to punish them. 2. The Complaint of NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu On 20 January 2014, NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu, a detainee in Nyarugenge Prison, wrote to the National Commission for Human Rights seeking assistance and justice in the violence he alleged to have been inflicted by a prison guard named MANARIYO Salvator for assault and battery. The Commission carried out an investigation on this complaint and knew that, on 02 October 2013, MANARIYO Salvator gave to NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu a mobile telephone with a view to use it as a pay

61 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 61 phone within the prison, they agreed that after a week, he would give him five thousand Rwandan francs (5.000 Frw). After one week, NSENGIYUMVA failed to give the money to MANARIYO Salvator as they had mutually agreed. MANARIYO Salvator called for him in the office of prison guards and asked for the money he had gained. NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu told him that he had lost the telephone. As he was not convinced with his explanations, he started to beat him, injured him and broke his left collarbone. When he was overwhelmed with the beatings, he explained that he had given the telephone to his colleague named NDACYAYISENGA. On 4 December 2013, NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu went to Nyarugenge Prison health post for medical treatment. As his condition was found to be critical, he was transferred to Muhima Hospital which, in turn, referred him to CHUK 12. On 8 January 2014, the health post of Nyarugenge Prison again transferred him to Muhima Hospital, which in turn referred him to CHUK. NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu says that the prison guard who accompanied him that day, withdrew from him the transfer note for purposes of photocopy, when he came back he told him that he had lost it, and he was not able to get medical treatment. NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu returned to the health post of Nyarugenge Prison to request another transfer note but he was denied the papers. Since then, he did not go for medical treatment. The Commission discussed this issue with the Director and Deputy Director of Nyarugenge Prison; they both said they did not know the issue but promised to follow it up. On 6 May 2014, the Commission revisited NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu and found that he was never given the transfer papers even if the nurse at the Nyarugenge prison health post explained she was going to do every effort to get the transfer papers. The Commission finds that NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu was the subject of serious torture and assault and battery by the prison guard and that his right to medical treatment had not been respected. It is in this connection that on 6 June 2014 the Commission wrote a letter n o CNDP/JUN/646/13.14 to the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service requesting him to investigate the torture inflicted on NSENGIYUMVA Jean de Dieu in a bid to enable him to get appropriate medication and that whoever was involved in torturing the detainee should be held liable. By the time of drafting this report, the Commission had not received any reply to its letter The right to education The right to education is a fundamental human right. It helps a person to know his/her right and be able to promote his/her development. The right to education referred to in Article 40 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 04 June 2003 as amended to date. It states that Every person has right to education; primary education is compulsory and free in public schools. 12 University Teaching Hospital of Kigali

62 62 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS This right is also provided for in Article 13, paragraph 2 in the International Convention on economic, social and cultural rights of 16 December 1966, and Article 28 of the International Convention on the Children s rights of 20 November With regard to the African continent, Article 11 of the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child of 11 July 1990 also provides for children s right to education. Every person can be facilitated to attend secondary school free of charge due to the resources available in the country, all the people get equal chances to attend higher learning institutions based on their capacity. In the year , the Commission received forty-nine (49) complaints and followed them up; twenty (20) of them were solved while another twenty-nine (29) have not yet been solved. The typical complaint is the following: The complaint of DUSANGE Olivier On 12 November 2013, the Commission received the complaint of DUSANGE Olivier, aged 17 years old, a resident of Ngoma Village, Gitega Cell, Rugabano Sector, Karongi District who was prevented from sitting the secondary school leaving examination because the authorities of the Secondary School of Gasenyi where he studied, reported to the Police that he had broken a window glass, the Police arrested and detained him. He was released after the examinations. On 21 January 2014, the Commission investigated the complaint of DUSANGE Olivier and knew that, in the morning of 1 st November 2013, as he was preparing to do the official secondary school leaving examinations at his school of Gasenyi, in the Sector of Gishyita, Karongi District, in senior six, section of History, Economy and Geography, the Police came and handcuffed him and went to detain him on the accusation that he had caused damage to the school buildings. This was due to the fact that, in the night of 31 October 2013, there was power cut and students broke a window glass. The Commission also found that DUSANGE Olivier is now attending Kivumu Secondary School. In its investigations, the Commission discovered that on 11 th November 2013, the Police drafted a dossier and brought it to the Prosecution department. When the latter found there was no evidence incriminating him, it released the student and definitively closed his dossier. The Commission also was told that the authorities of the School, after knowing that DUSANGE Olivier had done no offence, failed to do anything to reinstate the student into the rights he had been previously deprived of. The Commission finds that DUSANGE Olivier was deprived of his rights to sit for examinations with no reasonable grounds. Even if he got a place in another school, he was delayed for one whole year. Based on the presumption of innocence according to which a suspect is innocent until he/she has been proved guilty, the Commission requests the Ministry of Education to prosecute the authorities of that school for possible punishment in accordance with the law The right to employment The right to employment is a person s right to choose and carry out a suitable employment, the right to the right salary, the right to promotion based on your experience and capacity at work, the right to security and hygiene at work, the right to leave and leisure, the right of association, the rights to stop working and the right to social security.

63 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 63 In Rwanda, the right to employment is provided for under Articles 37 to 39 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2013, as amended to date. It is also stipulated in the International Convention on economic, social and cultural rights from Articles 6 to 9. The right to employment in Rwanda is provided for by Law n 13/2009 of 27 May 2009 regulating Labour in Rwanda and Law n 22/2002 of 9 th July 2002 governing the general statute of Rwanda Public Service. In the year , the Commission received and investigated thirty-three (33) complaints relating to the right to employment, fourteen (14) were successfully addressed, while nineteen (19) are still being investigated. The following complaint was regarded as typical: The complaint of VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste On 18 March 2014, VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste, a resident of Marabuye Village, Nyakarera Cell, Ruhango Sector, Rutsiro District, says that he worked as a teacher from 1967 to From 1998 to 2004, he was promoted but did not get fees related to this promotion because he only got six hundred thirty three thousand one hundred thirty-three Rwandan francs ( Frw). He further says that his problem is similar to that of his co-complainants: BARABWIRIZA Sosthėne, RUTAGAMBWA Faustin and RUTEBUKA. VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste says that he started claiming for his salary arrears on 1 st August 2007 in a letter he wrote to the authorities of Gisenyi Education Inspectorate, school sector of Rubavu. His salary arrears were computed at that time. When the Education Inspectorate moved to Rutsiro District, he wrote another letter on 1 st August 2009 and on 19 January 2010 but got no feedback. He further told that those who had the same problem like his got their salary arrears in In the investigation carried out by the Commission, it was found that the authorities of Rustiro District followed up the complaint of VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste and his co-complainants in the Ministry of Education but by the time the Commission was drafting this report, the issue had not yet been solved. The Commission further noted that, on 2 May 2014, authorities of the District wrote a letter to VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste informing him that they did not owe him any salary arrears. The Commission finds that VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste and his co-complainants were denied their right to unpaid arrears of salary, because they spent more than eight years in the status quo. The Commission then requested the Ministry of Education and the District of Rutsiro to resolve the problem of VUGUZIGA Jean Baptiste and his colleagues The right to property The right to property is provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003, as amended to date, in its Article 29 and in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights of 1981, in its Articles 14 and 21. The right to property is also provided for by the Law n o 43/2013 of 16 June 2013 governing land in Rwanda, the Law n o 24/2012 of 15 June 2012 relating to planning of land use and development in Rwanda and penalties for those who fail to maintain land and the Law n o 31/2009 of 26 October 2009 relating to the protection of intellectual property.

64 64 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS In the framework of protecting the right to property, the Commission investigated three hundred and twenty-nine (329) complaints. A hundred and fifty (150) of these complaints were resolved, while a hundred and seventy-nine (179) are yet to be resolved. Complaints not yet resolved include those that the Commission submitted to the Sector and District administrative entities and is still making their follow up. Others were submitted to courts of law, and judgments have not yet been decided definitively, while others are still being investigated by the Commission. The complaints below were considered as typical among those followed by the Commission: 1. The complaint of RWAMUGIRA Gérard On 30 th September 2013, RWAMUGIRA Gérard, a resident of Gihorobwa Village, Rutaraka Cell, Nyagatare Sector in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province, wrote a letter to the Commission requesting for justice because he was denied ownership of a title for his land of an area of 25 ha, the District of Nyagatare says that he was given 2.5 ha that were closer to where he is residing while his neighbours were given land titles for all their lands. The Commission investigated this complaint and found that the land of RWAMUGIRA Gérard composed of a land on which he resides in Gihorobwa Village, Rutaraka Cell, Nyagatare Sector is 12 ha and a grazing land of 13 ha. He says that in 2004, the District took 5 ha of his land and developed a Valley dam but he was not given any compensation. In the Nyagatare District Land Office, the land of RWAMUGIRA Gérard was registered under n 601; 656 and 678. This Office reports that other people have this problem of owning a portion of land that is registered as pertaining to the land owned by Nyagatare Town. Land Centre authorities also say that they got their land title in a fraudulent manner and that a mechanism is under way to dispossess them of such land through courts mainly because many of them had been compensated. The Commission analysed various documents received from RWAMUGIRA Gérard and those from Nyagatare District Land Center and found written agreement dated 23 September 1999 between Nyagatare Commune represented by its Bourgmaster KARASIRA Peter and RWAMUGIRA Gerard granting him the grazing land of 13 ha located in Gihorobwa Cell, Ryabega Sector. The discovery made by the Commission is that the grazing land had been granted to him in addition to the portion of land on which he resided, and there was no decision by the District which dispossessed him of the grazing land and nothing showed that it was given to him as a compensation. There is also a letter dated 7 January 2010 written by the authorities of the Nyagatare Land Centre to the Mayor of Nyagatare stating that on 23 December 2009, RWAMUGIRA s portion of land which is close to the valley dam had been measured and found to extend over 5.6 ha, whereas on 6 January 2010, when the land he resides on was being measured, it was found to be equal to 8.7 Ha, his total land area being 14.1 Ha. In that letter, he said that an investigation was still under way to determine whether he does not have any other portion of land so as to be given the land title in a bid to definitively settle the problem. On 11 February 2014, the Commission wrote the letter n CNDP/FEV/432/13.14 to the Mayor of Nyagatare District requesting that the problem of RWAMUGIRA Gerard be solved immediately because the confiscation of his land title is not provided for by any law.

65 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 65 By the time of drafting this report, the Commission was yet to receive any written answer to the letter it had written to the Authorities of Nyagatare District despite they had promised to do so. The Commission finds that administrative entities should refrain from confiscating citizens documents because this is against the law. The Commission also requests that those administrative organs receiving its letters should react to those letters to enable the Commission to fulfil its mandate. 2. The complaint of MUNEZERO Jean Claude and his colleagues The complaint of MUNEZERO Jean Claude and his colleagues: RUSANGANWA Laurent, NSHIMIYIMANA Théoneste and MUKANKUBANA Xavérine, residents of Nyakarekare Village, Mubuga Cell, Kisaro Sector, Rulindo District, Northern Province is related to the injustice caused to them by the former Kisaro District which dispossessed them of their land planted with trees (forest) in the year 2002 for the benefit of SORWATHE Tea Factory Sarl with no fair compensation. They report that they submitted their complaint to the authorities of Kisaro Sector, of Rulindo, District, of Northern Province and even to the Prime Minister when he was receiving complaints from citizens in the District of Rulindo on 17 June 2011, when he was accompanied by the Minister in charge of Natural Resources, on which occasion the District was requested to return the land in question within one week at latest. Through its investigations on this complaint, the Commission found the Citizens complaints to be grounded, and submitted them to the Executive Secretary of Kisaro Sector, to Kisaro Police Station and to the authorities of Rulindo District, through the Executive Secretary of the District and the Director of District Land Centre. They all say that injustice was done to the citizens. The Commission also found that various decisions had been taken on that complaint but the decisions were never implemented. Rulindo District Consultative Council later approved that those citizens should recover their property as requested by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources. In order to reinstate complainants in their rights, the authorities of Rulindo District took the decision to confiscate tree plantations in Buyoga Sector which were taken over by the citizens and transfer them to the District s private domain, measure their area for the District to later agree with SORWATHE Sarl on their valuation. It was agreed that the proceeds from the sale of these tree plantations would be given to MUNEZERO Jean Claude and his colleagues who have a similar problem. In that resolution, it was also decided that if the proceeds from that sale was not sufficient to compensate the citizens, a top up amount of money would come from the District Budget for the year relating to expropriation for general interest. On 17 December 2013, the Commission followed up the implementation of the resolution and found the issue had been definitively solved. Even if this complaint was later solved, the Commission finds that this was achieved after so long a time with citizens always frequenting the administrative authorities because the latter had continued to contradict one another in the decisions they kept taking at different times. The Commission requests administrative authorities in charge of solving citizens complaints to timely act without the citizens always having to frequent the administrative authorities to seek justice.

66 66 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3. The complaint NYIRAVAKURE Asiteriya On 25 February 2014, when the Commission received the complaints of citizens in Mushonyi Sector, a citizen called NYIRABAVAKURE Asteriya, a resident of Rugerero Village, Kaguriro Cell, Mushonyi Sector, Rutsiro District said that EWSA damaged her plantation composed of eucalyptus trees and cypress, fruit trees and beans plantations while they were searching for places to pitch electricity poles for power transmission lines. She said that other 825 citizens share the same problem in Mushonyi, Boneza, Ruhango, Kigeyo and Kivumu Sectors. NYIRAVAKURE Asiteriya further says that these citizens brought their complaint to the authorities of Rutsiro District which collaborated with EWSA to conduct a census and valuate the property damaged for each person but EWSA has not compensated any single citizen. The Commission, after meeting with the Authorities of Rutsiro District, found out that: - EWSA in collaboration with grassroots authorities and the citizens, made a list of people whose property had been damaged, and found that the damage incurred exceeded thirty-nine million Rwanda francs ( FRW), this list was submitted to EWSA Management; - The Mayor of the District wrote a letter to EWSA several times requesting it to pay the citizens. On 27 March 2013, he wrote another letter n o 1274/07.03/03.02 as a reminder that the citizens had not yet been paid; - As the problem had become difficult, the Mayor of the District wrote to the Public Accounts Committee in the Parliament /Chamber of Deputies, the letter n o 1707/07.03/03.02 dated 15 January 2014 requesting help for EWSA to compensate those citizens. - By the time of drafting this report, the citizens had not yet been compensated despite repeated requests for payment that were addressed to Rutsiro District Authorities. The Commission finds that EWSA has denied NYIRABAVAKURE Asterie and her colleagues the rights to their property because it has damaged their plantations and failed to compensate them. The Commission requests EWSA to pay NYIRAVAKURE Asterie and her co complainants without any further condition. 4. The complaint of HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias On 26 February 2014, HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias and his 13 co- complainants residing in Gisoro Village, Nkira Cell, Boneza Sector, Rutsiro District submitted a complaint to the Commission saying that BIRASA Déogratias who was «agronomist» in 1952, grew Government tree plantation in that Village, and uncultivated portions of land remained in-between those plantations which they said belonged to their parents. In 2000, the Government dispossessed them of their lands and gave them to «Pfunda Tea Limited». HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias says that they have incessantly requested assistance from administrative organs to the extent that by March 2012, the District set up a Committee to determine the owner of the land, and the committee determined that the land belonged to the citizens and requested the District Council to take a decision to either return the property to the citizens or even compensate them.

67 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 67 On different occasions, the Commission investigated on this complaint and made the following findings: - HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias and his 13 colleagues submitted this complaint to several administrative organs (Sector, District and Province); - The District authorities set up a team to investigate this complaint on 16 February This team concluded that the land belonged to the citizens and requested the District Consultative Council to take a resolution to either return the land to the citizens or give them fair compensation; - In the letter n 2515/07.03/03/02 dated 8 May 2014, the Mayor of Rutsiro District wrote a letter to the Director General of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority to remind him of the letter n 3804/07.03/03.02 of 29 October 2012 showing the evidence to attest that the land belonged to the citizens; - In the letter n 1361/16.03/RNRA/02 of 2 January 2013 the Director General of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority addressed a letter to the Mayor of the District of Rutsiro informing him that the land is a Government property. - In the letter n 165/07.03/03.02 of 16 January 2013, based on the letter of 2 January 2013, the Mayor of Rutsiro District informed the citizens in writing that they were not allowed to claim ownership over those lands unless they had other evidence to the contrary. The Commission finds that the authorities of Rutsiro District and the management of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority disagree on the right of ownership over the land as alleged by HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias and his 13 co-complainants because the correspondence by those two organs proposed answers that continued to put the citizens in a deadlock situation. The Commission requests the Ministry of Natural Resources to immediately solve the issue which puts HAKUZUMUKIZA Déogratias and his 13 colleagues in a deadlock. 5. The complaint of MUGABUSHAKA Amani MUGABUSHAKA Amani whosepassport number is NEH and mobile telephone and dual citizenship (Rwandan and Belgian) on 10 December 2013, filed a complaint to the National Commission for Human Rights requesting assistance in recovering his Five Thousand Seven Hundred US Dollars (5 700$ US) which he claims were deposited by the authorities of Nyarugenge Prison on 11 October 2011, when he was detained in that Prison and had not been given that money upon his release on 29 October The Commission carried out an investigation into this complaint and came to know that MUGABUSHAKA Amani was caught in possession of that money inside the Prison contrary to the law. After he was caught redhanded, the authorities of Nyarugenge Prison submitted the money to the Rwanda Correctional Service which deposited it on Account N of the OTR (Public Treasury) in the National Bank of Rwanda as explained in the letter n o 717/CG/RCS/KC/11, the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Services wrote a letter to the Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda on 4 November 2011 informing him of the deposit of the said amount of US Dollars. In that letter, the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service indicated that Rwanda Correctional Services had no competence to keep that money which is the reason why it had deposited it on the account of the Public Treasury so that in case the owner would complete his punishment or whenever any other competent organ would take another decision, the owner could follow up and recover his money.

68 68 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS As indicated above, MUGABUSHAKA Amani was released on 29 October 2013 and started the process to recover his money. On 18 December 2013, he wrote to the National Bank of Rwanda claiming his Five Thousand Seven Hundred US Dollars (5700$) which had been deposited in the National Bank of Rwanda. On 7 January 2014, the National Bank of Rwanda wrote to him the letter n o 3100/14-432/URMA/urma informing him that on 4 November 2011 the Rwanda Correctional Service deposited the money in the Public Treasury and that, to recover that money, only the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning could claim that money on his behalf as this is contained in the letter that was partially worded in French as follows: «La restitution de votre argent sera faite par le MINECOFIN à travers un ordre de paiement en votre faveur». Because MUGABUSHAKA Amani was not assisted by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in order to recover his US dollars, on 13 June 2014, the Commission wrote a letter n o CNDP/JUN/672/13.14, to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning requesting him to give to MUGABUSHAKA Amani the money (5 700 $ US) which had been deposited in the Public Treasury without having to refer the case to courts. By the time of drafting this report, the Commission had not received any answer to the letter addressed to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning so that MUGABUSHAKA Amani could be given the money without unnecessarily referring the matter to courts The right to justice The right to justice is provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 04 June 2003, as amended to date, in Article 18 which stipulates that «No one shall be subjected to Prosecution, arrest, detention or punishment on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a crime under the law in force at the time it was committed». Further, this Article stipulates that «The right to be informed of the nature and cause of charges and the right to defence are absolute at all levels and degrees of proceedings before administrative, judicial and all other decision making organs». Article 19 stipulates that «Every person accused of a crime shall be presumed innocent until his or her guilt has been conclusively proved in accordance with the law in a public and fair trial in which all the necessary guarantees for defence have been made available. This Article also provides that «No one shall be denied the right to appear before a competent judge to hear his/her case». The right to justice is also provided for in the International Convention on civil and political rights especially in Article 14 which stipulates that: «Everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law». That right is also reaffirmed by Law n 30/2013 of 24 May 2013 relating to criminal procedure. In brief, the right to justice comprises the following rights: the right to free movement, the right to defence and to be assisted by a lawyer before a court, the right to free, fair and transparent judgment rendered in a reasonable time, the right to a case tried by a competent court, the right to have a copy of a judgment and the right to be presumed innocent from an offence as long as the accused has not yet been conclusively found guilty. In the year , the Commission investigated two hundred and twenty-nine (229) complaints, of which one hundred and three (103) were solved, while one hundred and twenty-six (126) complaints are not yet solved and they include complaints still under court procedures and investigation.

69 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The right to free movement The right to move and circulate freely is only restricted by the law for reasons of public order and national security, is provided for under Article 23 of the Constitution which stipulates that «Every Rwandan has the right to move and to circulate freely and to settle anywhere in Rwanda. Every Rwandan has the right to leave and to return to the Country...» In the year , the Commission investigated on nine (9) complaints, including eight (8) which were solved and one (1) not yet solved. In this section, typical complaints include the following: The complaint of SIBOMANA Innocent On 25 February 2014, NIZEYIMANA P. Célestin, a resident of Ndama Village, Karangazi Sector in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province, submitted a complaint to the Commission requesting advocacy for his son SIBOMANA Innocent, aged 22, who was shot by a policeman. At night fall, the Police found him where he had gone for medical treatment, arrested and detained him in Nyagatare Police Station where he received no medical treatment. NIZEYIMANA P. Célestin says that he went to look for him at a health facility but did not find him; he later knew that he was detained at Nyagatare Police Station. He requested the Commission to help him get medication to his son and get to know the reason for his detention. In its investigation, the Commission contacted SIBOMANA Innocent who explained that he was arrested on 21 Gashyantare He had spent the whole day in the rural area and did not know the Police had conducted a raid and, at 19h40, he was shot on his way back home. The Commission found that the arrest warrant drafted on 26 th February 2014, indicated that he was accused of harassing leaders.the Prosecution at Nyagatare, to which his dossier was submitted, found no evidence showing that he might have committed such offence and then released him. The Commission finds that the Police committed acts of violence against SIBOMANA Innocent by shooting and wounding him and, instead of giving medical treatment, detained him. The Commission also finds that all those involved in these acts of violence should be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the law The right to a trial rendered in reasonable time This right is provided for in the International Convention on civil and political rights especially as regards criminal matters in Article 9, paragraph 3 which states that: «any one arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by the law to exercise judicial powers and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release». This is also reaffirmed by Article 13 of the Law n 21/2012 of 14 June 2012 which stipulates that: «All cases introduced to the court shall be tried in a period not exceeding six months (6) starting from the date the court received the claim».

70 70 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Typical complaints in this category are the following: The complaint of REKAYABANZI Daniel and his 11 co-complainants On 6 March 2013, REKAYABANZI Daniel and his 11 co-complainants, namely: BITITAWEHO Emmanuel, BUGINGOBUZIMA, DEMOKARASI Jean, GAHIGIRO Claver, HAVUGABAZUNGU Esdras, SIBOMANA Assumani, MUNYANDAMUTSA François, NDINDIRA Daniel, NTAWURIKURA Zéphanie, NTIGURIRWA Ephrem and SINIGENGA Gracien, residents of Karongi and Rutsiro Dstricts, detained in Muhanga Prison submitted their complaint to the Commission saying that they are illegally detained since 1997 because they were arrested by soldiers between 1995 and REKAYABANZI Daniel and his colleagues also allege that the Gacaca Courts terminated their activities before trying them because they had no case file. Another complaint was brought to the Intermediate Court of Karongi against the Prosecution for illegally detaining them in judgment RP0265/10/TGI/KGI. On 8 November 2010, the Court concluded that it had no jurisdiction to try them because they were accused of genocide charges. From 5 June 2013, on several occasions, the Commission investigated on this complaint in the Prosecution at the Intermediate level of Karongi and explained the confused situation affecting REKAYABANZI Daniel and his colleagues. Since then, their case file was followed up by the Prosecution and even by the Courts in the following manner: - After case file RONPJ /S1/13 was opened for SIBOMANA Assuman, the Prosecution carried out an investigation and found that he had not been involved in genocide and was released on 03 October Case file RONPJ /S1/13 was opened for GAHIGIRO Claver and submitted to Court, he pleaded his case in judgment RP 028/14/TB/BWSHY. On 13 May 2014, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with special provisions; - All other ten co complainants are still detained in Muhanga Prison but the Prosecution have opened their case files: RONPJ /S1/13 for REKAYABANZI Daniel, RONPJ /S1/S3/S1/13 for BITITAWEHO Emmanuel, RONPJ /S1/13 for BUGINGOBUZIMA, RONPJ /S1/13 for DEMOKARASI Jean, RONPJ /S1/13 for HAVUGABAZUNGU Esdras, RONP /S1/13 for MUNYANDAMUTSA François, RONPJ /S1/13 for NDINDIRA Daniel, RONPJ / S1/13 for NTAWURIKURA Zéphanie, RONPJ /S1/13 for NTIGURIRWA Ephrem and RONPJ / S1/13 for SINIGENGA Gracien, were forwarded to low Court of the place where they are suspected of having committed the crimes of genocide. The Commission finds that even if the complaint of some of the complainants was resolved, REKAYABANZI Daniel and his co complainants were denied the right to be tried within a reasonable time because they spent more than seventeen years in detention with no case file. The complaint of nine (9) prisoners in Nyamagabe Prison On 26 April 2013, the National Commission for Human Rights received from Father Jean NDAGIJIMANA, President of the Commission for Justice and Peace in Gikongoro Diocese, the complaint of nine (9) prisoners, namely: NTAGANIRA Emmanuel a.k.a Muturage, NZUNGIZE Azarias, TEGIBANZE Célestin, HISHAMUNDA

71 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 71 Charles, KANYESHYAMBA Faustin, NIYIRORA Evariste, MUSONI Anselme, NTIBITANGIRA Clément and RUGUMIRIZA David, detained in Nyamagabe Prison, relating to the fact that they were tried by Gacaca Courts for the same offences which had been heard by ordinary courts. While the Commission was investigating this issue, the Commission met the prisoners and found that they had indeed been tried by the Lower Court of Gikongoro. NTAGANIRA Emmanuel known as Muturage, NZUNGIZE Azarias and TEGIBANZE Célestin were declared innocent while the remaining prisoners had been sentenced to different terms of imprisonment and had completed their sentences except MUSONI Anselme who was released following Presidential pardon. The Commission also knew that these prisoners had submitted their complaints to the Prosecution at the Intermediate Level of Nyamagabe. BUDENGELI Boniface, a Prosecutor at Nyamagabe Intermediate Court followed up their complaints and, on 1 March 2010, he wrote to the Prosecutor General, the letter n 060/d11/A/ ONPJ/Nygbe, informing him of the issue of these prisoners and their list and requested that their issue be followed up. The Commission found that Gacaca Courts had tried them for offences they had been already tried in the Court of First Instance of Gikongoro. Therefore, the principle of «Non bis in idem» had not been respected. Another common aspect is that they were never given by Gacaca Courts, which sentenced them, any certificates indicating the penalties they were given. On 21 August 2012, the Director of Gikongoro Prison wrote to the President of the National Commission to fight against Genocide, the letter n O 240/GCP/12, forwarding to him a list of 91 prisoners who did not have in their case files any certificates from Gacaca Courts which had tried them including the above 9 prisoners, and requested him to find those copies if the Gacaca decisions and put them in their respective case files. Because no reply to this letter was found, on 14 November 2012, the Director of Nyamagabe District wrote another letter n o 320/GCP/2012 to the President of the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide recalling the letter he had previously written. Those certificates have not yet been submitted to the management of Nyamagabe Prison and no reply to both letters was received. These prisoners brought their issue to Mr. BUTERA Oscar, Prosecutor who heads the Prosecution at Intermediate Level of Nyamagabe; on 10 September 2013, he replied in letter n o 521/D11/A/ONPJ/NYBE informing that the Prosecution cannot remove courts decisions and requested them to be patient while they were still looking for their case files in order to assist them in opposing the judgments before the competent courts. On 14 November 2013, the National Commission for Human Rights wrote the letter n o CNDP/ NOV/258/13.14 to the Prosecutor General requesting him to inform the Commission on how the issue of those prisoners was followed up. On 26 November 2013, the Prosecutor General wrote the letter n o I/1612/D11/A/ONPJ/CAB to the National Commission for Human Rights, stating that while opposing the judgments definitively rendered by ordinary courts, the Gacaca Courts did not contradict the law because the Law granted them this jurisdiction and that such is what was done at national level. The Prosecutor states that the 9 prisoners in Nyamagabe Prison should complete their sentences as decided by the Courts.

72 72 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The 9 prisoners, based on Article 28, paragraph 12 of Organic Law n o 04/2012/OL of 13 June 2012 determining the organization, functioning and competence of the Supreme Court, provides in Article 29, 12 that «the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction of resolving contradictions that arise among judgement decisions at the last instance»; filed a case to the Supreme Court requesting the Court to consider their complaint. The Commission finds that the fact that the offences for which the above 9 prisoners were tried by the Court of First Instance of Gikongoro, were tried again for the same offences in Gacaca Courts was a violation of the principle of «Non bis in idem». The Commission requests the Supreme Court to consider urgently the complaint of the 9 prisoners who are detained in Nyamagabe Prison so that the right to be tried within a reasonable time can be respected Right to redress The right to redress is based on the principle that the decisions of the courts must be respected by everybody. This is stipulated in paragraph 5 of article 140 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 04 June 2003, as amended to date, which states that judicial decisions are binding on all parties concerned, be they public authorities or individuals. They shall not be challenged except through ways and procedures determined by the law. This is also reaffirmed by Article 202 of the Law n 21/2012 of 14 June 2012 which states that: «Judicial decisions and acts affixed with the executory formula shall be executed in a period not exceeding three (3) months of the date the winning party or one with the court s order so requests or from the date the act affixed with enforcement formula is received. The complaints followed up by the Commission that are related to redress total eighty-five (85). The complaints that were solved are twenty-seven (27) while those not yet solved are fifty-eight (58). The large number of unsolved complaints is composed of those complaints that were referred to Local Governments to be resolved. They also comprise complaints which are still being followed up by the Commission and others for which the Commission has not yet started investigation. Following are some of the typical complaints: The Complaint of NYIRANEZA Espérance On 26 April 2013, Father NDAGIJIMANA Jean, President of the Commission for Justice and Peace in Gikongoro Diocese wrote to the National Commission for Human Rights requesting collaboration in following up the complaint of NYIRANEZA Esperance, wife to GASACYOYA Pascal, a resident of Shororo Cell, Busanze Sector, Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, relating to judgement N RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE rendered by the Intermediary Court of Nyamagabe on 10 September 2009, which since then has not been executed after being enforceable. The National Commission for Human Rights investigated this complaint and came to know that the parties who are GASACYOYA Pascal and GASANA Samson are stepbrothers. Their case started to be heard by the mediators as the bone of contention was a portion of land, then proceeded to the Primary Court of Ruheru, and was decided in the last resort by the Intermediary Court of Nyamagabe, with this Court deciding that the land be given to GASACYOYA Pascal.

73 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 73 The Commission has also known that NYIRANEZA Espérance has requested the authorities of Shororo Cell, of Busanze Sector and of Nyaruguru District to execute this judgment but the judgment was not executed because, after losing the case, GASANA Samson sold fraudulently the portion of land to tea farmers of Nshili (including an investor named MUTANGANA). Because the family of NYIRANEZA Espérence is vulnerable, she brought her complaint to the Commission for Justice and Peace in Gikongoro Diocese, requesting assistance in execution of the judgment. On various occasions, the Commission followed up this complaint, wrote to the Mayor of Nyaruguru different letters requesting him to solve this complaint. NYIRANEZA Espérence continued to seek assistance from organs of Nyaruguru District but the judgment was not executed. The National Commission for Human Rights followed up the matter related to judgment execution, met the authorities of Nyaruguru District seven times and on 02 August 2013, the Mayor of Nyaruguru District, in person, said that judgment n o RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE would be executed within a period not exceeding two weeks. On 13 February 2014, upon noticing that the judgment had not been executed, wrote to the Mayor of Nyaruguru the letter n o CNDP/FEB/435/13.14, requesting him to do everything possible to ensure that judgment n o RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE is executed but the Commission did not receive any response to its letter. On 25 June 2014, the Commission again wrote to the Mayor of Nyaruguru the letter n CNDP/ FEB/43/435/13.14, recalling the previous letter, and requested him to ensure that judgment n o RCA 033/09/ TGI/NYBE is executed so that NYIRANEZA Esperance and her family can be rehabilitated in their rights. The Minister of Justice/Attorney General, the Minister of Local Government and the Governor of Southern Province were copied. By the time of drafting this report, the Commission had not yet received any response to its letters and the judgment n o RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE is yet to be executed. The Commission notes that five (5) years have just elapsed before judgment n o RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE is executed, all this amounts to denying NYIRANEZA Esperance and her family the right to the property for which she had won the case. The Commission further notes that the authorities of Nyaruguru District have neglected the complaint, because it was submitted by NYIRANEZA Esperance and even the National Commission for Human Rights wrote to the authorities of the District requesting them to ensure execution of the judgment but the District Authorities did not even answer the letters. The Commission requests the authorities of Nyaruguru District to execute unconditionally the judgment n o RCA 033/09/TGI/NYBE. The Commission requests the Minister of Justice/Attorney General, the Minister of Local Government and the Governor of Southern Province who were given copies of the letter recalling those previously written, to follow up the execution of the judgment and to prosecute all those involved in delaying its execution. The complaint of MUKANGANGO Virginie On 23 April 2013, the Commission received the complaint submitted by MUKANGANGO Virginie, a resident of Muzi Village, Bambiro Cell, Nyange Sector in the District of Ngororero, in Western Province. This complaint is related to the property of the parents of MUKANGANGO, her brothers KARINGANIRE and RUTAZIHANA who shared among themselves the property of their sister without her knowledge and denied her

74 74 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS any share of the property comprising plots of land and houses whereas she had inherited the property from her mother KABAYUNDO after the death of her father IYEZE. In its investigation, the Commission found that the Mediators Committee of 20 September 2005 which had been seized of the matter by MUKANGANGO Virginie heard the case, and in its submissions, requested that KARINGANIRE return to MUKANGANGO the portions of land which were the subject of the matter because her brothers KARINGANIRE and RUTAZIHANA has been given their respective portions. KARINGANIRE who was not happy with the verdict, filed a case to the Primary Court of Gatumba, in judgment RC 0224/06/TB/ Gtmba, which was decided on 31 January 2007, whereby the Court ordered that the complaint be removed because KARINGANIRE had not timely followed up the case. The Commission further found that KARINGANIRE who was not happy with the decision of the Primary Court of Gatumba, appealed to the Intermediary Court of Rubavu, on 22 January 2010, this Court decided that KARINGANIRE loses the case because no serious reasons had been given to the Court. After KARINGANIRE lost the case, the court bailiff in the Bambiro Cell, UWILINGIYMANA Chantal, executed the judgment by returning to MUKANGANGO the portions of land for which case she had won, and gave to the son of KARINGANIRE named NKUNDIMANA thirty days to have vacated the house for which case MUKANGANGO had won, but KARINGANIRE who had lost the case and her sons refused to vacate the property which they occupy even now. In the investigations carried out by the Commission on various occasions, it met with different authorities of NGORORERO District including the Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs and the Mayor himself, the District Legal Officer, the Prosecution at Gatumba Primary Court, the Directors in Ngororero District Land Bureau and explained to them the nature of this complaint and requested them to solve it but until now the complaint has not yet been solved. By the time of writing this report, the Commission has known that KARINGANIRE was given the Land title instead of giving it to MUKANGANGO who won the case, the Commission then requested that this land title should be given to MUKANGANGO after the authorities withdraw it from KARINGANIRE. The Commission finds that the authorities referred to above and to whom the complaint was submitted in a bid to resolve it have shown negligence by complicating the issue on the side of MUKANGANGO, and therefore requests Ngororero District to solve the complaint of this citizen with due diligence. The complaint of MANIRIHO Sirivaniya The commission staff receiving citizens complaints On 10 February 2014, MANIRIHO Sirivaniya, a resident of Kimishishi Village, Mukura Sector, Rutsiro District, declares that she has four siblings named: NYIRABUKARA Laurence, MUKAGASANA, MANIRIHO Sirivaniya and UTABAZI Gaudence, the siblings were parties to a case relating to a portion of land over which they claimed ownership against their brother NTIHABOSE Sylvère in the following judgments: Judgment RC 0033/11/TB/GIH of 20 April 2011, Judgment RCA 0132/11/TGI/KGI of 30 June 2011,

75 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 75 Judgment RCAA 0055/11/HC/RSZK of 26 January In all these judgments, NTIHABOSE was the loser. On 30 January 2013, the judgment was executed by the Executive Secretary of the Cell, AYINGENEYE Claudine. NTIHABOSE Sylvère refused to vacate the portion of land to the extent that when MANIRIHO went to cultivate it, the wife of NTIHABOSE Sylvere named NTAGAHINDA Claudine, threw stones at her. Her husband went as far as beating MANIRIHO Sirivaniya, when the matter was submitted to the Police, he refused to report to it. In the investigations carried out, the Commission found out that the Gihango Police Station Commander sent for NTAGAHINDA Claudine who appeared on 27 June On that day, she promised that she would no longer do any wrong to MANIRIHO Sirivaniya and that she would not cultivate again that portion of land though she did not keep her promise. MANIRIHO Sirivaniya resubmitted her complaint to the Police Commander who accepted to follow up the problem and prepare a case file against NTIHABOSE Sylvère and his wife NTAGAHINDA Claudine for attack and harassment. The Commission finds that MANIRIHO Sirivaniya was denied the right to use the property whose case he had won despite repeated acts of harassment done by the family of NTIHABOSE Sylvère. The Commission requests the Judicial Police to conduct legal proceedings against all the people who challenge the decisions of the courts because this situation disturbs public order. 3.6 COMPLAINTS FOLLOWED UP BY THE COMMISSION IN THE LAST THREE YEARS This section gives the summary of complaints related to violation of human rights that were followed up by the Commission in the last three years ( , and ). The Commission considered the way it has regularly received the complaints related to violation of human rights and how they were followed up in the last three years as indicated in the table and graph below. Table n o 14: Complaints received and followed up in the last three years. Complaints Year Year Year Number of complaints received by the Commission and those it already had under examination Number of complaints followed up by the Commission Number of complaints for which the Commission fully investigated and forwarded to relevant authorities for action Number of complaints which were solved

76 76 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Graph n 3: Complaints received and followed up in the last three years In the year , the Commission received 2743 complaints, followed up 1740 (63,4 %), in the year , the Commission received 1576 complaints, followed up 1172 (74,3 %); while in the year , the Commission received 1269 complaints, and followed up 1116 (87,9 %). This table shows that the number of complaints investigated by the Commission and submitted to concerned organs for a action is declining compared to the number of complaints the Commission investigated. This is indicated by the fact that in the year , the Commission had received 1172 complaints, submitted 835 (71.2%) to other organs; while in the year , the Commission followed up 1116 complaints, and submitted 654 complaints (58,6 %) to other organs. Regarding the number of complaints received by the Commission and for which we advised the complainants to submit them to other organs after analysis, it is obvious that the number keeps decreasing because, during the year , the Commission received 1298 complaints, for 303 complaints (23.34 %), the Commission advised the complainants to refer to other organs. In the year , the Commission received 870 complaints, for 110 (12.64 %) complaints, the Commission advised complainants to refer to other organs. The majority of complaints received by the Commission in the last three years are classified in three categories: the right to life, the right to health, the right to education, the right to property, the right to justice and the right to employment. Table n o 15 and Graph n 5 below give a comparison of complaints the Commission followed up in accordance with the categories of human rights in the last three years ( , and ). Year Right to life Right to health Right to education Right to property Right to justice Right to employment Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total

77 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 77 Graph n 4 indicates the categories of human rights in the last three years ( , and ) As indicated in the graph above, in the year , the complaints followed up by the Commission in the various categories of human rights, those related to the right to property top the list, followed by the right to justice, the right to employment, the right to education, the right to life and the right to health. It is obvious that in the previous two years ( and ), complaints related to the right to property were still the ones that topped the list of categories of human rights complaints followed up by the Commission. If the category of the right to justice comes in the second position during the last three years, it is mainly due to the fact that most cases related to property are mostly based on land. 3.7 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMISSION S POWER TO FILE LEGAL ACTIONS The Commission is invested with the power to file legal actions by Law N o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining missions, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights in its Article 9 that stipulates that the Commission shall have powers to file legal proceedings in civil, commercial, labour and administrative matters for violation of human rights provided by the Constitution, international treaties ratified by Rwanda and other laws. The same Law also states that the Commission may be represented in courts by its employees authorized by relevant authority on the request of the Chairperson of the Commission. The Commission may also be represented by a council of its choice. Furthermore, based on its Internal Rules and Regulations as published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda, special number of 14 October 2010, in Part II on the directives of the National Commission for Human Rights relating to the procedure of human rights complaints management, under their articles 56 to 64, the Commission shall conduct investigations on complaints reported to it or it pursues upon its own initiative so as to make sure that they actually constitute human rights violations and to file legal actions. The complaints lodged with the courts are among those the Commission pursues upon its own initiative which include violations of the children s rights, the right to life, the right against rape and torture. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission exercised its power of filing legal actions in thirteen (13) proceedings, including four (4) relating to parental right, three (3) relating to damages arising from the right to life, three (3) in connection with the right to property, one (1) relating to the right to non-discrimination and sectarianism and two (2) relating to the right against rape. Of thirteen (13) complaints lodged by the Commission with courts, seven (7) complaints have been taken as typical examples in this report. Those are the following:

78 78 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 1. The case of KWIHANGANA Alexis On 22 nd March 2010, KWIHANGANA Alexis, represented by his mother called NYIRASAFARI Béatrice, residing in Ngundu Village, Ruhanga Cell, Rusarabuye Sector, Burera District, Northern Province, wrote to the Commission seeking its intervention in the matter she has with HARERIMANA Jean Bosco. With him, she gave birth to KWIHANGANA Alexis but he does not assist her in their child s education while she suffers from mental disease. This case was explained in details in the Commisson s previous activity reports 13. The Commission, represented by Adv NTIGURIRWA François, filed a claim against HARERIMANA Jean Bosco in the Lower Court of Cyeru, requesting it to examine and confirm the relationship between KWIHANGANA Alexis and HARERIMANA Jean Bosco and to oblige him to fulfil his parental duties. The case was registered under nº RC 0203/13/TB/CYE and was tried on 17 th September The Court ruled that NYIRASAFARI Béatrice s complaint, representing her son KWIHANGANA Alexis, makes sense; and confirmed that KWIHANGANA Alexis is Harerimana Jean Bosco s son and that he must register him as son in the Civil Status Registry. The Court ordered that Harerimana Jean Bosco must contribute to the feeding of his son KWIHANGANA Alexis by providing twenty thousand ( Rwf) per month. 2. The case of YAMBABARIYE YAMBABARIYE is also the son of NYIRASAFARI Béatrice to whom she gave birth with MANIRIHO Olivier. She reported her complaint to the Commission on 22 nd March 2010 requesting its intervention so that her son s father help her in bringing him up. Represented by Me KARONGOZI André Martin in case nº RC 0244/012/TB/CYE tried on 17 th September 2013 by the Lower Court of Cyeru, the Commission requested this Court to confirm that YAMBABARIYE is the son of MANIRIHO Olivier and to oblige this latter to meet his parental duties. The court heard this case and ordered that a DNA test must be carried out by the competent centre of National Police, and that this should be done within a period of one month. It also ordered that the funds to be spent on this test be paid by NYIRASAFARI Béatrice. The proceeding was postponed and was due to be reopened on 18 th March 2014, but on this date the capacity to carry out such a test was not yet in place. At the moment of preparing this report, the Commission was still advocating with National Police so that the DNA test required by decent people be carried out free of charges. 3. The murder of MUHAWENIMANA Marc On different occasions, the National Commission for Human Rights conducted the monitoring of the proceedings related to the murder of MUHAWENIMANA Marc, who was shot dead on 1st June 2010 by MUSABYEMUNGU Gérard, the Guard in Nyungwe Natural Forest and who is prosecuted of this crime of murder. It is recalled that the Commission had covered the case related to the murder of MUHAWENIMANA Marc in its activity report for the year The Commission, represented by Me KARANGWA Vincent in the civil case N o RP 0009/11/HC/RSZ, in which MUSABYEMUNGU Gérard was accused of murder. In this case, the Court ruled that MUSABYEMUNGU Gérard was convicted of committing the murder, and approved that the complaint in connection with dammages 13 The Commission s activity report for the year , p and the Commission s activity report for the year , p Activity report for the year , p

79 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 79 lodged by MANIRARORA Vérène and MANIRAFASHA Reponse, nicknamed Gisubizo was founded. This Court decided that MUSABYEMUNGU Gérard lose the case and sentenced him to six (6) years imprisonment; but also ordered him to pay to MANIRARORA Vérène and MANIRAFASHA Reponse, nicknamed Gisubizo dammages amount to three million Rwandan francs ( Rwf). MUSABYEMUNGU Gérard was not satisfied by this decision and appealed to the Supreme Court, and his appeal complaint was registered under N o RPA 0148/13/C.S. On 4 th September 2013, the Commission wrote to the Supreme Court letter N o CNDP/SEPT/117/13.14, requesting that the case N o RPA 0148/13/C.S be tried without undue delay as it was pending for a long time. The Commission s letter got no response and the date for the hearing of case N o RPA 0148/13/C.S was not fixed yet. After following up this case and founding that nothing was done on it, on 24 th June 2014, the Commission wrote to the Supreme Court another letter N o CNDP/JUN/695/13.14 reminding the letter aforementioned, and again requested that the case N o RPA0148/13/C.S be tried without undue delay. The Minister of Justice/Attorney General received a copy of this letter.. At the time of preparing this report, the Commission got no response to both letters and while the date for the hearing of case N o RPA 0148/13/C.S was not fixed yet. The Commission finds that the Supreme Court did not take as urgent the case N o RPA 0148/13/C.S as requested by the Commission through its letters, and this case is pending already four years. The Commission once again requests the Supreme Court that the case N o RPA 0148/13/C.S be tried without undue delay, because being tried without undue delay is this one of the civil rights guaranteed by the international human rights conventions ratified by Rwanda. 4. Murder of NYIRAHATEGEKIMANA Béata On different occasions, the National Commission for Human Rights carried out investigation on the murder of NYIRAHATEGEKIMANA Béata who was resident of Kabuye Cell, Nyakarenzo Sector, Rusizi District, in the Western Province, murdered by NDAHAYO Jacques in the night of 1 August It is recalled that the Commission had presented the complaint of NYIRAHATEGEKIMANA Béata in annual activity report for , as well as in its annual activity report for In case N o RP 0009/11/HC/RSZ, in the Hight Court, Rusizi Branch, NDAHAYO Jacques was convicted a criminal murderer and was sentenced to life imprisonment punishment. The Court also ordered him to pay IRANZI Drocelle and MBARUSHIMANA Samuel, children of the late, and KANTARAMA Perpétue, mother of the late, damages amounting to nine million Rwandan francs ( Rwf). NDAHAYO Jacques was not satisfied by this court decision and he appealed against it to the Supreme Court, and his appeal was registered under N o RPA 0096/13/CS. On 4 September 2013, the Commission wrote letter N o CNDP/SEPT/117/13.14 to the Supreme Court requesting that the case N o RPA 0096/13/C.S be tried without undue delay so as to settle the issue of the civil case as well. 15 Commission s annual activity report for , p Commission s annual activity report for , p

80 80 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The Commission, after investigating this case and finding nothing was done on it, on 24 June 2014, wrote to the Supreme Court another letter N o CNDP/JUN/696/13.14 reminding its letter aforementioned, and requesting that the case N o RPA 0096/13/CS be tried without undue delay. The Minister of Justice/Attorney General got a copy of this letter. At the moment of preparing this report, the Commission got no response to both letters and the date for hearing the case N o RPA 0096/13/CS was not yet fixed. The Commission finds that the Supreme Court did not pay deserved urgence to case N o RPA 0096/13/ CS as it had requested it through its letters. The Commission once again requests the Supreme Court that the case N o RPA 0096/13/CS be tried without undue delay. 5. The complaint of COPORWA On 4 September 2013, SEBISHWI Juvénal, on behalf of Rwanda Poters Cooperative (COPORWA), wrotre to the National Commission for Human Rights reporting to it the violation of the rights of marginalized people who live in Rwufe Village, Mujuga Cell, Kitabi Sector, Nyamagabe District, Southern Province. On 20 November 2013, the Commission went to Rwufe Village, Mujuga Cell, Kitabi Sector and got explanations and witnessed the way their rights were violated and how their houses were damaged. Investigations by the Commission revealed that some of the doors and Windows had been considerably damaged. Until 20 November 2013, those doors and windows were not repaired. With regard to investigation on this violence, the victims told the Commission that the Judicial Police Officer called MUHIMPUNDU Landouard from the Police Station of Tare constituted a file on this issue. Both parties were conciled, but the perpetrators of this violence were ordered to pay two hundred eighty thousand Rwandan francs ( Rwf) for the properties they destroyed and to repair demolished doors and windows. Of this amount, only one hundred thousand Rwanda francs ( Rwf) were paid but other clauses agreed upon were not implemented. On 17 February 2014, the Commission went to the Police Station of Tare and realized that those accused of demolishing, damaging other people s property, assault and battery had been interviewed and the file was submitted to the Prosecution Service and was registered under N o RPA /S1/13/BO/MF. One of the families victim of violence in front of the demolished door On 19 March 2014, the Prosecution Service applied to the Lower Court of Gasaka for fixation of the date for hearing of this case. The Lower Court of Gasaka registered this case under N o RPA 0032/09/14/TB/ GAS, and was given 3 September 2014 as the date of its trial on merit on.

81 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 81 On 29 April 2014, the Commission wrote to the President of the Bar Association the letter N o CNDP/ APR/567/13.14 requesting him to nominate a member of the Bar Association to represent the victims in the civil case. The President of the Bar Association assigned Adv. BYAMUKAMA Pascal to represent them in the civil case proceedings. At the time of preparing this report, the Commission learnt that the case N o RPA 0032/09/14/TB/GAS was not tried on the date mentioned above because the judges were attending a training workshop. 6. The case of NKURUNZIZA Aimable On 3 rd June 2013, NKURUNZIZA Aimable, resident of Mumanzi Village, Rugenge Cell, Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge District, wrote to the Commission requesting to be restored in his rights. He claims that his father NZIRAGUSESWA Donat died when he (NKURUNZIZA Aimable) was still a little boy. His mother, MUKARUSENGO Godeliève, was not legally married with his father, so he was raised up by his grandfather (mother s father) called SHYIRAKERA Nicodème. His father s family shared his entire property and NKURUNZIZA Aimable got nothing because he suffers from a mental disease. During the proceedings of case N o RC 4602/16/03-RC 0103/04/TD/NTYO dated 20 May 2005, NKURUNZIZA Aimable requested NTENYO District Court to prove that NZIRAGUSESWA Donat is his actual father. The Court decided that NZIRAGUSESWA Donat is a father to NKURUNZIZA Aimable, and ordered to register him in Civil Status Registry under his father s names mentioned above. During the hearing of case N o 0220/05/TP/GIT dated 18 September 2006, NZAYITURIKI Donatille, daughter of NZIRAGUSESWA Donat appealed against the case N o RC 4602/16/03-RC 0103/04/TD/NTYO in connection with seeking the child s father. The Court decided that NKURUNZIZA Aimable lost the case, based on Article 330 CCL I, which states that a complaint shall not be admissible if the complainant is more than 5 years old comparing to the age of majority; and even that when this period is extended, it cannot be more than one year after the so called mother or father dies. Therefore, NKURUNZIZA contravened the provisions of the aforementioned article. Furthermore, the Court based on the evidence he produced showing when he started suffering mental disease, and this should be approved by a medical doctor recognized by the Government. On 12 July 2013, the Commission wrote a letter to a medical doctor of Ndera Psychiatric Hospital (CARAES) requesting him a medical certificate precisely stating when NKURUNZIZA s mental disease started and his health state today, but also so as to know if, from that time, he was able to follow up properly his case. This would ease the application for case review. In his report of 23 August 2013, the medical doctor wrote a letter confirming that NKURUNZIZA Aimable was first treated by CARAES NDERA Hospital on 19 November 2012, and that he suffers from chronic mental disease. In this report, the medical doctor further says that NKURUNZIZA Aimable has been suffering from mental disease for a long time. The Commission, based on the medical doctor s report, realized that NKURUNZIZA Aimable appeared before the court without the capacity to think and to take decisions. After the medical doctor s report, the Commission sought for him a member of the Bar Association who filed a claim in its name with regard to the application for review of Case N o 6220/05/TP/GIT decided by the Intermediate Court of Muhanga on 18 September 2006.

82 82 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS On 22 May 2014, was held a pre-trial meeting that fixed the proceedings on merit of case N o RCA028/ TGI/MUH on 9 September At the moment of preparing this report, the Commission learnt that the case was heard and will be pronounced on 26 September The Commission will continue to follow up this case so as to know its decisions. 7. The case of BATAMURIZA Jeannette. On 1st June 2010, BATAMURIZA Jeannette wrote a letter to the Commission seeking its intervention in filing a case to the Court against her uncle, called KAREGEYA Edouard, who owned the properties of her late father, SIBOMANA Léonard. BATAMURIZA Jeanette is an orphan aged 18 who was studying at Indangaburezi College of Ruhango, and is resident of Kamusenyi Cell, Byimana Sector, Ruhango District. On 11 June 2010, the Commission conducted an investigation into this complaint and learnt that her father SIBOMANA Léonard and her mother UWAMARIYA Rose had not been legally married, but in her family she was recognized as their daughter and was raised up in his father s family. The Commission also learnt that after her father SIBOMANA Léonard passing away, his property was owned by his brother KAREGEYA Edouard. Her mother UWAMARIYA Rose claimed this property and died in 2000 after getting it back. Later on, KAREGEYA Léonard again took over this property pretending that he grew up BATAMURIZA Jeannette after her parents passed away. This property comprises 3 houses, a forest and plots. BATAMURIZA says that after taking up the ownership of it, KAREGEYA Léonard sold one house, 2 plots and one plantation field. She asked to manage herself her father s properties, KAREGEYA gave them back to her, but remained with one house claiming that it belongs to him. Given that BATAMURIZA Jeannette wished to sue KAREGEYA Léonard in court so as to get back all her father s properties he was illegally owning or he had sold, the Commission advised her to first report her complaint to local authorities. On 8 December 2010, BATAMURIZA Jeannette informed the Commission that she reported her complaint to the Executive Secretary of Byimana Sector who sent her to the people s council of Kamusenyi cell which decided that BATAMURIZA Jeannette must be given her father s properties. BATAMURIZA Jeannette said that she intended to apply to court for her sold properties and requested the Commission to help her finding someone who can file a complaint in her name and represent her before the court because she did not the majority age to allow her to appear before the court. The Commission accepted to work on this case, and contracted Adv MUGENI Anita to file a claim in the Commission s name and to provide legal assistance to BATAMURIZA in case N o RC0160/11/TGI/MHG heard by the Intermediate Court of Muhanga on 16 May The Court decided that all sold properties be returned to BATAMURIZA Jeannette and that purchase contracts thereof are nul. NYANDWI Sylvain, one of the losing parties, was not satisfied by the case decision and appealed to the High Court, Nyanza Branch. The High Court heard the appeal against the case N o RC 0169/HC/NYA on 25 April 2013, the Commission was represented by Adv. KARANGWA Vincent in the interest of BATAMURIZA Jeannette and it won the case, but NYANDWI Sylvain applied for review of the case.

83 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 83 The review of case N o RCA 0145/13/HC/NYA took place on 10 February 2014, and the pronouncement was on 25 February The Court ordered that the case N o RC 0169/HC/NYA deliberated on 25 April 2013, remain fully valid. Table N o 16: Cases filed with Courts by the Commission during the year Cases on trial Cases tried First instance Appeal Cases won by the Commission Cases lost by the Commission Total 7 Of these 7 cases, 2 cases have tried, whereas 5 are still being tried. The Commission won 2 cases, the Commission did not lose any case. Of 5 cases still on trial, 2 cases are being tried on lower court, whereas 3 cases are still being tried at appeal level. The Commission finds that this power to file legal actions is of great importance because it enables it to play a big role in the redress of human rights violations of the victims, especially children who are among vulnerable groups and are often subjected to violations whereas the Rwandan laws and International Conventions include them in specific group that should enjoy that particular protection. 3.8 RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN SPECIAL CATEGORIES The National Commission for Human Rights, based on Law N o 19/2013 of 25/03/2013 determining its missions, organization and functioning, especially its article 6 providing the Commission s special mission relating to the protection of human rights, paragraph four (4) invests in it the responsibility of particularly monitoring respect for the child s rights, women, Persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, refugees, migrant workers and members of their families and elderly. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission followed up the respect for the rights of specific groups mentioned above, apart from the rights of migrant workers and their families. With regard to migrant workers, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers, in 2012 took the decision to give to National Human Rights Commissions a special responsibility of following up the respect for the rights of this category of people. It is in this respect that this responsibility was included in the Commission s law mentioned above. From July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission monitored the respect for the rights of following specific categories: The Child s rights The child s rights are especially based on the Fundamental Principles of Human Rights relating to the child in particular. These fundamental principles include the devotion to the best interests of the child, nondiscrimination, the right to life, survival and development and the respect for the views of the child. The child s rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 June 2003 as amended to date, by different International Conventions and by national laws including Law N o 54/2011 of 14 December 2011 relating to the rights and protection of the child.

84 84 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS In the context of implementing the obligations set forth in laws and in International Conventions duly ratified by Rwanda regarding the child s rights, since 2006, the Commission set up the Observatory Committee of the Child s rights operating at three national administrative entities: at sector, district and national levels. This Observatory Committee helps the Commission to follow up how the child s rights are respected. Every month, its volunteers at sector and district levels submit to the Commission the reports on monitoring of the respect for the child s rights by highlighting how they are actually respected in their communities. From July 2013 to June 2014, the compiled report on the respect for children s rights countrywide presents complaints relating to the violation. A big number of these complaints have been settled by relevant authorities. The unsolved ones were followed up in the same way as those reported to the Commission in the ordinary format of complaints. In general, the Commission received 208 complaints. Of these complaints, 154 were from the reports submitted by the volunteers mentioned above, 54 were reported to the Commission in ordinary channels. In general, the Commission noted girls are more subjected to human rights violation acts than boys because, of two hundred and eight (208) complaints, one hundred forty six (146) are related to human rights violations committed against girls, whereas boys are sixty two(62). These violations of children s rights are related to the following: - Rape on children; - To deprive orphans of properties by their relatives who look after them; - Giving them corporal punishments; - Not providing them health care due to lack of health insurance; - Inducing children to use narcotic drugs seen in urban areas and commercial centres; - Abandoning children and giving them worst forms of labour; - Mistreatment of children; - Non-registration of children in the Civil Status Registry; - Not going to school and drop outs; - Early marriage; - Abortion and abandonment of children that most of the time leads to death. From July 2013 to June 2014, the gender-based violence comes foremost because the Commission received 77 complaints relating to such violation. Of 208 complaints investigated by the Commission, the typical ones are as follows: 1. The complaint of orphans of late NKOTANYI Damascène On 14 October 2013, on behalf of the orphans of late NKOTANYI Damascène, MUKANYONGA Espérance, resident of Nyabwishongwezi Village, Nyabwishongwezi Cell, Matimba Sector in Nyagatare District, wrote to the Commission in the name of her 5 grandchildren, namely INGABIRE Chantal, UWERA Sandrine,

85 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 85 MUKAMASABO Divine, MUHORAKEYE Fillette and MUTONI, requesting help for these orphans of her late son NKOTANYI Damascène to obtain the final certificate of their land which was confiscated by the Executive Secretary of Nyabwishongwezi Cell. The Commission analyzed the documents attached to MUKANYONGA Espérance s letter including the petitions notebook and the copy of judgment of Mediation Committee decided on 9 November 2010 at Cell level and the one decided on 15 September 2011 at Sector level. The Commission realized that MUKANYONGA Espérance was involved in disputes with HABIMANA Aaron in relation to the size of the land of these children because MUKANYONGA Espérance claims that HABIMANA Aaron displaced the land markers and took a piece of their land. In both cases, MUKANYONGA Espérance lost the case. On 9 October 2013, based on the conclusions of the Mediation Committee at Sector level of 15 September 2011, the land markers he had displaced be returned where they had been previously, at the limitation between these children s land and HABIMANA Aaron s land. The Commission met the Mayor of Nyagatare District and asked him the reason why the grandchildren of NKOTANYI Damascène cannot obtain the certificate of their land, and explained him that the Executive Secretary of Nyabwishongweezi Cell should not continue confiscating that certificate because it is contrary to laws and that, if HABIMANA Aaron challenges it, he should request the Court to cancel its validity. The Commission checked in the Land Office of Nyagatare District and found that no changes were made on land certificate of the grandchildren of MUKANYONGA Espérance and this land is registered in their names. When MUKANYONGA Espérance realized that the land certificate of her grandchildren continues to be confiscated, filed a claim to the Intermediate Court of Nyagatare. In the case N o RAD 0005/013/TGI/NYG decided on 8 November 2013, the heirs of NKOTANYI Damascène represented by the grandmother who looks after them, MUKANYONGA Espérance, filed a claim against Nyagatare District in the name of its Mayor for having been denied the final certificate of their land by the District Officer KARUHANGA Alex, the Executive Secretary of Nyabishongwezi Cell. In this case, the Court ordered the Nyagatare District to issue the land certificate of the heirs of NKOTANYI Damascène which was confiscated and to pay damages amounting to one hundred fifty Rwandan francs (RwF ). After the hearing of the case, MUKANYONGA Espérance once again sought the Commission s intervention claiming that the District did not give to her grandchildren what they won in this case. On 9 May 2014, the Commission met the Executive Secretary of Nyagatare District and showed him that the fact that Nyagatare District does not execute the judgment constitutes the violation of the rights of children who won the case. The Commission finds that the orphans of late NKOTANYI Damascène were denied the right to land certificate because the Executive Secretary of Nyabwishongwezi Cell that confiscated this certficate had no right to do so. The Commission also finds that these children were denied the right to redress won in case N o RAD 0005/013/TGI/NYG decided by the Intermediate Court of Nyagatare. The Commission requests that this judgment be executed without any further condition.

86 86 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 2. The complaint of MUKAMANA Sifa On 28 October 2013, the National Commission for Human Rights received a complaint relating to gender-based violence perpetrated against MUKAMANA Sifa, a girl aged 17, resident of Karusimbi Village, Karusimbi Cell, Bushenge Sector, Rusizi District, Western Province, who was raped by NIYIBIZI Daniel. Through investigations conducted by the Commission, it knew that, on 29 January 2014, the Judicial Police of Kamembe Police Station investigated into this matter, and prepared the warrant arrest for NIYIBIZI Daniel, which was not issued at that time. The Judicial Police explained that it was going to trace the suspect and take him to the judicial instances without undue delay. On 18 March 2014, the Commission investigated again into this matter and realized that, although the warrant to arrest NIYIBIZI Daniel had been issued, he was not arrested yet because he had disappeared. In the context of knowing what the Judicial Police was planning to do so as to arrest him, the Judicial Police agent who was working at Kamembe Police Station explained that the Commission which was following up this case should search the information on the whereabouts of NIYIBIZI Daniel, and share it with the Police so that it can arrest him. Since the person accused of raping MUKAMANA Sifa was not yet arrested so as to take him to judicial instances, on 24 June 2014, the Commission wrote to the Commissioner General of Police letter N o CNDP/ JUN/697/13.14, requesting him to follow up the gender-based violence which was committed to MUKAMANA Sifa by tracing the suspect so as to enable the judicial instances to do their duty. At the time of preparing this report, the Commission had not received any response to its letter. The Commission once again requests the National Police to do everything possible to arrest NIYIBIZI Daniel and take him before the judicial instances. 3. The complaint of AKAYEZU ABAKIRA George In March 2014, the Commission investigated the issue of AKAYEZU ABAKIRA George, aged 9, who was victim of battery and bodily injuries caused by his father, AKAYEZU Alexis, resident of Rugarama Village, Akinyambo Cell, Muyumbu Sector in Rwamagana District. AKAYEZU ABAKIRA George victim of cruel punishments by his father The investigations conducted by the Commission revealed that AKAYEZU Alexis burnt the hands and arms of his child because he served himself food. The father then got angry by the fact that his son had taken food from the cooking-pot. Thereafter, he burnt him with a screw driver that he usually uses in his work as a mechanic. AKAYEZU Alexis also locked this child in the house. The child was saved by the neighbours who perceived him when he was going to the toilet. They saw that he had got severe bodily injuries and took him to a healthcare centre. They also filed for him a case to the Police. The Commission also learnt that AKAYEZU Alexis was demobilized from the army and usually misbehaves as confirmed by his neighbours and grass root leaders who revealed that his wife left him due to harassment and threats to kill her.

87 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 87 Furthermore, the Commission learnt that the case file of AKAYEZU Alexis was transferred to the Lower Court of Nzige and was registered under N o RDP 097/13/TB/NZGE. On 30 October 2013, the Court decided that AKAYEZU Alexis be released on bail based on the principle of the child interests as he needs someone who will ensure his access to healthcare service, provide him with nutrition and education. No one else can provide him all these needs except his father who has this responsibility since this child does not live with his mother. The Court also ordered that AKAYEZU Alexis will report to every Monday of the week until his case will be tried on merit. On 10 April 2014, the Commission went to the Court registry in order to know if the court was seized on this case file and realized that they did not receive it. On that day, the Commission talked with the Prosecutor at the level of the Lower Court of Nzige. He said that the case file of AKAYEZU Alexis is among very urgent cases as it has been delayed, and that all evidences have been gathered. He promised they were going to transfer the file to the Court. At the time of preparing this report, the Commission continued to follow up this case and learnt that the file was transferred to the Lower Court of Nzige and was registered under N o RP0068/14/TB/NZG, and that it was be tried on 9 December The Commission will continue to follow up this case in order to learn the decisions of the Court The rights of women, the respect for gender balance and fighting gender-based violence The rights of women are based on the principle of non-discrimination which states that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights, and they are equal before the law and are equally protected by them without any discrimination. The rights of women are in conformity with the principle of gender equality stated in the fundamental principles of the Government of the Republic of Rwanda has resolved to follow which are incorporated in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 June 2003 as amended to date, especially in its Article 9, paragraph 4. They are also guaranteed by Article 11 of this Law which stipulates that all Rwandan are born and remain free and equal in rights and duties without discrimination of whatever discrimination. In addition, they are provided by article 16 which states that all human beings are equal before the law. They shall enjoy, without any discrimination, equal protection of the law. These rights are also guaranteed by International Human Rights Conventions duly ratified by Rwanda. These include, among others: - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted in 1966, ratified by the Government of Rwanda in 1975, in its articles 2, 3, 7 and 10. This Covenant provides that the States Parties undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights. - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted in 1966, ratified by the Government of Rwanda in 1975 in its articles 2, 3, 23, 25 and 26. This Covenant provides that the States Parties undertake to respect the rights of men and women without discrimination. - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 18 December This Convention was ratified by the Government of Rwanda in 1981.

88 88 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS In the context of implementing this Convention, Rwanda has put in place different policies on the promotion of women and the consolidation of the principle of gender equality, and different laws on the protection of women s rights and strengthening the principle of gender equality. In this regard, based on Law n 43/2013 of 15 June 2013 governing land use and management in Rwanda; this law under its article 4 provides that all forms of discrimination, such as that based on sex or origin, in relation to access to land and the enjoyment of real rights shall be prohibited. This article also provided that the right to land for a man and a woman lawfully married shall depend on the matrimonial regime they opted for. The principle of gender equality is also guaranteed by Article 22 which states that, during the transaction on land rights, both the husband and his wife shall have equal rights. With regard to protection of women s rights, the Commission continued handling with promptude complaints relating to the violation of women s rights in general and others in connection with any other genderbased violence. The gender-based violence comprises of deprivation of the right to the property, being subjected to bodily injuries, violence causing mental harm, violence based on indecent assault or sexual harassment, done outside or in families, either committed to women or men. In this regard, from 1st July 2013 to 30th June 2014, the Commission received one hundred and thirty seven (137) complaints relating to gender-based violence. Of these complaints, thirty seven (37) were solved whereas one hundred (100) are still under investigations. Some of typical complaints relating to gender-based violence followed up by the Commission from July 2013 to June 2014 are the following: 1. The complaint of MUKAKARARA Clémentine On 12 October 2013, the National Commission for Human Rights received a complaint from NYIRABAGIRINSHUTI Alivera who was resident of Kayange 2 Village, Ndama Cell, Karangazi Sector, Nyagatare District, nowadays she has shifted to Matimba Cell, Matimba Sector in Nyagatare District. This complaint is related to her daughter MUKAKARARA Clémentine aged 22, who was raped on 8 October 2013 by two men, TUGIRIMANA and NSHIMIYIMANA J. Pierre. The claim was filed to judicial instances, only NSHIMIYIMANA J. Pierre was prosecuted, while TUGIRIMANA disappeared. The Commission carried out investigation on this complaint and found that on 9 October 2013, the leaders of Kayange 2 Village had prepared the report on the rape of MUKAKARARA Clémentine and submitted to the Judicial Police Office, which in turn based on it and prepared the case file. MUKAKARARA Clémentine claims that no investigation was carried out at the scene of the crime. During its investigation, the Commission also learnt that the Police of Karangazi had prepared the case file and submitted it to the Prosecution Service of Nyagatare on 15 October 2013, which registered it under N o RONPJ /S2/13/NJ/R.BINS. It found that on 28 October 2013, the Prosecutor closed it because the elements of the crime of rape were incomplete. The Commission analyzed the file and did not find any medical expertise in it. The Judicial Police at Nyagatare District level declared to the Commission that the medical expertise proved that MUKAKARARA Clémentine was not virgin at the moment she was raped, and that it carried out the investigation itself and found that she was not raped, on the contrary she consented to make love with them.

89 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 89 On 8 October 2013, the Commission went to Nyagatare Hospital and learnt that MUKAKARARA Clémentine had been examined by a Medical Doctor called Olivier who found that she had been victim of bodily assault, sexual violence, and violence on genital organs. In the registry in which are recorded the dates of receipt of the Medical Doctor s letters by the secretariat of the hospital, and time they are dispatched, the Commission found that it was obvious that the medical expertise was received by the secretariat of the hospital on 18 October On the same day, it was taken by a policeman, Caporal UWAMAHORO Henriette, who usually retrieves the medial expertise and gives them to the Prosecution service. The Commission finds that the disappearance of the medical expertise done for MUKAKARARA Clémentine while it was handed to the Police was the cause of not transferring her case to judicial instances. The Commission requests the Police, based on the form on which are recorded the analysis of MUKAKARARA Clémentine showing that she was raped, to carry out another medical expertise, to re-open the case and to prosecute TUGIRIMANA because he played a big role in raping and damaging MUKAKARARA Clémentine. There should be also an investigation on the disappearance of the documents and those involved in this should be punished. The Commission requests the Prosecutor General to follow up this case. 2. The complaint of KANDAMUTSA Stéphanie On 10 March 2014, the Commission received the complaint of KANDAMUTSA Stéphanie, resident of Gisozi Village, Kamataba Cell, Rubengera Sector in Karongi District. Her issue took place in Gako Village, Kagusa Cell, Mukura Sector in Rutsiro District, where she has appeared before the Court against her brother MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien, who claimed that a female cannot inherit. The case N o RC 0314/10/TB/GIH ruled on 4 May 2010, decided that both parties must equally share the property. On 17 November 2011, the Executive Secretary of Kagusa Cell executed the judgment and fixed the land markers that separated equally their properties as it was ordered by the Court. On that day, MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien immediately took off those land markers. On different occasions from 10 March Werurwe 2014, the Commission investigated the complaint of KANDAMUTSA Stéphanie, and found that MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien continues insubordination as follows: - On 23 July 2013, the Executive Secretary of Kagusa put again the land markers in place but MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien again took them off and this leader requested Police intervention. - Police Station of Gihango, in Rutsiro District, arrested MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien, he signed a notice to accept that he was going to quit the property he lost before the court but until today he has not executed his promise. The Commission finds that KANDAMUTSA Stéphanie is still denied the right to her property by MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien because he keeps being insubordinate and concerned authorities do not prosecute him as provided by the law. The Commission requests the Prosecution Service and the Judicial Police to do what is provided by the law against insubordinate persons and force MUNYANDAMUTSA Sévérien to leave KANDAMUTSA Stéphanie s property.

90 90 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 3.9 MONITORING OF THE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The part of the report relating to the monitoring of the respect for human contains the activities carried out by the Commission in monitoring the respect for rights of detainees in prisons, the child s rights, the rights of women, the rights of Persons with disabilities, the rights of detainees and prisoners, the rights of the elderly, childless parents, those suffering chronic diseases and the destitute Monitoring of the respect for the rights of detainees in prisons The Commission carried out the monitoring in the following 14 prisons: Muhanga Prison, Huye Prison, Nyanza Prison, Bugesera Prison, Rwamagana Prison, Gasabo Prison, Rusizi Prison, Musanze Prison, Gicumbi Prison, Ngoma Prison, Rubavu Prison, Nyarugenge Prison, Nyagatare Prison and Nyamagabe Prison. Findings of the Commission in this monitoring Statistics on detainees in prisons Detainees of 14 prisons that were monitored are presented in Table N o 16 below: Table no. 17 Shows the detainees in prisons CATEGORIES Minors Adults Boys Girls Men Women ACCUSATIONS COMMON LAW OFFENCES GENOCIDE Prisoners Detainees Prisoners Detainees As shown by this table, the Commission found in prisons minor detainees aged under eighteen (18), including 189 boys and 9 girls. Adults were including men and 3525 women. The total number of all detainees and prisoners in prisons where the monitoring was carried out is In general, the Commission realized that congestion reduced compared to previous years. The Commission found higher congestion (above 120%) in Nyamagabe Prison (137.4%), Nyarugenge Prison (128%) and Rwamagana Prison (126.7%) than in other prisons due to the number of prisoners and detainees in those prisons, which is beyond their capacity.

91 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 91 Table n o 18: Congestion in prisons Prison Monitoring date Number of detainees Prison capacity Congestion 1. Nyamagabe Prison 19/05/ % 2. Nyarugenge Prison 26/05/ % 3. Rwamagana Prison 20/05/ % 4. Muhanga Prison 20/05/ % 5. Musanze Prison 20/05/ % 6. Gasabo Prison 27/05/ % 7. Bugesera Prison 19/05/ % 8. Gicumbi Prison 22/05/ % 9. Huye Prison 21/05/ % 10. Nyanza Prison 20/05/ % 11. Rusizi Prison 19/05/ % 12. Gereza ya Rubavu 20/05/ % 13. Gereza ya Ngoma 21/05/ % 14. Nyagatare Prison (Rehabilitation Centre for minors) 21/05/ % With regard to their crimes, the Commission found that all those accused of Common Law offences are Among them, prisoners are 15650; detainees are All persons accused of genocide are Among them, prisoners are 35099, detainees are 63. All prisoners are 50749, whereas detainees are Apparently, the number of detainees (3530 or 6.5%) is far lower than the number of prisoners who are serving their sentence (50749 or 93.5%). Concerning the number of prisoners accused of the crimes of genocide, it decreased because in 2013 they were against in work. In general, this shows that all judicial instances and other supporting institutions have done perfectly their The respect for the rights of prisoners in terms of welfare The Commission carried out the monitoring of respect for the rights of prisoners and detainees in the following categories: to be imprisoned close to the family, not to be subject to torture and other cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment, to be detained following categories, child s rights living with her mother in prison, uniforms of detainees and prisoners, premises of prisons, meals of detainees and prisoners, sports and leisure, religion, healthcare, visits, correspondence, works of prisoners, books and media.

92 92 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The Commission also inspected the progress made in resolving the problems it had highlighted in the previous report by relevant authorities. With regard to the respect for the rights of detainees and prisoners mentioned above, in general, the Commission found that these rights are respected, but there are still problems to be resolved which can be classified as follows: 1. Being imprisoned close to the family Although prisons do everything necessary for prisoners who are imprisoned away from their families to be transferred to prisons closer to their families, 2189 cases of prisoners who need to be transferred near their families were found in different prisons. Such cases were 210 in Muhanga Prison, 181 in Huye Prison, 418 in Nyanza Prison, 703 in Bugesera Prison, 86 in Rwamagana Prison, 62 in Gasabo Prison, 57 in Rusizi Prison, 144 in Musanze Prison, 28 in Gicumbi Prison, 40 in Ngoma Prison, 230 in Rubavu Prison, 30 in Nyarugenge and 41 in Nyamagabe Prison. 2. Punishments given to detainees and prisoners for bad behaviour in prisons The Commission realized that there were 10 persons who were detained in prison s cells because they had misbehaved in prison. It was realized that they were unlawfully detained because they were given punishment to be detained in those cells but were not given any explanation on the duration of their detention. Moreover, there are among them those who have been detained in these cells for a period of more than 3 months. 3. Detention by categories Detainees continue to be detained with prisoners while the law mentioned above and the Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners provide that these two categories must be detained in separate rooms. Again, girls are detained with women. 4. A child with her mother in prison The Commission found that pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers detained in Prisons of Nyamagabe and Ngoma do not receive particular care regarding nutrition. There was a problem of 13 children aged more that 3 years who were still with their mothers in prison. These children were found in the following prisons: 4 in Muhanga Prison, one (1) in Ngoma Prison, 7 in Nyarugenge Prison and one (1) child in Musanze Prison. 5. Uniforms of detainees and prisoners The Commission realized that the uniforms of detainees and prisoners were not enough. They have to exchange them among themselves and sometimes prisoners wear detainees uniforms or vice versa. 6. Congestion In Nyamagabe Prison (137.4%), Nyarugenge Prison (128%) and Rwamagana Prison (126.7%), the Commission realized that there was more congestion than in other prisons (above 120%).

93 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS State of premises In Nyarugenge Prison, there was a problem of kitchens with holed floor that needed to be repaired, while in Nyamagabe Prison is facing a problem of insufficient toilets. 8. Hygiene In Bugesera Prison there was a problem of lack of water: when there is shortage of water, a truck of the prison and prisoners go to fetch water at Kidogo Lake. There was little hygiene in this prison due to shortage of water. The problem of poor hygene was also realized in the following Prisons: - In Nyamagabe Prison, there were fleas in the dormitories of prisoners and little hygiene in kitchens; - In Rwamagana Prison, there was little hygiene in the dormitories of prisoners; - In Nyarugenge Prison, there was little hygiene in toilets of premises for women; - In Gicumbi Prison, there was little hygiene caused by old premises, even water canalization was damaged. 9. Canteens The Commission realized that the canteens of Rubavu and Musanze Prisons were not open because their private owners who had won the tender of running them were bankrupt and closed these canteens. On the other hand, canteens of Muhanga and Ngoma Prisons had a problem of selling goods at high prices compared to the prices at the neighbouring markets. The Commission finds that Rubavu and Musanze Prisons should do everything possible to re-open the canteens in these prisons. The Commission also finds that the prisons canteens should respect the instructions governing them so as to enable detainees and prisoners to purchase the products they need at the same prices as those on the neighbouring markets. 10. Healthcare In Rusizi Prison, 35% of detainees and prisoners do not have health insurance (Mutuelle de santé). 11. Drinking water With regard to drinking water, the Commission realized that in Ngoma, Rubavu and Gicumbi Prisons, detainees and prisoners are served disinfected water (SUR EAU). The Commission finds that all prisons should use disinfecting products to clean drinking water for detainees and prisoners. 12. Works performed by inmates In Rusizi Prison, the Commission realized that, the last time those who perform services generating incomes have received 10% of money paid to prisons, was in the year 2011.

94 94 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 13. Books and media The Commission found that only Nyagatare, Nyarugenge and Gicumbi Prisons had libraries with books with different domains (Mathematics, English, Music and others) offered by benefactors but there were neither newspapers nor Official Gazettes in these libraries. Concerning the problems that had been presented in its last report, the Commission realized that many of them were solved - The fissured wall of the part for aged prisoners in Nyamagabe Prison has been rehabilitated; - The problem of inmates who were sleeping in old, torn and leaking sheetings as well as the problem of roofless toilets in Muhanga Prison was solved; - The damaged water canals in Rusizi, Musanze and Ngoma Prisons were repaired; - The problem of insufficiency of toilets in Rwamagana Prison was solved; - The roof of the toilet in the part for women in Nyarugenge Prison was repaired. The Commission realized that the following problems were not solved: - Inmates performing the works generating incomes in Rusizi Prison have not receive 10% of these incomes for a long period; - The problem of insufficient toilets in Nyamagabe Prison is pending; - The problem of the floor with wholes in kitchens of Nyarugenge Prison is not yet solved Management of inmates files in Prison The Commission realized that the inmates files were electronically managed but there were problems of files of detainees and prisoners. Some of these main problems are as follows: 1. Suspects of the crimes of genocide who did not appear before the Court The Commission realized that 33 suspects of the crimes of genocide did not appear before Gacaca jurisdictions or ordinary courts and many of them have spent a long time in prisons. These inmates were found in the following prisons: 3 in Huye Prison, 9 in Nyanza Prison, 2 in Rwamagana Prison, 5 in Gasabo Prison and 14 in Nyarugenge Prison. The Commission talked with the prosecution on this issue and will continue to follow how it will be handled. 2. The problem of persons accused of Common Law offences who have spent more that 2 years without appearing before the Court The Commission realized that there were 104 inmates accused of Common Law offences who have spent more than 2 years without appearing before the Court. They were found in the following prisons: 9 in Nyarugenge Prison, 66 in Rusizi Prison, 19 in Rwamagana Prison, 8 in Muhanga Prison and 2 in Gasabo Prison. These inmates did not receive from courts summons to appear before court. The Commission talked with the prosecution on this issue and will continue to follow how it will be handled.

95 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The problem of persons claiming that they have served their sentence but who are still in prison The Commission realized that there were 520 prisoners who claimed to have served their sentence but who are still in prison. Among them, 12 prisoners were accused of Common Law offences but the courts that tried them have delayed the submission of their copies of judgment to prisons administration. There were 508 prisoners accused of the crimes of genocide; many of them had been detained in cells of former communes and the period they have spent is not included in their files at the registry of their respective prisons. 4. The problem of prisoners who do not have files The commission realized that there were 28 prisoners who were shifted to other prisons, but their files were not also transferred to the administration of the new prisons prisoners were transferred to Rwamagana Prison from Muhanga Prison; - 14 prisoners were transferred to Huye Prison from Nyarugenge, Muhanga and Nyanza Prisons; - 2 prisoners were transferred to Ngoma Prison from Nyagatare Prison. 5. The problem of those having incomplete files The Commission found that there were 79 prisoners accused of Common Law offences who had incomplete files because, copies of judgment or decisions taken by the court at the last resort were missing in their files.there were 4 such cases in Ngoma Prison, 20 in Rusizi Prison, 3 in Rwamagana Prison, 35 in Muhanga Prison, 8 in Bugesera Prison and 9 in Gasabo Prison. The Commission also found that there were 921 persons accused of the crimes of genocide who had incomplete files. In general, Gacaca courts decisions taken at the last resort are missing in their files. There were 20 person in Gicumbi Prison who had such problem, 97 in Musanze Prison, 28 in Ngoma Prison, 10 in Nyagatare Prison, 101 in Nyamagabe Prison, 19 in Rusizi Prison, 45 in Rwamagana Prison, 48 in Nyarugenge Prison, 133 in Bugesera Prison, 61 in Gasabo Prison, 61 in Huye Prison, 145 in Nyanza Prison and 49 in Rubavu Prison. The Commission talked with the prosecution on this issue and will continue to follow how it will be handled. Fire in Muhanga and Rubavu Prisons On 4 June 2014, a fire broke out in Muhanga Prison and on 7 July 2014 in Rubavu Prison. The Commission followed up the first aid related to extinguishing the fire, safety of detainees and prisoners and their welfare. Fire in Muhanga Prison On 4 June 2014, Muhanga Prison was on fire, the part of the premises for male inmates and their belongings were on fire but nobody died in this incident.

96 96 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS On the same date, the Commission followed up the activities related to first aid emergency and found that the Police Department charged with extinguishing fire was at work. Authorities from different institutions: the Minister of Internal Security and other high level authorities in this Ministry, authorities and staff members of Rwanda Correctional Service, Commanders of Police and Army in Southern Province and Muhanga District, authorities of Muhanga Distrrict and others, had moved on for help. In a meeting that brought together these authorities, were undertaken measures of emergency first aid related to the safety of detainees and prisoners, ensuring hygiene, providing them food, shifting some of detainees and prisoners to Huye and Nyanza Prisons. On 11 th June 2014, the Commission once again visited Muhanga Prison and found that, in the context of implementing those conclusions, 1967 detainees and prisoners were transferred to Nyanza Prison while 1499 were transferred to Huye Prison. In addition, a group of legal affairs officers from different prisons was set up to urgently separate the files of detainees from the files of prisoners so as to send them to prisons to which they were relocated. To know how they were received and their welfare, from 16 th to 17 th June 2014, the Commission visited Nyanza Prison, while from 23 to 24 June 2014, it visited Huye Prison. The Commission realized that the administration of these prisons had started elaborating their list and providing them with some of first hand needs like blankets, cups, plates, clothing, basins, soaps from different donors. This activity was ongoing as all of them were not served. Fire in Rubavu Prison In the afternoon of 7 th July 2014, Rubavu Prison was on fire which burnt its 2 premises (Bloc A and B) hosting barely 2700 detainees and prisoners. These premises and all the objects inside were burnt and 5 prisoners died on spot, and 64 were injured. On 8 July 2014, the Commission followed up the activities relating to first aid activities and found that, in collaboration with the Army and National Police, especially the Department charged with extinguishing fire, had done everything possible to extinguish fire. The Commission also found that different authorities including the Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service, Governor of Western Province, Secretary General in the Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees, Commanders of Army and Police in Western Province, Mayor of Rubavu District and other local authorities had turned up for aid activities. Those authorities interacted with detainees and prisoners so as to comfort them and share with them the measures undertaken to ensure the security, to give them utensils, beddings and tents in which to live while the burnt premises were not yet rehabilitated. The Commission finds that there was good cooperation between security organs, administratrive institutions and agencies of donors in the aid delivered to Muhanga and Rubavu Prisons that were on fire and Huye and Nyanza Prisons that received detainees and prisoners from Muhanga Prison. The Commission requests relevant institutions to conduct in-depth investigation in order to identify the causes of this fire and to undertake strong measures aimed at preventing other similar fires.

97 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 97 Conclusion and recommendations The Commission finds that the rights of detainees are generally respected. However, to improve the respect of these rights, the Commission requests relevant institutions to do their best to settle all the problems that were identified. Particularly, the Commission requests: The Ministry of Internal Security - To solve the problem of congestion that was identified in Nyamagabe, Nyarugenge and Rwamagana Prisons; - To keep detainees and prisoners in separate rooms and to separate girls from women as provided by laws; - To send over-three-year children, who live with their detained mothers, to their respective families; those who do not have own families should be entrusted to foster families; - To solve the problem of insufficient tools (clothing, table tools, hygiene tools identified in the above-mentioned prisons; - To solve the problem of water shortage identified in Bugesera Prison; - To solve the problem of lack of hygiene identified in Nyamagabe, Rwamagana, Nyarugenge and Gicumbi prisons; - To open non-operating canteens of Musanze and Rubavu prisons and to solve the problem of high prices in Muhanga and Ngoma prisons; - To solve the problem of prisoners in Rusizi Prison who are not covered by Health Insurance; - To solve the problem of detainees of Rusizi Prison who have been performing services generating incomes who have not received 10% of the income from such services for 3 years; - To set up libraries in prisons where they do not exist and equip them with written newspapers together with the Official Gazettes; - To solve the problem prisoners who were transferred to Rwamagana, Huye and Ngoma prisons but whose files were not handed over to authorities of these respective prisons; - To respect the laws and instructions relating to the sanctions applied against detainees and prisoners who misbehave in prison; - To do their best so that prisoners detained far away from their families be transferred to prisons near those families; - To take efficient measures aimed to prevent fire outbreaks in prisons. The Prosecution General - To solve the problem of 33 detainees who have been detained for a long time, accused of Genocide and have never been heard by ordinary Courts or Gacaca Jurisdictions. - To speed up the activity of confirming the information on prisoners who were first detained in communes cells in order to release those who might have already served their sentences. The Supreme Court - To solve the problem of detainees accused of ordinary crimes who have spent more than 2 years without being brought before the court;

98 98 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - To take measures aimed to enable the courts to hand to authorities of prisons the copies of court decision taken against the detainee be executed Monitoring the respect of detainees in Police Stations The Commission monitored cells of the following 67 Police Stations: Shyorongi, Murambi, Gahunga, Rusarabuye, Byumba, Mulindi, Gashari, Gishyita, Bwishyura, Twumba, Kayove, Gihango, Gikonko, Ndora, Mugombwa, Muganza (Gisagara), Ngoma, Huye, Ruhashya, Busasamana, Busoro, Kibungo, Sake, Kirehe, Nyarubuye, Nzige, Kigabiro, Kabarondo, Mukarange, Gasaka, Musebeya, Munini, Cyahinda, Kiramuruzi, Kabarore, Ngarama, Gatunda, Nyagatare, Matimba, Nyarugenge, Nyamirambo, Mageragere, Mugina, Musambira, Nyamabuye, Kabagari, Kamembe, Gashonga, Muganza (Rusizi), Kanjongo, Ruharambuga, Gatumba, Kabaya, Kanzenze, Gisenyi, Jomba, Mukamira, Ruhuha, Nyamata, Kicukiro, Gikondo, Busogo, Muhoza, Busengo, Gakenke, Rusororo and Remera. Findings of the Commission from this monitoring Number of detainees in cells The number of detainees in cells of Police Stations that were visited, their categories and documents of their detention are shown in Table n o 19 below: CATEGORIES Minors Adults Boys Girls Men Women Documents of detention PVA MAP Judge s decision Those without As illustrated by this table, the Commission found 34 children aged under eighteen (18) including 27 boys and 7 girls in the cells visited. Adult people were 1419 including 1285 men and 134 women. Regarding the follow up of files, the Commission noticed that 498 detainees were in detention on basis of the Arrest Report (PVA), 705 detainees were in detention on basis of a Provisional Warrant for Arrest (MAP), 161 detainees on basis the judge s decision while 89 detainees, who had no documents, included vagrants, freshly arrested persons, those who escaped TIG Monitoring the respect of the rights of Police Station detainees regarding the welfare The Commission monitored the following rights of police station detainees: right to food, right to medical care, right to be detained in a healthy ventilated place.

99 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 99 In general, the commission found that the rights of police station detainees are respected but also noticed some problems which need to be solved by relevant organs, as shown in the following categories: 1. Food In the following Police Stations, the Commission noticed that detainees are offered sorghum porridge with their meal in the afternoon: Nyarugenge, Kanjongo, Busengo, Muhoza, Busogo, Rusororo, Kamembe, Gashonga, Muganza (Rusizi) and Remera. In the following Police Stations, the Commission found that detainees receive sorghum porridge only sometimes: Shyorongi, Murambi, Gahunga, Rusarabuye, Byumba, Mulindi, Ruhashya, Kibungo, Sake, Kirehe, Nyarubuye, Kabarore, Ngarama, Gatunda, Nyagatare, Ruharambuga and Ruhuha. The Commission noticed that, detainees in the cells of Gashari, Gishyita, Gikonko, Mugombwa, Muganza (Gisagara), Mukarange, Kiramuruzi, Mugina, Musambira, Nyamabuye, Kabagari and Gakenke Police Stations were not offered any sorghum porridge while the cells of Busoro and Cyahinda Police Stations were short of foodstuffs because the bidders, who won the tenders, had not supplied them for long time. 2. Medical care In the cells of Kirehe and Nyamabuye Police Stations, the Commission found that detainees are not allowed to go to health facilities for medical care whereas they have cards for health insurance. 3. Detention premises The Commission noticed that the cells of Shyorongi, Byumba, Mulindi, Gashari, Mugombwa, Twumba, Muganza, Ngoma, Busoro, Kabarondo, Nyagatare, Gasaka, Musebeya, Kabarore, Gatunda, Kamembe, Gisenyi, Remera, Muhoza, Ruhuha, Kicukiro and Murambi Police Stations are not sufficiently ventilation mainly owing to the way they are built Monitoring of arrest warrant and the provisional detention warrant While checking arrest warrant and the provisional detention warrant, the Commission checked the following: - Checking if every detainee has a Arrest Statement (PVA) filled by a judicial police officer, a Provisional detention Warrant filled by the Prosecutor (MAP) or a decision of provisional detention order by a Judge; - Checking if the documents are filled out accurately and if the detainee has not exceeded the detention period provided by the law on basis of the detention warrant he has; - Checking if no detainees are kept in cells after being heard by a judge who has ordered their provisional detention in prison; - Checking if, before being questioned, a detainee is informed of his right to be questioned in the presence of his lawyer; - Checking in particular, if every minor is interrogated in the presence of a lawyer as provided by the laws.

100 100 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The Commission found that, in general, procedures relating to detainees in police station cells respect the laws. At the level of Judicial Police, the Prosecution and courts, some problems which hindered the adequate follow up of the files of cell detainees were identified. At the level of Judicial Police, it was noticed that 7 detainees (5 in Kibungo police station cell and 2 in Kamembe cell) were detained under expired provisional detention warrant. At the level of Prosecution, it was noticed that 21 detainees (4 in Sake Police Station cell, 10 Rusarabuye cell, 3 in Mulindi cell, one in Kibungo cell and 4 detainees in Muhoza Police Station cell) were detained under expired MAPs. At the level of courts, there was identified the problem of detainees who have been heard by a judge but who were not informed of the judge s decision and were not given the decision the provisional detention or release. Provisional Warrants for Arrest (MAP) filled bad The Commission found, in the cell of Muhoza Police Station, 2 detainees who had MAPs not bearing the Prosecution s stamp while 8 detainees in Nyarugenge Police Station cell and 9 detainees of Nyamirambo cell had the provisional arrest warrants that did not bear the file number in the appropriate place. Detainees who have been in cells for long time without detention warrant The Commission found 19 detainees (17 in Ndora cell and 2 detainees in Kamembe cell) who had escaped TIG, who were detained in cell from 3 weeks to 14 months. The explanation was that they are waiting for the decisions of Gacaca Jurisdictions which handled their cases kept by the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) in order to take them to prison where they are to serve their sentences. Equipment of Police Stations In its investigation, the Commission found that some Police Stations still have insufficient equipment: computers and accessories, photocopiers, cameras that can used in investigations. Also, the Commission found that some Police Stations have a problem of transport to reach the crime scenes, in the framework of conducting investigations and taking to prison the detainees condemned by a Judge to provisional detention. The Commission requests relevant institutions to do all that is possible for Police Stations to have equipment that help them fulfill their daily duties. Conclusion and recommendations In general, the Commission finds that the rights of persons detained in Police Stations are respected. However, to improve the respect of these rights, the Commission requests relevant institutions to do their best to settle all the problems that were identified. Particularly, the Commission requests:

101 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 101 The Ministry of Internal Security - To find for National Police offices, computers and accessories, photocopiers, cameras, cars and motorcycles, where they do not exist so that they can fulfill their duties especially regarding the prosecution of alleged criminals; - To do everything possible to ensure that detainees of Police Station cells are given sorghum porridge every morning. The Prosecution General - To respect the period provided for by the Law relating to the Code of criminal procedure as regard tracking the files of suspects, both at the level of Judicial Police and at the level of the Prosecution; - To settle the issue of detainees who have escaped TIG and have been detained in cells for long time waiting for the decisions of Gacaca Jurisdictions which handled their cases so that they can be transferred to prison; - To solve the problem Provisional Warrants for Arrest (MAP) which are not filled out accurately by some Prosecutors. The Supreme Court - To do everything possible so that decisions relating to preventive detention and release are taken in due time and promptly submitted to those concerned. General conclusion In general, the Commission finds that rights of persons detained in prisons and Police Stations cells are respected. However, to improve the respect of these rights, the Commission requests relevant institutions to do their best to settle all problems that were identified Monitoring the respect of children s rights Monitoring the respect of children s rights shows the progress of a country in the implementation of the Laws it has adopted and the International Conventions it has ratified relating to the child s rights; it also shows areas of weaknesses so that the Government can find a solution to them, and facilitates advocacy for the victims so that they are rehabilitated in their rights. In the framework of monitoring the respect of children s rights, in March and April 2014, the Commission visited seventeen (17) orphanages and eleven (11) rehabilitation centres for children Orphanages Orphanages generally receive children who have lost either one parent or both, children whose parents suffer from mental diseases, children whose both parents are disabled, children sent by different institutions like Police, the Ministry of Local Government and others, children whose parents are in prison as well as those abandoned by parents.

102 102 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS During the visits of orphanages, the Commission monitored the general welfare of children, their security, how they are admitted in those orphanages and how they are released to foster families. Regarding the welfare of children, the Commission checked their nutrition (food), where the food is prepared (kitchens), children s dining rooms, their dormitories, toilets and bathrooms. Also, the right to leisure and the right to pray were monitored depending on the age of children. In addition, the Commission analyzed the resources of those orphanages and the donors who assist them. The Commission also presented the problems and difficulties faced by those orphanages in the fulfilment of their responsibilities. Table n o 20: List of orphanages visited and their location Name of orphanage visited Location 1. Umurwa w`impuhwe Rusayo Mururu Sector, Rusizi District 2. Missionary of charity sisters of Mother Theresa of Calcuta Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge District 3. Gisimba Memorial Center Rwezamenyo Sector, Nyarugenge District 4. SOS Village d`enfants Gasaka Sector, Nyamagabe District 5. Saint Joseph Muhura Muhura Sector, Gatsibo District 6. Home of Hope Ngarama Ngarama Sector, Gatsibo District 7. Orphelinat Adventiste de Gakoni Kiramuruzi Sector, Gatsibo District 8. JAM Shyogwe Sector, Muhanga District 9. Amizero Kinazi Sector, Ruhango District 10. Orphelinat Noel de Nyundo Nyundo Sector, Rubavu District 11. Orphelinat Nyamata Nyamata Sector, Bugesera District 12. Orphelinat Sainte Elisabeth de Hongrie Rusiga Sector, Rulindo District 13. SOS Kayonza Kabarondo Sector, Kayonza District 14. Agahozo Shalom Rubona Sector, Rwamagana District 15. Saint Antoine Busasamana Sector, Nyanza District 16 Espérance Gishyita Sector, Karongi District 17. Ineza Gishyita Sector, Karongi District. In order to collect needed information, the Commission met authorities of those orphanages especially those in charge of looking after children and the leaders of the respective Sectors where those orphanages are located. Findings of the Commission during its visits to orphanages The Commission globally found that orphanages care about the welfare and rights of children. However, some orphanages still have problems that need solution:

103 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Some orphanages are located away from the roads that link them to health centres or hospitals where the children receive medical care. For instance, orphans of Umurwa w`impuhwe Rusayo Orphanage, located in Mururu Sector, Rusizi District, receive medical care either at Mushaka Health Centre or at Mibirizi Hospital. Both medical facilities are too far and the road is extremely damaged; - Some buildings of those orphanages have not spared paths and ways for children with disabilities; - Subsidies from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion pass through District accounts, thus the Money delays reaching the orphanages and this has consequences on the children s welfare. - Disabled children and children suffering from incurable diseases seldom find foster families; - Following the National Program to transfer children from of orphanages to foster families, some orphanages immediately stopped receiving such children whereas there are still children who have lost one parent or both, children whose parents suffer from mental diseases, children whose both parents are disabled, children whose parents are in prison, children collected by different institutions, and who are still waiting for foster families. - The problem of children who, when they are returned to their families, find properties left by their parents have been squatted by other relatives from the large family who were managing them or distributed by the Public authorities; - Some orphanages do not have enough employees and others do not pay them on time; - Some orphanages do not have enough equipment and the existing equipment is too old such as torn matresses, worn out blankets and bed sheets. A good example is Espérance Orphanage, located in Gishyita Sector, Karongi District. Recommendations - Regarding the problem of damaged road linking Umurwa w impuhwe Rusayo Orphanage, located in Mururu Sector, Rusizi District, to Mushaka Health Centre and Mibirizi Hospital, the Commission brought this problem to Rusizi District authorities. The Commission requests them to speed up the rehabilitation of this road; - Concerning the subsidies from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion which pass through District accounts, which prevents the Money from reaching the beneficiaries on time, the Commission realizes that there should be a quick mechanism of bringing this assistance to orphanages; - Since disabled children and children suffering from incurable diseases seldom find foster families, the Commission requests the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to conduct sufficient sensitization to find foster families of those children; - Regarding the program of transferring children from orphanages to foster families, the Commission requests the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to reflect on transitional programs before closing those orphanages completely; - Regarding children s properties which are squatted by relative in charge of managing them, the Commission requests the Ministry having orphanages among its attributions to set up a program which, before the reception of orphans back in their families, will first investigate on the properties left by parents to which they are entitled.

104 104 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Regarding the issue of insufficient employees and lack of equipment or old equipment in some orphanages, the Commission requests the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to assist still operating orphanages by offering them sufficient means to protect the respect of fundamental child s rights who are still living in orphanages Children s rehabilitation centres The Ministerial Order n o 001/10 of 17/3/2010 governing the organization and functioning of children s rehabilitation centres stipulates in its Article One that minors detained in Rehabilitation center shall be vagrant or street children, begging and misconducting minors below the age of 18 who are punishable under the Law. Minors who are provisionally released or who have served their respective court sentences and who are not yet 18 and have not joined ordinary schools shall be admitted to the Rehabilitation Centers where deemed necessary. As stipulated by Article 11 of this Order, in order to screen minors eligible to be taken to the rehabilitation centers, the City of Kigali Council and the District Councils shall establish transit centers provisionally for that purpose at the City of Kigali and the District levels whenever it appears that a big number of minors as stipulated in Article One. The transit center shall be charged of providing transit accommodation to minors referred to in Article One before deciding whether they should be handed back to their families or to rehabilitation centres. They are also in charge of providing transit accommodation to minors referred to in Article One below fourteen (14) years while searching centers to receive them if they are orphans or their parents are unknown or are unable to bring them up and rehabilitate them (Article 12). In the framework of monitoring the respect of children s rights, the Commission visited the following rehabilitation centres: - Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre of Musenyi Sector, Bugesera District; - Gashonga Transit Centre (Psycho-socio-cultural Re-education and Rehabilitation centre) in Gashonga Sector, Rusizi District; - Abadacogora-Intwari Centre for former street children in Muhima Sector, Nyarugenge District; - Village Baho neza mwana Centre for former street children in Kamembe Sector, Rusizi District; - Bugesera Transit Centre in Gashora Sector, Bugesera District; - Kayonza Transit centre in Rukara Sector, Kayonza District; - Nzige Transit Centre in Nzige Sector, Rwamagana District; - SACCA street children orphanage; - Kinigi Transit centre in Kinigi Sector, Musanze District; - Gikondo Transit centre in Gikondo Sector, Kicukiro District. During the visits of these centres, the Commission met their authorities, leaders of the respective sectors and the staff responsible for children inside the centre. The Commission checked the children s dormitories, their kitchens, their toilets, their bathrooms, available infrastructures like water and electricity. The Commission also checked the books where they are registered and different programs conducted in the respective centres.

105 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 105 Observations of the Commission, Conclusion and Recommendations on Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre, Transit Centres and Street Children centres. A. Observations of the Commission Generally, the Commission realized that received children were admitted for different reasons including lack of identification documents which made them be considered as vagrants, drunkenness causing insecurity, violence and theft. Children accommodated in those centres pointed out the following: - The bad relationships with parents push them to live in streets; - Escaping poverty; - The status of being orphans and mistreatment in foster families. Despite all the efforts by the Government and different organizations to care for the rights of children living in rehabilitation centres, there are crucial problems faced by those centres every day in this hard work that need solution. Among those problems, the most crucial are the following: Regarding Gitagata Rehabilitation Centre - The problem of too old buildings and toilets. There are fears that they might collapse and hit people. They were built in 1963 and rehabilitated in 1975; - The problem that the Centre has been receiving boys only so far; - The Centre has six (6) staff members only whereas its organic framework provides for sixteen (16) staff members; - The issue of a child who has reached 25 years of age and is still accommodated in the Centre because of a mental disability; - The issue of 12 children, aged over 17 years, who have achieved their rehabilitation program but have no where to go as they have no foster families; - Lack of petty cash that can help solve small and urgent problems, as every small problem must be solved by the District. For instance, it is hard to obtain medical care for a child who falls sick in the weekend. Regarding transit centres in which children stay before deciding whether they should be handed back to their families or to rehabilitation centres - The issue of children who escape because of unfenced centres or old fences that are easy to climb or pass through; - Lack of buildings that are appropriate for the attributions of the centre as such centres often use abandoned old buildings; - Lack of hygiene owing to insufficient equipment, insufficient water, provisional or old toilets, insufficient clothes to be distributed to children as they have to throw away the ones they are dressed in at their arrival, which are old or dirty; - Insufficient beds and beddings;

106 106 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Insufficient staff members, which makes it difficult to look after children especially as they have improper behaviour; - Lack of playing courts in transit centres; - In some cases these centres are used as detention cells for alleged criminals, where you may find adult vagrants, where those centres are used for purposes other than their initial mission, like unlawful arrest and detention for those who have escaped TIG, those who have failed to pay for mutual health insurance, unidentified persons, and others. - Very often those detained in those centres cannot be visited by their relatives since they do not know where to find them. Regarding rehabilitation centres The problem to know the real place of origin of some children who do not tell the truth and keep changing the names of their places of origin. This makes family reunification difficult for those with incomplete identification. B. Conclusions and recommendations - The Commission realizes that the Ministry having Gitagata Centre among its attributions should solve the problem of old premises and toilets of the Centre; - The Commission realizes that it would be better if there were set up mechanisms of how this Centre can accommodate girls who, like their brothers, also face vagrancy, begging and other misbehaviours and therefore need rehabilitation, thus giving both sexes equal chances; - The Commission realizes it would be better if the Centre is granted the staff provided in its organic framework. This will facilitate the follow up of the children and relieve the existing staff from too much work; - The Commission realizes that a person with a mental disability should not live with children under rehabilitation so as to ensure their security. Such a person needs medical care instead. - The Commission requests the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry having the Family among its attributions to set up an efficient program of re-integrating those children in ordinary life so that they will not return to vagrancy; - The Commission requests Bugesera District to find a solution the problem of petty cash faced by Gitagata Centre; - The Commission requests authorities of Districts and the City of Kigali, who are in charge of establishing transit centres, to do their best to fence such centres in order to ensure the security of those children; - The Commission realizes that those centres provided for in the Ministerial Order n o 1/10 of 17/03/1010 establishing the organization and functioning of rehabilitation centers for minors should also be equipped with modern premises; - The Commission realizes that, before establishing a centre, there should be conducted a preliminary study of the main needs of those who will live in it; - The Commission realizes that, in transit centres, every child should have his/her own bed; - The Commission requests that, while recruiting the staff of those centres, due consideration should be given to the fact that there are children with complicated behaviour among the accommodated ones, so as to recruit expert and sufficient staffs; - Regarding the lack of playing grounds in transit centres, the Commission realizes that this problem is a cause of loneliness for children and should, therefore, be solved;

107 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The Commission realizes that National Police should solve once for all the problem of using those centres as custodial places for alleged criminals; - The Commission realizes that, as soon as a child arrives in the centre, his/her family should immediately be informed; - The Commission realizes that National Police and Local Leaders should conduct thorough investigation to gather complete identification of the children. C. Achievement of the Observatory of Children s Rights (ODE) In the framework of improving the functioning of the Observatory of Children s Rights (ODE), the Commission visited the volunteers in Sectors and Districts and held meetings with them. Those who were visited are members of ODE in the districts of Bugesera, Muhanga, Kayonza, Gasabo and Kicukiro. The aim was to share with the volunteers how they fulfill their mission together with the difficulties they encounter. On 24 February 2014, a meeting was held between ODE Committee members at national level and the Commission whose aim was to assess the progress made and the strategies to be taken for better respect of the child s rights. The following points were discussed in that meeting: - To assess the implementation of the resolutions of the previous ODE Committee Meeting held in June 2012; - To assess the reports on violations of the child s rights in 2013; - To show how the crime of raping children is investigated and the measures taken for its prevention in the Judicial Police, in the Prosecution and in courts The following are some of the resolutions taken in that meeting: - The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Local Government, National Police and One Stop Centre are requested to check the mental health of both a child who is a victim of violence and the offender, while investigating violence against children; - The National Police was requested to improve the handover process when the police agents are replaced by others at work in a way to avoid the interruption of the follow up of files under way; - The Judicial Police and the Prosecution were requested to find out all possible proofs so that cases are tried adequately because most complaint are kept in drawers owing to lack of evidences; in other cases offenders are released because of incomplete files submitted to the court; - The Ministry of Health was requested to recommend the doctors to disclose all the evidences found in the medical analysis of a raped child; - The Supreme Court was requested to recommend the courts to hear all the cases relating to child rape behind cameras and not to disclose the names of such children so as to avoid potential consequences on their future life, both physical and mental; - The Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion were requested to do everything possible to increase the number of rehabilitation centres for criminal children so that children are rehabilitated near their families;

108 108 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - The Ministry of Sports and Culture, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Local Governance were requested to set up a mechanism of monitoring the utilization of Internet by children and parents so that they are trained on how to prevent their children from improper utilization of the media that display indecent videos; - It was requested that advocacy be done so as to set up a coordinating organ for different institutions involved in the child s rights (the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Gender Monitoring Office, the National Commission for Children, HAGURUKA, and others) so that they can combine efforts in their fight for better respect of the child s rights. On 25 June 2014, a meeting was organized between the Commission and 276 volunteers of the Observatory of the Child s Rights (ODE) including thirty (30) representing the Districts and two hundred forty-six (246) representing the Sectors in the framework of implementing the resolutions of the ODE meeting at national level organized on 24 February Monitoring the respect of the rights of the elderly, childless parents and vulnerable people Human rights are universal but some categories of people must be offered special care such as the elderly, childless and vulnerable people. In this framework, the Commission visited six (6) centres that look after the elderly, childless and vulnerable people. Those centres receive the elderly, including those who have no family, those who have been abandoned by their families and those suffering from diseases and cannot either wash themselves, eat by themselves, wash their clothes or go to toilet by themselves, and so on. The Commission visited the following centres: - Home Saint-Vincent de Paul of Ababikira b Inshuti z Abakene, located in Kanyinya Sector, Nyarugenge District; - Saint Joseph Kabgayi of Abizeramariya Congregation, located in Nyamabuye Sector, Muhanga District; - Home Sainte Therèse de l Enfant Jésus, which is supported by Bureau Social Urbain de Gicumbi, a centre belonging to Abizeramariya Congregation, located in Byumba Sector, Gicumbi District; - A centre of Abizeramariya Sisters Congregation of Kibungo, located in Kibungo Sector, Ngoma District; - Home Saint Aloys of Abizeramariya Congregation, located in Tumba Sector, Huye District; - Home Saint Raphaël of Abizeramariya Congregation, located in Ndora Sector, Gisagara District. All the centres visited belong to religious congregations. During the visits, the Commission monitored the beneficiaries living conditions and matters relating to the donors; it also checked if the sponsorship granted is released on time and the problems faced by those centres in their mission. In the framework of collecting information about the centres visited, the Commission met the Sisters who look after those elderly people and the staff in charge of their daily life; it also checked their dormitories, kitchens, dining rooms, toilets and bathrooms. In general, the elderly living in visited centres receive decent care according to the financial means at the disposal of those congregations that have committed to look after them.

109 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 109 Even if religious congregations that care for the elderly do their best to achieve the welfare of the beneficiaries, they face some problems that require external assistance. The most crucial of those problems are the following: - Expensive medical care, especially when those beneficiaries are transferred to other health facilities; - Lack of wheel chairs. Even the few existing ones are old; - Insufficient means which prevent the centres from accommodating a big number of those in need; - Lack of visits by local authorities so as to know the problems they encounter. The Commission, based on its findings, realizes that public institutions having the population s welfare among their attributions should do their best to allocate in their budgets some assistance for those centres which care for people with special living conditions; they should also advocate for them Monitoring the respect of the rights of Persons with disabilities The rights of Persons with disabilities are provided in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003, as amended to date, in Article 9, paragraphs 4 and 5 relating to fundamental principles to which the State of Rwanda has resolved itself to conform and in Articles 11, 14 and 16 in the section related to fundamental human rights. These rights are also provided in the International Convention on the rights of Persons with disabilities of 13 December 2006, ratified by Rwanda on 15 December In the framework of implementing the provisions of that Convention, there was adopted Law nº 0 1 / of 20 January 2007 relating to the protection of disabled persons in general. Article 10 of this Law gives special attribution to the Commission to provide special procedures of monitoring how rights of a disabled person are respected. The Commission has the special mission to particularly monitor respect for the rights of persons with disabilities, as stipulated in Article 6, paragraph 4, of Law n o 19/2013 of 25 March 2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights. Regarding the monitoring of the respect of the rights of Persons with disabilities, the Commission visited twenty three (23) centres responsible for the welfare of the disabled persons, in March and April The following are centres that were visited: - Centre des handicapés Saint François d Assise, located in Mururu Sector, Rusizi District; - Educational Institute for Blind of Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross, located in Kibeho Sector, Nyaruguru District; - APAX-Janja (Artisan de la Paix du Christ Roi), located in Janja Sector, Gakenke District; - KOMERA, located in Mushubati Sector, Rutsiro District; - Centre Urugwiro, located in Nkanka Sector, Rusizi District; - Amis de Saint François d Assise, located in Muganza Sector, Nyaruguru District;

110 110 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Nyange Deaf Children Center, located in Nyange Sector, Musanze District; - Mother of Good Council, located in Mushubati Sector, Rutsiro District; - Filippo Smaldone pour sourds muets, Located in Nyamirambo Sector, Nyarugenge District; - Wikwiheba mwana, located in Ngarama Sector, Gatsibo District; - St Vincent, located in Muhoza Sector, Musanze District; - Maison d Accueil de l Espérance, located in Rusiga Sector, Rulindo District; - Hirw`iwanyu, located in Nyamirambo Sector, Nyarugenge District; - HRD/LA MISERICORDE, located in Nyamabuye Sector, Muhanga District; - Centre des sourds muets, of Saint Gabriel Congregation Brothers, located in Ngoma Sector, Huye District; - Centre des handicapés Saint François d Assise Kitabi, located in Kitabi Sector, Nyamagabe District; - Umwana nk abandi, located in Nyamirambo Sector, Nyarugenge District; - Ubumwe Community Center, located in Nyundo Sector, Rubavu District; - ADAR/Tubahoze, located in Ngoma Sector, Huye District; - Centre de réadaptation fonctionnaire de Gahini, located in Rukara Sector, Kayonza District; - Rera bose, located in Rwezamenyo Sector, Nyarugenge District; - Centre Orthopédique de RILIMA, located in Rilima Sector, Bugesera District; - Home de la Vierge des Pauvres de Gatagara, located in Mukingo Sector, Nyanza District; - Amizero y Ubuzima, located in Kibirizi Sector, Gisagara District. During the monitoring of the respect for the rights of Persons with disabilities in those centres, the Commission met their leaders and staff, authorities of the respective Sectors where those centres are located, as well as some beneficiaries accommodated in. The Commission monitored the respect of the right to protection against discrimination, the right to medical care, the right to social welfare and the right to leisure. Regarding the respect of the rights of Persons with disabilities, the Commission checked the buildings of the centres, the beneficiaries dormitories, their kitchens, bathrooms, general hygiene of centres and different programs conducted there. In the centres that were visited, the Commission realized that most children accommodated there suffer from a combination of disabilities: physical disabilities, hearing and speech impairment, blindness, trisomy 21, back and pectoral kyphosis, mental disabilities, epilepsy, autism and cerebral palsy. They are trained to perform some activities depending on their knowledge and capacity. Every centre visited has peculiar problems, but there are also general problems shared by all the centres which should be solved by concerned public institutions and Ministries for Persons with disabilities to enjoy full rights like other people.

111 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 111 Table n o 21: Problems faced by the centres responsible for the welfare of Persons with disabilities Problem identified - Children use dormitories for classrooms and have no special school. - Insufficiency of teachers for students who start high school (9YBE and 12YBE), as they do not have identical disabilities. - Young girls who, after being raped, get pregnant and are brought to the Centre but whose cases are not followed up adequately - Lack of the patient s share in payment for medical care in health insurance (user fees) - Lack of playing grounds or toys designed for children living with disabilities. - Lack of own buildings; - Teachers are not paid; - The teacher of music therapy does not have appropriate equipment; - Lack of doctor for children living with disabilities. - Proximity with the road; - Too much dust and noise owing to the traffic of people and cars; - Lack of playing courts. Centre and location HRD/La misericorde Centre des handicapés Saint François d Assise Centre urugwiro Hirw`Iwanyu Rera Bose Category of People with disabilities Those with hearing and speech impairment, those suffering from epilepsy, mental disabilities, kyphosis, those visually impaired and those with physical disabilities. Those with physical disabilities, those with hearing and speech impairment. Those visually impaired, those with hearing impairment and those with mental disabilities. Those with mental disabilities and those with physical disabilities Children living with various disabilities Recommendations Muhanga District should help the Centre to have two parts: one used as a home and another for classrooms, both for primary and high school. National Police should bring to justice those who have raped them so that they are punished by law. The Ministry having social welfare among its attributions should do its best for all vulnerable children living with disabilities to be covered 100%. The Ministry having sports among its attributions should do its best and provide centres responsible for the welfare of Persons with disabilities with playing grounds and sports equipment. Authorities of Nyarugenge District should follow up the living conditions of children living in that Centre and, if deemed necessary, close it until the problems are solved. Meanwhile, children should be transferred to other centres. Authorities of Nyarugenge District should follow up the living conditions of children living in that Centre and, if deemed necessary, close it until the problems are solved. Meanwhile, children should be transferred to other centres.

112 112 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - The Centre has no own building; - The house used is not appropriate for children living with disabilities; - Insufficient teachers; - Teachers are not paid; - Lack of playing grounds; - Lack of employee in charge of hygiene. - Lack of books written with Braille alphabet - Insufficient means to buy orthotics and prosthetics for children; Umwana nk abandi Educational Institute for Blind of Franciscan Sisters Servants of The Cross Amis de Saint- François d Assise Children living with various disabilities Visually impaired children Those with visual impairment, those with hearing and speech impairment and those with physical disabilities Authorities of Nyarugenge District should follow up the living conditions of children living in that Centre and, if deemed necessary, close it until the problems are solved. Meanwhile, children should be transferred to other centres The Ministry of Education should do its best to avail books written with Braille alphabet. The Ministry of Health should do its best to help the Centre find orthotics and prosthetics for those children. - Lack of playing grounds and toys. The Ministry having sports among its attributions should do its best and provide centres responsible for the welfare of Persons with disabilities with playing courts and sports equipment. - Too small centre compared with the number of Persons with disabilities it accommodates; - Lack of insurance to buy orthotics and prosthetics Centre de réadaptation fonctionnaire de Gahini Children living with various disabilities The Ministry of health should see to expanding this Centre. It should also plan how the Mutual Health Insurance Scheme will help them acquire orthotics. - Parents who bring children for medical treatment and abandon them in the Centre. Home de la Vierge des Pauvres de Gatagara Adult people and children with physical disabilities, together with deaf and dumb children. The Ministry having the Family among its attributions should sensitize more parents and teachers of children living with disabilities especially on their rights and duties as parents.

113 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Insufficient teachers qualified for teaching Persons with disabilities; - Buildings that do not facilitate Persons with disabilities living in that Centre. - Teachers who do not benefit training on communication using signs and gestures; - Deaf Children who attend the same classes as normal children while they have no special equipment designed for hearing or glasses that can help them watch the teacher s mouth. Lack of doctors who can do medical check to assess the level of children s incapacity and their HIV status in order to know the health status of those they receive. Lack of leisure and sports equipment. Centre Komera Maison d Accueil de l Espérance Children with various disabilities Children with various disabilities The Ministry of Education should train many teachers on teaching Persons with disabilities. Centre Komera should do its best to modify its buildings and adapt them in the framework of solving that problem. The Ministry of Education should train teachers on communication using signs and gestures; The Ministries of Health and Education should do their best to find appropriate equipment for deaf children who attend the same classes with normal ones, which will facilitate them in their studies. Authorities of Rulindo District and the Ministry of health should solve the problem of medical check The Ministry having sports among its attributions should do its best and provide centres responsible for the welfare of Persons with disabilities with sports equipment. Based on its findings from the visits of Centres, the National Commission for Human Rights is providing the following recommendations: The Ministry of Education should do all it can to train, as soon as possible, the teachers on special education for different categories of Persons with disabilities and to improve the Educational Curriculum of those categories; The Ministry of Local Government should speed up the adoption of instructions governing the establishment of Centres responsible for the welfare of Persons with disabilities including the requirements for a Centre to be authorized to work in Rwanda.

114 114 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Monitoring the right to vote The National Commission for Human Rights, based on the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 th June 2003 as amended to date, in its Article 8; also based on Law n o 19/2013 of 25/03/2013 determining the mission, organization and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights, in its Article 6, paragraph 5, which gives to the Commission the special mission to monitor respect for Human Rights throughout elections process and submit report to relevant organs; also based on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance of 21/10/1986 in its Article 2, paragraph 3; Also based on Law n 37/2013 of 16/06/2013 modifying and complementing Law n 27/2010 of 19/06/2010 governing elections in Rwanda, as modified and complemented to date in its articles 205, 205 bis, 205 ter and on Presidential Order n 23/01 of 30/04/2013 fixing electoral dates and campaign period for members of the Chamber of Deputies in its articles 2 to 5, the Commission monitored the electoral campaign of candidates for Deputies. Those candidates for the Deputies, are those on the list published by Political Organizations authorized to operate in Rwanda namely RPF-Inkotanyi and those coalesced with it (PSR, PPC, PDI, PDC), PSD, PL, PS Imberakuri and those on the list of women from whom parliamentarians were to be elected for the Chamber of Deputies as well as independent candidates. This activity started on 26 August and ended on 15 September 2013 at six o clock in the morning. The National Commission for Human Rights also monitored the direct elections of Members of the Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, as well as indirect elections of special categories including women, the youth and Persons with disabilities. This activity was done from 16 to 18 September In the framework of monitoring those activities, the National Commission for Human Rights deployed 45 observers in all the districts of Rwanda, which are 30. In general, election observers aimed to monitor the following points: - To check how candidates security is ensured; - To check if the candidates agenda has been announced to the authorities of the District and the National Electoral Committee at the level of the districts where they were campaigning; - To check if no candidate is illegally using public funds in this activity; - To check if all candidates are granted equal time for campaigning in Government s media; - To check if there is a polling booth in every voting room which has secrecy; - To check if voting materials have reached the Polling Station; - To know the location of polling stations; - To check if pre-electoral procedures and ceremonies are respected; - The check if the rights of voters are respected; - To check if election volunteers are fulfilling their mission correctly; - To check if security officers fulfill their mission correctly; - To check if the rights of observers and those of candidates are respected; - To check if the count of votes is transparent.

115 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 115 Findings of the Commission 1. The electoral campaign From 26 August 2013 to 14 September 2013, the Commission monitored the Parliamentarians electoral campaign in all the Districts of the Country. The Commission realized that, during this campaigning activity, all the candidates respected the instructions given by the National Electoral Commission. Candidates used different means provided for by the Law relating to elections in Rwanda. Political Parties and independent candidates provided their schedules indicating the time and place of the electoral campaign. In their campaign, they used posters, banderoles, folders, conferences, posting lists of all candidates on various buildings both public and private; all candidates presented their agenda to their audience. At the campaigning sites visited by the Commission, there was full security ensured by relevant organs like the national Police, Local defence Forces and Inkeragutabara. Candidates used different written and audiovisual media equitably. No candidate from a political party or independent candidate spent public funds in the electoral campaign. The Commission, based on reports from all the Districts of the Country, realizes that the electoral campaign was conducted successfully as no independent or political party was deprived of their right to campaign themselves or for their candidates. Apart from FPR Inkotanyi, all other Political Parties rarely respected the dates and hours they had scheduled. 2. Monitoring the preparation of the Polling Station In the framework of checking if polling stations are well prepared, the Commission visited 148 polling stations on 15 September During this activity, the Commission noticed that most of Polling Stations were schools. In Polling stations visited by the Commission, it was found that the polling booths were built using pieces of cloth; they were built in a way to respect the secrecy of the voter. Election tools reached the polling stations in the evening. They included ballot boxes and their ropes, ink, stamp to mark «YATOYE» and ballot papers, vote counting papers, electoral list, appendixes, appropriate pens, calculators and microphones. The security of polling stations was ensured by the police in collaboration with Local Defence Forces and Inkeragutabara. 3. Electoral process Direct election of Deputies On 16 September 2013, the election started at seven (7h;00) in the morning as was planned, the elections were held in the presence of supervisors and observers of Political Parties competing for places to become Deputies or independent observers working in Rwanda and those from International Organizations. The Commission reached different Polling stations between six and a half and a quarter to seven (6:30-6:45) in the morning. By that time, coordinators of Polling stations together with assessors were already in the polling stations, dressed in their uniform. Electoral tools were there and some voters had already turned up. At all sites visited by the Commission, the voting activity was launched by the swearing of those responsible for it. The electoral process started at seven o clock.

116 116 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Generally, at most of the polling stations visited by the Commission, the election of Deputies went smoothly in peace and freedom and respected the provisions of Laws and Instructions governing this election. The National Commission for Human Rights realized that, at some Polling Stations, there were people who used electronic means and short messages to transfer themselves on the electoral lists, thus they could not find their names on the lists of the sites where they wished to vote. In some places where this problem happened, election coordinators allowed them to vote on the appendix upon presentation of proof, that is the short message sent to their mobile phones by the National Electoral Committee allowing their transfer. However, they were not allowed in some other places despite having their electoral card and Identification Card. Indirect election of Deputies The election of women s representatives in the Parliament On 17 September 2013, an election was held for women s representatives in the Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, in all the Provinces and the City of Kigali. This was special as the voters were composed of the categories of Women members of the National Women Council from the Cell level to the national level and those of the Sectors and Districts Councils. Both categories voted in their Cells where they are residents. At all polling stations visited by the Commission, elections started between 10:30 and 11:00, after 2/3 of the voters had arrived. The election of 17 September 2013 was conducted under full security. The list of women in every Province or City of Kigali was displayed on every ballot paper. Every person had to vote a number of women according to the number allowed to each Province. The election of representatives of the youth in the Chamber of Deputy On 18 September 2013, the Commission monitored the election of two Deputies representing the youth in the Parliament. The election was held in the hall of the National Electoral Commission, where 23 candidates were competing for 2 places. The Electorate was composed of the members of the National Youth Council at District level, at national level together with students representing others in high schools, higher learning institutions and universities. The election started at noon, after two-thirds of the voters had arrived. Each candidate was allowed three minutes for the electoral campaign. They were also given time to submit campaigning documents. The election went smoothly, in peace and freedom. The election of representatives of Persons with disabilities in the Parliament The election of Deputies representing Persons with disabilities was held on 18 September 2013 at Petit Stade Amahoro in Remera Sector, Gasabo District. The voters were composed of members of National Council of the Disabled at the national, Province and District levels. When two-thirds of the electorate had turned up, the election, which was preceded by the electoral campaign by fifteen candidates who were competing for one place, took place. Each candidate was allowed five minutes for the electoral campaign.

117 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Conclusion and recommendations In general, the National Commission for Human Rights realizes that the election of Deputies held from 16 to 18 September 2013 went smoothly throughout the electoral campaign and the electoral process. However, at some places, the Commission found that the transfer of voters using electronic means or short messages by mobile phone deprived some people of their right to vote since information did not reach the coordinators of Polling Stations in the same way. For better elections in the future, the Commission gave the following recommendations: - The National Commission for Human Rights requests the National Electoral Commission to request Political Parties and independent candidates to submit their schedule for the electoral campaign one week prior to the activity and respect it and inform all the Rwandan citizens in case of change. They should also start on the time they suggested time; - The National Commission for Human Rights requests the National Electoral Commission to request the candidates to hold the electoral campaign in a place equipped with toilets as the activity attracts crowds of people; - The National Electoral Commission should continue to improve the electronic means in the transfer on the electoral list, as it was noticed that some voters could not find their names on the electoral list whereas they had received a message informing them of the transfer to the Polling Station where they wished to vote; - The National Commission for Human Rights requests the National Electoral Commission that all observers representing independent candidates or candidates of political parties hold relevant document allowing them to monitor the elections; - The National Commission for Human Rights requests the National Electoral Commission to see how elections of women can start at nine in the morning to avoid that voters who arrive at the polling Station before others wait long for time while the quorum provided by Law is available ; - The National Electoral Commission should do everything possible for that elections planned on a working day such as indirect ballot may be held in places other than schools to avoid compromising students studies CAPACITY BUILDING FOR THE COMMISSION The National Commission for Human Rights always keeps training its Commissioners and staff to increase their knowledge and build their capacity for their daily activities. In this framework, from July 2013 to June 2014, the Commission trained its staff on different topics, both inside the Country and abroad Training inside the country From 26 to 28 February 2014, a training workshop was organized for the staff of the National Commission for Human Rights, at Classic Hotel, Kicukiro District, Kigali City. The workshop aimed at increasing the knowledge and capacity for 13 new employees of the Commission regarding the promotion and protection of human rights. The staff was trained on the following topics:

118 118 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - Fundamental principles of human rights; - Human rights and duties of a citizen in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; - International Convention on civil and political rights; - Mission, organization and functioning of the Commission; - International Convention on economic, social and cultural rights; - Rights of children, rights of women, gender and the rights of detainees in International Conventions and Rwandan Laws; - Techniques of investigations; - Mechanisms of protecting human rights; - Role of justice in the respect of human rights; - Providing views on bills; - To know the complaints management system used by investigators (CMS). From 18 to 20 March 2014, at La Palisse Gashora, with the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Program, within its project called Promoting Access to Justice, Human Rights and Peace Consolidation, the Project s partners including the agents of the Commission attended a training workshop organized by this project in the framework of building their capacity. Participants were trained on the following themes: - Result based management; - Gender mainstreaming; - Human Rights based Development Approach; - Mainstreaming Environment sustainability into National Planning Process; - An operational guide to Mainstreaming capacity building in projects and programs. The training helped participants to understand the project. They increased their knowledge and capacity which will help them fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to them in their respective institutions. Commissioners and Commission s staff after the training From 28 to 31 March 2014, at Nobleza Hotel in Kicukiro District and from 26 to 27 June 2014, at La Palisse Nyandungu, with the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Program, within its project called Promoting Access to Justice, Human Rights and Peace Consolidation, the Commission trained 35 staff members on Research, Reporting and Advocacy initiative Planning. The training was facilitated by an expert in Research, Reporting and Advocacy initiative Planning. The training helped the Commission s staff to understand better the approach to write research-related reports. From 18 to 19 June 2014, in Centre Saint André, at Kabgayi, with the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Program, the Commission trained its Commissioners and 38 staff members on the approach to teach the Rwandan population about human rights. An expert in human rights matters, who facilitated the training, insisted on some of the principles of human rights. This helped participants to better understand the approach of teaching and sensitizing the Rwandan population on human rights.