Rwanda: Update to RWA36561.E of 30 March 2001 regarding the protection available to women who are victims of violence

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002 claims that domestic violence in Rwanda was a frequent occurrence in 2002, but that these matters were handled within the family and rarely brought to court (31 Mar. 2003, Sec. 5). However, cases which involved critical injury or rape that were tried before the courts were reportedly taken seriously, and conviction usually resulted in prison sentences of between 20 to 30 years (Country Reports 2002 31 Mar. 2003, Sec. 5).

Regarding sexual violence cases that were brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Human Rights Watch World Report 2003 says that of the thousands of rapes committed during the 1994 genocide, only two defendants were convicted by the court, one of whom had his sentence reversed on appeal (2003).

Four lengthy reports that address the issue of violence against women in Rwanda were found among the sources consulted (RHRC April 2002; UNIFEM 2-11 Sept. 2002a ICRW Mar. 2002; WCRWC Apr. 2001).

A report by the New York-based Reproductive Health for Refugees Consortium (RHRC) that analyzes gender-based violence (GBV) in refugee, internally displaced and post-conflict settings, includes a section on the post-genocide situation in Rwanda (April 2002). Entitled If Not Now, When?, the report addresses the major issues related to the prevention of and response to GBV among countries variously affected by conflict through interviews with female victims of violence, community-based women's organizations, international and national human rights organizations, local and national government representatives and United Nations staff (April 2002, 3). The attached section on Rwanda, which assesses the current status of women in Rwandan society, the extent of GBV during and after the 1994 genocide and current GBV-related programming efforts, concludes that post-conflict violence towards women has escalated, with prostitution and domestic violence believed to be endemic (April 2002, 29-31). Other reports also claim that violence against women, including rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, is either common or on the rise (ICRW Mar. 2002, 7, 22; Country Reports 2002 31 Mar. 2003, Sec. 5; UNIFEM 2-11 Sept. 2002a, 29).

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC) reviewed the Rwanda Women's Initiative (RWI) – an internationally funded program launched in 1996 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to promote women's empowerment in Rwanda's economic, social and political life (Apr. 2001, 1,4) – as well as the UNHCR's commitment to gender equality in post-conflict societies, and made the following observation:

The RWI has funded studies on the prevalence and nature of violence against women in Rwanda, critical to develop policy and strategies to combat violence. Other activities include the training of paralegals, radio programs and psychosocial counselling. However, some women's association providing counselling have found it difficult to reach women in rural areas, where travel is made difficult by poor roads or a lack of working vehicles. Women's associations also pointed to the frustration of not having the resources to follow up on the studies they conducted. But the difficulties of combating violence against women are not only found in lack of resources. Most RWI activities are reactive, responding to acts of violence after they occur. Preventive measures are required (WCRWC April 2001, 9).

A multi-stakeholder mission involving United Nations agencies, governments, and local non-governmental organizations and women's councils, with the cooperation of Rwandan government ministries, conducted a joint mission in September 2002 to assess the women's empowerment strategies that were being undertaken by various organizations in Rwanda (2-11 Sept. 2002a). The mission sought to identify lessons for other post-conflict situations based on the experience of women in Rwanda and focused on five areas of concern: women's organizations and women's organizing; policies, legislation and political will; institutional strengthening; justice and reconciliation; and sustainable peace (UNIFEM 2-11 Sept. 2002a, 1-2). One of its observations is that

Rwanda's decision to re-introduce a traditional judicial system – local gacaca courts – has created new opportunities and challenges for achieving justice in a gender equitable way. The transformation of this traditional system from male dominated courts to ones that invite women's participation and where 27% of judges are women is a positive sign. However, the issue of justice for survivors of genocide-related crimes – as well as women's ability to seek protection and justice for sexual violence committed in the present – remains complex and challenging given the need for a total re-building of the justice system (ibid., 3).

The mission used briefing papers to help inform its work. Briefing paper 1 includes a summary of Rwanda's National Gender Policy, which was completed in January 2002 (2-11 Sept. 2002b, 2-3). The policy includes a section on human rights and gender-based violence "to ensure that women and men, boys and girls are equal before the law, and to tackle gender-based violence" (ibid., 5). The policy lists the following strategies to achieve the government's objective:

• Remove all discriminatory laws that affect women and engender the new constitution as well as the legal system
• Encourage research and the collection of disaggregated data on all forms of violence
• Establish gender sensitive structures and effective support services for women victims of gender-based violence
• Support community based campaigns to raise awareness on the negative impact of gender-based violence
• Encourage the Government of Rwanda to ratify and implement all the international conventions that apply to women's human rights (ibid.).

The mission's second briefing paper is a survey of gender programming assessments and evaluations, including the review of the RWI, which attempts to summarize and identify common themes (UNIFEM 2-11 Sept. 2002c, 1). The briefing paper notes that although the introduction of gacaca courts, because they include women judges, are a positive step, they were too recently established to examine their impact (ibid., 6). The paper adds that

the relatively recent concern with continuing, everyday, violence against women and children, voiced by external donors and Rwandan researchers alike, suggests that changes have not all been positive. Violence against women is an inadequately understood social policy (ibid.).

A comprehensive gender assessment of USAID's programming in Rwanda, which also recommends an action plan, was published by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in March 2002. ICRW recommends that USAID support a proposal by the U.S. Resident Legal Advisor to create sexual violence desks in each jurisdiction and provide the police force additional training in dealing with gender-based violence such as rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment in the schools (Mar. 2002, xiv). The report states that since rape was used as a weapon during 1994, its incidence remains high among both females and males of all ages (ibid., 3); the report adds that "rape, sexual violence ... and sexual harassment in the schools are still common in post-conflict Rwanda," and that the "lack of sensitivity in the justice system to this issue often prevents women from relying on police officers or courts to deal with the situation" (ibid., 6-7).

A memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice's Resident Legal Advisor to Rwanda, Pierre St. Hilaire, to Gerald Gahima, Rwanda's Prosecutor General, addresses the issues of sexual torture and rape in the context of the implementation of gacaca courts. The memo, which includes a review of the legal instruments and laws that deal with the crime of rape and proposes legislation, rules and definitions, as well as the creation of sexual violence desks or offices in each province, is attached.

In June 2002, the minister of gender and women's development, Angeline Muganza, launched an 18-month programme to address gender and sexual violence in the country (Rwanda 8 June 2002). The government's announcement, of what would be a USAID-funded programme, explained that the programme would include four components: a survey of women of reproductive age before and after 1994; the training of service providers, health officials, police and gacaca judges on ways to help women and girls who suffered violence during the genocide; the development of sensitization and training material; and a media campaign on the negative consequences of gender-based violence (ibid.). In a speech at the programme's launching, Muganza, citing the Rwandan women's organization Avega-Aghozo's 1999 study – which focused on the physical and psychological torture and sexual violence that occurred during the genocide – said that 30,000 pregnancies resulted from approximately 250,000 rapes (ibid.). She also cited the following statistics from the study:

... 80.9 percent of survivors showed symptoms of trauma, 69 percent are HIV positive, 13 percent had broken vertebrae, 12 percent lost leg usage and 7.9 percent had their legs amputated (ibid.).

Reports on the implementation or outcome of the government's programme, including whether the sexual violence desks have been created, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

A UNIFEM news release of 7 August 2002 announced the funding of a project to document the experiences of rape survivors living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda and Burundi in an effort to raise awareness and financial support as well as to promote protective laws.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002. 31 March 2003. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2003. "Rwanda." Human Rights Watch World Report 2003. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Washington. March 2002. Women in Development Technical Assistance Project (WID Tech). Sylvie Morel-Seytoux and Hélène Lalonde. Gender Assessment and Action Plan for USAID/Rwanda. [Accessed 30 Oct. 2003]

The Reproductive Health for Refugees Consortium (RHRC), New York. April 2002. Jeanne Ward. "Post-Genocide Situation in Rwanda." If Not Now, When? Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Refugee, Internally Displaced, and Post-Conflict Settings. [Accessed 30 Oct. 2003]

Rwanda. 8 June 2002. Office of the President, Department of Information. "Rwanda Launches Anti-Sexual Violence Programme." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). 2-11 September 2002a. Report of the Learning Oriented Assessment of Gender Mainstreaming and Women's Empowerment Strategies in Rwanda. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]
_____. 2-11 September 2002b. "A Review of National Goals and Strategies for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Rwanda." Briefing Paper 1. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]
_____. 2-11 September 2002c. "Overview of Assessment and Evaluation Findings Related to Women's Rights, Gender Equality and Social Justice in Post-Conflict Rwanda."

Briefing Paper 2. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]
_____. 7 August 2002. "Ending Violence Against Women Around the World. United Nations Development Fund for Women Pledges $1 Million to Programmes in 22 Countries." Press Release. [Accessed 29 Oct. 2003]

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC), New York. April 2001. You Cannot Dance if You Cannot Stand. A Review of the Rwanda Women's Initiative and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Commitment to Gender Equality in Post-Conflict Societies. [Accessed 30 Oct. 2003]

Attachments

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Washington. March 2002. Women in Development Technical Assistance Project (WID Tech). Sylvie Morel-Seytoux and Hélène Lalonde. "Memorandum From U.S. Department of Justice Regarding Prosecution of Gender-Based Violence in Rwanda." Gender Assessment and Action Plan for USAID/Rwanda. pp. D3-D8.

The Reproductive Health for Refugees Consortium (RHRC), New York. April 2002. Jeanne Ward. "Post-Genocide Situation in Rwanda." If Not Now, When? Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Refugee, Internally Displaced, and Post-Conflict Settings. pp. 27-33.

Additional Sources Consulted

Dialog

IRB Databases

Women's International Network News (WIN)

Internet sites, including:

AllAfrica.com

Amnesty International

Asylum Aid

Avega-Agahozo

BBC

European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI)

Human Rights Watch (HRW). December 2001. Vol. 13, No. 8 (A). "Rwanda: Observing the Rules of War?"

International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW)

Missionary Service News Agency (MISNA)

Relief Web

Republic of Rwanda

Rwanda Women's Network

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR)

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children

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