Human rights and Rwandan culture: Evolution from ancient history to modern time.
Since my childhood, I always
expressed myself saying that I have rights; in my mother tongue uburenganzira.
My father as a sociologist asked me a simple question, do you know the deep
meaning of uburenganzira? When you separate the word uburenganzira in two
parts, you will find kurenga and inzira, means to go beyond the route. As a
sociologist he wanted to make a point that as a society there are rules to
follow and he added that where your rights ends are where others rights start.
As a lawyer and a human rights enthusiast plus having a background in history studies,
I always like to analyze different human rights issues from a historical
perspective and looking deeply into the effects in the present time. This is
another episode.
I always wanted to know at what
level since the ancient time, how Rwandans respected each other as human
beings.
Rwanda’s history goes back to the
era of the iconic figure, ‘ Gihanga Ngomijana’ believed to have initiated this
land of a thousand hills. History has it that when Gihanga was at the helm of
the kingdom, he made sure all Rwandans enjoyed equal rights. This legacy was
passed on generations after generations. The country was under dynastic rule,
but still unity and patriotism prevailed among Rwandans. There were values of
love, unity, patriotism, honesty, dedication to word, and the like. Whenever
the country could be attacked by invaders, all Rwandans would stand together to
defend their homeland. They would grab their spears, bows, arrows and shields
to chase the enemy back. Books describing the brevity of Rwandans put it that
the country was forever invincible to the extent that one King argued, “Rwanda
attacks, but it is never attacked. One secret was behind the invincibility of
Rwandans, their unity. It is true that when people are together with the same
ambitions, they get everything they want; and nothing can do them apart as they
old adage goes, “unity is strength.”[1]
In our traditional believes as
Rwandans, we believe that we are all ben’ Imana (Those of God). Seeing
ourselves as equals in front of God (Imana y’ I Rwamda), marks the evidence
that we recognize each other as human beings from the same creator. Rwandans believed that God gave them children
and took care of them. For example, the names Hakizimana and Harerimana given
to their children as well as Rwandan proverbs show his power. Religious beliefs
stemming from foreign communities later replaced Rwandan’ ones. Rwandans joined
different religious organizations whereby each one of them has its values.[2]
Traditional Rwanda was founded
and governed through a system of Monarchy. The king of Rwanda was called
Umwami. Umwami, was regarded as the incarnation of Imana (God), and was thereby
addressed as Nyagasani, which means God or Lord. Umwami was, according to
traditional beliefs anointed by God while still in the womb, and thus was born
with the seed of kingship in his hands (Umwami avukana imbuto). He was
therefore believed to derive all his powers from God (Imana), the creator
(Rurema) and provident (Rugira), and who bestowed upon the king divine
authority to guide and shepherd His people. It was traditionally accepted that
the King was the true owner of all the cows and women as well as the land, and
the kingdom could not exist without him. He gave power, wealth, and privilege
to his people, but could also take it back in exercise of his authority in the
event of disobedience or any other offense. The advent of colonialism that
swept Africa tilted the political and socio-economic set up of the traditional
Rwandan state, severely destroyed its social, political and cultural fabrics
and established a new arrangement that fostered and served social, cultural and
economic interests of colonialists to the detriment of the traditional Rwandan
values.[3]
During the pre-colonial era, the cultural values were at the heart of the successes registered by Rwandan society in terms of political, social and economic dimensions compared to other kingdoms in the region. The family served as the basic organizational unit in the Rwandan society and it played a watchdog function to ensure that values were inculcated in the youngsters to prepare them for adulthood. Our administrative system had a way of conveying through “Itorero” the messages to the people regarding national culture in different areas such as language, patriotism, social relations, sports, dance, songs and the defense of the nation. As a result, young citizens could grow with an understanding and attachment to their culture. The advent of colonialism with its interference in the day to day political, social and economic life of Rwandan society coupled with the challenges associated with globalization combined to undermine Rwanda’s cultural values in terms of diminished role of the family in imparting cultural values in their children, deteriorating social values and ethics at community level and diminishing culture of patriotism among the Rwandan society as a whole.[4] We can clearly see that from the ancient times through our society we understood that a family was an entity that ensures the protection of a human being form the stage of infant, up to adulthood. It is written in our cultural DNA, that every child had a right to belong into a family, and the family had the responsibility to protect the child.
Rwanda has gone through various
historical eras of bad governance characterized by divisions and
discriminations based on ethnicity, religion, region of origin and nepotism
which have had devastating effects on its people’s social relations. Some of
those effects include divisions, discrimination of all kinds, persecutions,
killings, exile of some Rwandans, war and Genocide against Tutsi. Genocide
ideology and other divisive ideologies propagated by some Rwandans continue to
manifest even after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi; this poses serious
impediment to the process of unity and reconciliation.[5]
After the genocide against the
Tutsis, with in our culture of finding solutions, and protecting human rights
we established the National Commission for Human Rights.
The origins of the National Commission for
Human Rights date back to the Arusha Peace Agreement of August 1993 between the
Government of Rwanda of that time and the Rwanda Patriotic Front, in its
Protocol on the Rule of Law. The creation of a National Human Rights Commission
was a prerogative to the establishment of the Rule of Law due to the fact that
Rwanda has in the past experienced prolonged periods of regimes that massively
violated human rights and had a culture of impunity that culminated in the 1994
genocide.[6]
To take the issue of human rights
protection seriously, a development in the legislation to support the National
Commission for Human Rights was put in motion.
The National Human Rights
Commission of Rwanda has been created by the Law n° 04/99 of 12th March 1999
modified and complemented by the Law n° 35/2002 of 31st December 2002. This Law
was replaced by the Law n° 30/2007 of 6th July 2007 determining the organization
and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights based on the
Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4th June 2003 as amended to date. So
as to comply with the Paris Principles, the Law n° 30/2007 of 6th July 2007 has
been replaced by Law n° 19/2013 of 25/03/2013 determining mission, organization
and functioning of the National Commission for Human Rights.[7]
As the Law n° 04/99 of 12th March
1999 conferred to the Commission only general responsibilities, it has been
modified and complemented by Law n° 35/2002 of 31st December 2002 which set
detailed responsibilities and powers. The name of the Commission “National
Human Rights Commission” was replaced by “Rwanda Commission for Human Rights”. Progressively,
the Law n° 30/2007 of 6th July 2007 was replaced by the Law n° 19/2013 of
25/03/2013 determining mission, organization and functioning of the National
Commission for Human Rights. This new law sets forth new provisions required by
the Paris Principles which were missing in three previous laws so as to
guarantee the independence and autonomy of the Commission. Finally, the Law n°
19/2013 of 25/03/2013 determining mission, organization and functioning of the
National Commission for Human Rights was modified by the Law N° 61/2018 of
24/08/2018 determining missions, organization and functioning of the National
Commission for Human Rights. This new law confers to the Commission powers and
Special responsibilities as regards to the prevention of torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.[8]
From the background to the development of legislation, we have seen that
despite the challenges we faced, we kept the spirit of giving value to the
human rights of Rwandans through the culture of home-grown solutions.[9]
The Government of Rwanda
continues to ensure that all Rwandans enjoy the fundamental human rights
secured by the Constitution and other national and applicable international
human rights laws. The Republic of Rwanda reaffirms the adherence to the
Principles of Human Rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights of 1948 and other international and regional conventions to which Rwanda
is a Party. Rwanda is a party to the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Convention on Civil
and Political Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and
Culture Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights,
Convention on the Rights of Child, as well as several key Protocols related to
those treaties among others.[10]
After the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, Rwanda has been signing and ratifying various human rights instruments.
The Government of Rwanda has established various laws, strategies, policies,
and various institutions aimed at promoting and protecting human rights in
general, human dignity, freedom and justice for all. In terms of legislation,
several laws have been enacted, including the Constitution of the Republic of
Rwanda of 2003 revised in 2015&2023, which includes a large section on
human rights, the Law on the Crime of Genocide and Related Crimes, the Child
Protection Law, the Prevention and Punishment of Sexual Violence Law and the
Law on Succession.[11]
Regarding the established
policies, we can mention the National Policy of Unity and Reconciliation, the
Policy of Education for All where basic education is set at 12 years old, the
Policy related to equality and harmony, the Policy of the elderly, Disability
Policy, Disability Promotion Policy. Institutions responsible for the promotion
and protection of human rights have also been established, and they are given
the ability to help them fulfill their responsibilities. Among those
institutions are the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement, the
National Commission for Human Rights, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ministry
of Gender and Family Promotion, the National Council of Persons with
Disabilities, the National Council of Women and others.[12]
National Commission for Human
Rights has achieved a lot. The National Commission for Human Rights is proud of
what has been achieved in fulfilling its mandate. In terms of promotion of
human rights, the Commission has trained various groups of Rwandans on human
rights, including high school students, higher learning institutions and
university students, women's organizations, police officers, prison guards, volunteers
responsible for monitoring the observance of children's rights. The commission
gave its views on the draft laws that were prepared and submitted to the
Parliament, ensuring whether the draft laws complied with the principles of
human rights. The commission has been doing research to see how the observance
of human rights of different categories is observed, and it also gives advice
so that human rights are respected. [13]
Regarding the protection of human
rights, the Commission has been receiving complaints about the violation of
human rights, investigating some cases and resolving them, while others are
advocating to the relevant authorities to resolve them. The Commission also
monitored the respect of human rights in rehabilitation centers, detention
premises, Transit Centers, elderly centers, caring homes for persons with
mental illness, caring homes for people with disabilities, etc. During the
monitoring, the Commission made recommendations aimed at improving the better
respect of human rights.[14]
We can not overlook the criticism
on human rights in Rwanda. In a Policy Research on the Implementation of
Alternatives to Imprisonment in Rwanda, done by Transparency international
Rwanda. They mentioned the overcrowding
of prisoners in prisons. The data
available show that the share of detainees to the overall prison population is
very high. The proportion of pretrial detainees (for common law offenses only)
remains high at 18% of all inmates as of May 2022.[15]
Though there exist the problems
prison overcrowding and access to justice, the study found out that the
existing alternative measures to imprisonment can play valuable roles in
reducing prison overcrowding and in promoting access to justice. In general, it
was found out the frequent use of alternatives to imprisonment can reduce
prison overcrowding (97.38%), reduce financial costs of imprisonment (98.5%)
and protect the right to be presumed innocent until guilt is proven (95.51%).[16]
In a Global Crime Index Crime
report of 2023 on Rwanda, in their criticism they demonstrated that, despite
the positive efforts made to strengthen and modernize the judicial system in
recent years, Rwanda's judiciary continues to be susceptible to political
influence and used to target political dissent, evidenced by selective
detentions depending on the political status of the detainees. The top judicial
officials are usually appointed by the president and confirmed by the ruling
party-dominated senate. Aside from corruption-related units, there are no
specialized judiciary-related units in force to counter organized crime. In addition,
they mentioned that, Rwanda has at least two law enforcement units within the
national police force tasked with countering organized crime, specifically
financial and economic crime, and narcotics. However, Rwandan law enforcement’s
resources remain limited. The Rwandan government uses the police force and
security services to tightly control the territory, thus enjoying low violent
crime rates.[17]
Despite all the criticisms, the Rwandan society is evolving day by day to
ensure that human rights are respected and they’re measures in place to ensure
that.
There are still other criticisms,
like the investigation and prosecution organs not investigating much in doing
deep research on the crime to find even exonerating facts. It is commonly practiced
to find incriminating facts. This also is one of those facts that hinders the
journey of effective justice.
Since the ancient time Rwandans
searched for solutions for the challenges they faced. To ensure the protection
of human rights in their society, they had king’s decrees and the royal court, traditional
court systems like Gacaca, which was intertwined with modern methods of
judicial mechanisms to find long term solutions to the current challenges the
country was facing after the darkest episode of our history of gross violation
of human rights.
With the new challenges of modern
times, it was always recommended to find solutions through our culture so as to
have a country that is desirable for its citizens to live in. With the overload
of cases in courts we brought back Abunzi committees, with other modern alternative
disputes mechanisms like mediation and arbitration.
[2] https://eastafricaschoolserver.org/content/_public/Language%20Arts/Teaching%20Resources/Rwandan%20Cultural%20Values%20in%20National%20Development.pdf
[3] https://en.unesco.org/creativity/sites/creativity/files/qpr/national_cultural_heritage_policy.pdf
[4]
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[5] https://www.minubumwe.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=40149&token=a0ec069adc17627925047e50a31da4b4d70159ea
[7]
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[8]
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[9]
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[10] https://www.minijust.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=10496&token=18f845a0da0e43f07a51cf4b80c6d6b58c9b9bd9
[11] https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/3564/news/rwanda/international-human-rights-day-rwandas-journey
[12]
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[13]
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[14]
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[16]
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